Never click on links to banks or paypal! brother lost $800

[andrave]

If you ever get an email that is from your bank or paypal, NEVER click a link and type in ANY account information! Always open a new browser and type in the URL of your financial service provider, EVEN IF THE EMAIL APPEARS GENUINE. If an email EVER asks you for any account information you need to contact your bank immediately. My brother received an email that looked like it was from his bank. He followed it and entered his information in it as requested, trying to follow what appeared to be a new security measure for online access for his account. Within 24 hours someone in Romania had stolen over $800 from his bank account. He is now trying to get the stolen money back through his bank and through Visa, who he has a check card with. Its a nightmare that could easily have been avoided had he followed basic internet policy: NEVER GIVE OUT YOUR INFORMATION TO ANYONE FOR ANY REASON. If your bank really needs it, they will send out a paper notice to you or call you. If you have reason to believe that the response is legitimate, a quick phone call to your bank will verify this.

I'm sure everyone here knows all this, but I want to drive the point home. I would hate for something this horrible to happen to anyone else I know. Please share this information with your friends and family. My brother is an experienced internet user and I always thought that he knew better, but apparently he did not. I'm sure your loved ones, especially young kids who just got bank accounts, or older people who are not familiar with the internet, could benefit from receiving this tip.

[nismofly]

i try to go by this, aside from online ordering and stuff, and that i really try to keep to a minimum.

[crzycav86]

There was a little story on CNN recently where people would receive emails from "ebay" and such requesting an information verification, or else gifts would not be sent in time for christmas. It is a scam! Never send any important information through email unless you are certain that it is safe..

[nismofly]

i still refuse to register on ebay because they want my credit card information, im no hacker but i bet it wouldnt be all that hard to get that info through the ebay database...

[MaineExport]

Ebay is actually a very secure system. As long as you follow their advice and rules it's extremely safe in comparison to most other online financial services.

[JESTER]

Know what you mean. My mom has gotten two scam emails claiming to be from Ebay wanting her to reconfirm her paypal information, or her account will be closed in 24 hours.

Luckily mom did not do this. She has no clue about computers or the net, but at least she is susicious of every body and every thing. It pays to be that way.

You and your brother need to hunt these POS's down and burn their house to the ground with them in it. I know, a little violent of me, but, it would be fun.

[ultimatuc]

I hate people

[PalmerWMD]

For awhile I got about 2 to 3 emails from Banks that werent evenb mine, saying I HAVE to fil this out NOW or my accounts would be terminated.

Obviosu scams especially since thye werent even from my bank.

[base9se]

I hate people

As is people, you mean no good for nothin' thieves. I hate them low-lifes also!

[Megaseth]

so, how secure is paypal? i just won an acution and the person prefers paypal, although im a fan of the tried and true and very safe money order via USPS.

and i had a friend who recieved one of those emails saying his non-existing ebay account was lost when ebays surver crashed. he said they needed EVERYTHING. account numbers, DL number, SS number, etc etc. luckily this guy isnt dumb at all and i think he actually played them on giving them false info.

[andrave]

paypal is secure, the only thing you have to worry about is paypal screwing you over. If they decide to lock up access to your account (read your agreement, then can do it at anytime) and you have a positive balance, you effectively lose it. But don't count on paypal to protect you if you get a bad seller. They will just email you and tell you that they were unable to recover the money.If you want to know more about paypal there are tons of webpages about problems people have had.I've had problems with them but its hard to avoid paypal in my life. I'm addicted to ebay.
Modified by andrave at 3:03 PM 12/4/2004

[[Zero-S]]

I hate people

My thoughts exactly.

[Q-less]

I fell for the one about Ebay only because I have received emails from them stating a seller or buyer couldn't get ahold of me and they needed an updated contact sheet...all legit. This one stated I needed to follow the link and login because there had been some unusual activity. It looked just like Ebay same font colors everything, it looked just like one of their standard emails. But, I knew deep down it just wasn't right as soon as I logged on I closed the window, opened another, and changed the password and hint information. Whew!!

[EZcheese15]

My dad recently got a couple from ebay saying they would shut his account down if he didn't verify his cc#, etc etc. He played it smart and didn't do anything, but then he tried to log into ebay the other day and his account was closed LOL. Turns out, the emails were legit. After speaking with ebay on the phone, it turns out someone had tried hacking his account and ebay shut it down and wanted him to confirm all his cc information and change his password. Although he straightened it all out when ebay called him. But you never know, so it's best to play it safe.

[The Mic]

anything important is never done only via email

[wild_maxx]

when your using any site with important information dealing with your accounts make sure the web address begins with https://www.whatever.com the if the (s) is there that means that it is a secure server. just my 2 cents.

[andrave]

yes wild maxx has a very good point. But even this can be confusing. for instance, if you log into a lot of website, you will type in, say, paypal.com, and then when you are prompted to sign it you will see "verisign.com" whatever. In my brothers case the site directed him to usa.visa.com or something like that, very misleading. However when I checked the link out I found it was being hosted by another website, and my security program immediatly popped up and let me know that someone was monitoring my entries into the blanks. I guess I'm a little better protected than most. *crosses fingers*

[JESTER]

Hey Max, Thanks for that bit of advice. I didnt know that.

A good bit of info to remember.