I have a PayPal account that I use mainly for purchasing things on eBay. It's directly linked to my checking account. I haven't bought anything from eBay for a while....like a couple of months. 

So, imagine my surprise when I found a receipt from PayPal in my inbox this morning.  Apparently, I had purchased a $300 watch.

My heart was in my throat....$300 out of my checking account wouldn't leave me in the red, but it would mean that I wouldn't have the money to kit the kids out in Halloween costumes or buy groceries for the rest of the week. 

Then I noticed something that I found highly unusual.  At the bottom of the receipt was a link that said 'click here to dispute this charge'.  Hmm.  None of the other PayPal receipts I've received have had that on them.  Curious, I clicked on the link.

A Microsoft warning window popped up, telling me that if I continued I'd be directed to a site whose url wasn't formatted properly.  That was all the validation I needed, so I closed the pop-up, and forwarded the email to spoof@paypal.com.

If I had followed the link and completed the required 'validation' (which would probably have included my password and checking account number) I'd have basically left my checking and PayPal accounts wide open for theft and manipulation.  It was only because I knew I hadn't purchased anything via PayPal recently and the unusual 'dispute this charge' link that I knew something was not right with the email, and the pop-up warning me about the URL simply confirmed my suspicion.

But what if I HAD bought something?  What if I thought that my husband had bought something for me?  What if I hadn't had the program that created the pop-up installed?  I could have easily have given out my information, including my password and bank account information, and I'd probably have ended up a victim.

So, if you use PayPal, please be aware that this is happening.  If you get an email like this, please forward it to PayPal's spoof department and let them take care of it.

Protect yourself and your information.  Don't end up a victim.