You CAN Fool Some Of The People All Of The Time...

It is almost impossible to believe someone would fall for this trick but knowing you can’t underestimate the stupidity of people, well…

The Better Business Bureau of North Alabama was flooded with calls from suspicious consumers who received recorded phone messages urging them to go to a particular web site to “update” their bank account records. The BBB confirmed the calls and sites were involved in “phishing” — attempts to steal identities and bank accounts. What led to the consumer suspicion? The victims noticed that the Caller ID on their phones during the calls read “THIS IS A SCAM”.
(Athens News Courier)  

I really don't get how any of those phishing scams still work.  I get at least 5 emails every day from 'PayPal', 'eBay', 'Bank of America', etc telling me my account will be closed if I don't click to some third party website and verify all my credentials.  I keep thinking to myself, someone must still be falling for this stuff for them to do it.  I sure will be happy when everyone stops falling for it.  I'll also be happy when people quit buying Viagra from those emails! ;-)

I get lots of similar emails. In case you're not aware of it, you can forward scam emails involving Paypal to spoof@paypal.com to report it to them. They'll follow up with an email that confirms the scam. I hope that may help limit the phishing emails at least.

The story in North Alabama is remarkable. I suppose that while the whole thing should have seemed like a scam, probalby not everyone involved had Caller ID.

Thanks for posting the paypal fraud reporting email address. I, like everyone else on this forum, probably get three to five paypal, ebay, etc (just like Jeremy) emails. There is a way to stop this sort of crap. Hunt down the originator and execute him/her and put the video on youtube.

That may be a bit extreme but you know in your heart you'd vote to execute them if the ballot was truly secret and nobody could find out how you voted. For the pacifists in the audience, the alternative would be to imprison these scammers in North Korea. Sentence them to 5 years with no possibility of parole and I bet they come out preaching the sins of scamming.

Just putting in my 2¢ before 2008.

Not really something I like talking about but I was thrown a curve ball once. I was told that someone had charged my account 400 dollars and that I need to confirm my banking information so that way they can figure out where the charges were coming from. I fell for it and they got me for 400 dollars. They still work on some I guess.

I almost fell for the PayPal fraud email. It told me that my account has been suspended and ask me to verify it by clicking at certain link. Luckily, I remain calms and thought about the whole thing as I did notice some dissimilarities in the email originating account. Then I went to the PayPal site by keying in the actual Payay URL and try to log in. Presto! No problem at all.

I got 5 emails this morning telling me someone (PayPal) wanted to confirm my Ebay order for $350something US. The fact that there were more than one message was a wakeup and checking my PayPal acct showed nothing happening there . I checked with PayPal Australia info on scams - If the email isn't adressed to me by name, it's not from PayPal. Easy, isn't it. I just wish I'd won even one percent of the lottery win notifications that arrive in my inbox every week! Then I'd be rich.

I guess there's a lot of gullible people out there - one born every minute - isn't that how it goes?