Just how stupid do these people think we are?

Published on November 1, 2006 By dharmagrl In Internet

I got an email from PayPal this morning threatening to terminate my account. I've recieved emails from PayPal before - every single time I purchase something from eBay or Etsy, actually - and I'm familiar with the layout and terminology PayPal uses. So, when I opened this latest email it was immediately obvious to me that this was NOT PayPal contacting me but a phishing scam.

The following is the copied and pasted text of the email:

Dear PayPal Customer,

For the User Agreement, Section 9, we may immediately issue a warning, temporarily suspend or terminate your membership and refuse to provide our services to you if we believe that your actions may cause financial loss or legal liability for you, our users or us.

Our terms and conditions you agreed to state that your service mus! t always be under your control or those you designate all times. We have noticed some unusual activity related to your service that indicates other parties may have access and or control of your informations in your service.

We recently noticed one or more attempts to log in to your PayPal Account, service from a foreign IP adress. If you recently accessed your service while traveling, the unusual log in attempts may have been initiated by you. Please Confirm your account as soon as possible to restore your account status.

The log in attempt was made from:

ISP host : c-64-154-34-134.hsfgd1.il.comcast.net

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and appreciate your assistance in helping us maintain the integrity of the entire system. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Please do not reply to this e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered.

To Confirm your account click o! ne of th e links below, each link is for specified locations. If you don't know your location and get page error, try other link location.

See the spelling and grammatical errors throughout the text? The random '!'s' where they don't belong - like in the middle of words?

When I hovered my mouse over the links the email provided, 'www.hattrick.com' was the url displayed. Yeah, that aint PayPal's url. Not even close. I haven't tried to trace the IP address yet, but that's only 'cause I'm too lazy to do it right now.

I'm offended. This is a shoddy attempt to gain people's passwords and financial details; I think that you'd have to be either incredibly stupid or insanely naive about the way the internet works to really think that this is a genuine PayPal alert.

Just how stupid do these scammers think that people are? From the contents of this email, it seems obvious that they must think we're all pretty dumb, that we're all a bunch of morons who will just clickety-click-click-click on every link we see and go around giving our bank, credit card and other financial details out to all and sundry.

C'mon guys. Give us some credit. If you're going to try to scam us, at least make it a decent attempt, will ya?

Comments (Page 1)

Dr Guy

on Nov 01, 2006

We get so many, because some people do fall for them unfortunately. I love getting PayPal account letters, since I dont have one.

Jafo

on Nov 01, 2006

Any time something is deemed 'idiot-proof' some arsehole goes out and breeds an even bigger class of idiot.

There will ALWAYS be morons suckered for their money...one way or another, no matter how dumb and obvious it may seem...

BlueDev

on Nov 01, 2006

I consider myself pretty technically oriented (though certainly still a neophyte compared to many here), but I, too, find those to be painfully obvious. But I came to a realization when pointing one out to my wife: they are only obvious if you are very detail oriented.

Lots of people would just scan the document quickly, not looking at the actual URLs of the links, etc. I think this, too, is a big area where they get people. Folks who are plenty smart, but may not have trained themselves to really pay attention to the details, likely get suckered in every now and then because they just weren't as up-tight as some of us.

SanChonino

on Nov 01, 2006

I love getting PayPal account letters, since I dont have one.

Me too.

Folks who are plenty smart, but may not have trained themselves to really pay attention to the details, likely get suckered in every now and then because they just weren't as up-tight as some of us.

I know a lady who accidentally fell for one of these phishing emails, and she's a very intelligent person, but she's not detail-oriented at all. She's not techno-savvy, so that might have been the problem, but at any rate, a very smart person got phished. Really bad.

Ravenblack

on Nov 01, 2006

It costs them nothing to send out those fake emails; if they can even get one moron to fall for their scam, they've already gained.

Dr Guy

on Nov 01, 2006

It costs them nothing to send out those fake emails; if they can even get one moron to fall for their scam, they've already gained.

The sad reality about the convenience of email.

Martimus

on Nov 01, 2006

A fool is born every minute. Most people are susceptible for some kind of scam or another, it really just takes going after something that someone feels is important, but doesn't know enough about yet.

starkers

on Nov 01, 2006

I love getting PayPal account letters, since I dont have one.

I suppose they think if they send enough out they'll eventually strike it lucky/rich....

I've never had an Ebay or Paypal account, yet I received an abusive and threatening email from a 'ticked off trader', saying that if I didn't cough up $283.99 for a HD digital TV decoder/recorder I could expect to face legal/criminal proceedings and have my name registered with a credit rating service....

Naturally I ignored it, but I wonder how many people (with Ebay/Paypal accounts) would've felt intimidated enough to respond, to have even paid up to avoid the hassle. Obviously these parasites are preying upon peoples fears, so perhaps it's not so much that a "fool is born every minute", but rather that many people fear the threat of legal reprisals.....

MasonM

on Nov 01, 2006

I've been getting a lot of them lately. As I don't even have a paypal account I don't even bother to open them. Sadly, there are a lot of idiots out there that do fall for this stuff.

Dr Guy

on Nov 01, 2006

I've never had an Ebay or Paypal account, yet I received an abusive and threatening email from a 'ticked off trader', saying that if I didn't cough up $283.99 for a HD digital TV decoder/recorder I could expect to face legal/criminal proceedings and have my name registered with a credit rating service....

Arrgg! They be finding ye Pirate name!

dharmagrl

on Nov 01, 2006

I've been sent 'invoices' and 'reciepts' from PayPal for things like $200 watches and Prada shoes. I haven't bid on them, and when I've gone to my PayPal account (NOT via the 'link' in the email) there hasn't been any record of that kind of activity on my account. Those emails have been phishing scams, and people would see that if they'd look at the URLs when they hover the mouse over the link. But people don't do that and get themselves all worked up over it - which is the reason behind the email you got, I'll bet.

Poddytat

on Nov 01, 2006

I forward the ones I get to the spoof dept at ebay and paypal, and the cybercrime unit of the FBI. I figure if they get enough of them maybe they will use some of their super high tech stuffs to get these arseholes.

seldomseen

on Nov 02, 2006

I forward the ones I get to the spoof dept at ebay and paypal, and the cybercrime unit of the FBI

Great idea! Way to go!

Pumakitten57

on Nov 02, 2006

I forward the ones I get to the spoof dept at ebay and paypal, and the cybercrime unit of the FBI.

I do the same thing. I don't have and account either place, so I know its a phishing scam. I just feel sorta bad for anyone who falls for it. I keep an eye on my husband tho....so he doesn't step in it! lol.

starkers

on Nov 03, 2006

Those emails have been phishing scams, and people would see that if they'd look at the URLs when they hover the mouse over the link. But people don't do that and get themselves all worked up over it - which is the reason behind the email you got, I'll bet.

Well they didn't get a rise out of me....being that I've never dealt with Ebay or Paypal, I knew it was a scam and thus could easily ignore it, but it mightn't be that simple for someone who uses those services and wishes to maintain their good name and reputation. As I understand it, there's some sort of rating system that can affect ones ability to bid and buy, so I guess some may dread getting a bad trader rap which could impact on their freedom/ability to use the service....

Then there's those who panic out of control when the see the threat of impending legal proceedings if they don't comply with the demand/s....their fear only subsides when they take the easy way out (to them) and cough up. Unfortunately (for them), these people do exist, which is why phising/scams do also....scammers can count on some percentage of the popluation to become victims.

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