1209 General alert ref paypal

A scam e mail is currently circulating to tiscali users, asking you to update your paypal details, be careful, the return address for the mail is gemboy at tiscali, they ask you to click a link to update your details, don't... ;)

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General chat about Italy

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 08/30/2005 - 06:11

I had a couple of similar messages to my Yahoo e-mail address relating to a PayPal and e-bay account but knew immediately it was a scam because I don't have a PayPal account, and my Yahoo e-mail address isn't the one I use for e-bay.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 08/30/2005 - 08:39

These are common and I get many every week from all over the place.

Here are some simple rules when assessing if an email is genuine or not.

1. If the email is asking you to click a link and fill out your access details or personal detail then it likely to be a scam, commonly called phishing (Pronounced fishing) and is simply a way to get you to give up your access details. You should never click links within emails, as even if they look legitimate they can be easily faked, ALWAYS type a known web address e.g. [url]www.paypal.com[/url] into your browser manually to make sure you are actually going to the legitimate site, not 100% full proof but better than trusting a link in an email..

2. The FROM address of an email can also be easily faked so don't trust an email attachments or the contents of an email just because it looks like its is from a legitimate company or even someone you know as many Trojan viruses simply harvest previously infected PC's for email addresses and try to trick people by pretending to be from someone they know.

3. Never open an emailed file attachment unless you know it is completely safe or at least have scanned the attachment with an up to date virus scanner first.

4. Invest in some good virus and firewall software, products like Norton Internet Security will inform you if a program you've not authorised is trying to access the internet without your knowledge which is, 1. a good way to stop your PC from infecting others, 2. alerts you to any infection your pc may have if you are unlucky enough to get one and 3. tells you if a malicious piece of software commonly called "spy ware" is trying to communicate with the internet and send out your private data.

5. At the end of the day use some common sense and remember trust no one (on the internet), even your best friend as they may not be who they say they are. [X-Files theme tune plays in background].

Regards