Gmail Service Center and PayPal Spam Scams Are Back!

The old “Due to the congestion in all Gmail users and removal of all unused Gmail Accounts” scam, is making a reappearance. This scam has been around for years, and every so often it makes its way back.

This occasional reappearance tells me one thing – this scam pays off for the cyber-criminals who are behind it. Since new users are continuously signing on to the Internet, they are essentially a new crop of potential victims.

To an inexperienced user, this could look like an official email, and the enclosed link makes it simple to get this problem solved with just a mouse click. What could be easier than that?

If you receive an email that is supposedly from “Gmail Service Centers”, and it addresses you in any way other than your name (Dear Valued Member, for example), it’s a scam. Google is not likely to forget your name, right?

At one and the same time, the following email purportedly from PayPal, is making the rounds once again. Similar to the Gmail scam it opens with a generic salutation – in this case,  “Dear PayPal Member”.

PayPal is familiar with this type of scam, and has issued the following warning:

“PayPal will never send an email with the greeting “Dear PayPal User” or “Dear PayPal Member.” Real PayPal emails will address you by your first and last name or the business name associated with your PayPal account. If you believe you have received a fraudulent email, please forward the entire email—including the header information – to spoof@paypal.com”.

Be kind to your friends, relatives, and associates who are new computer users and let them know about this type of scam. In that way, it raises the level of security for all of us.

Advise them to:

Consider every email, telephone call, or text message requesting confirmation of personal and financial information as a scam.

Not open emails that come from un-trusted sources.

Not run files received via email, without making sure of their origin.

Not click links in emails. If they come from a known source, to type them on the browser’s address bar. If they come from an un-trusted source, to simply ignore them, as they could redirect to a web site designed to download malware.

Keep their computer protected by installing a security solution and keeping it up-to-date.

Report suspicious e-mails as Spam.

To see how cyber criminals target new users, and new email accounts read “Email Spammers Are Smarter Than You Think”, on this site.

If you enjoyed this article, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

Gmail Customer Care is Gonna Close You Account – Not!

The old “we’re going to close your email account” scam is making a reappearance. This scam has been around for years, and every so often it makes its way back.

This occasional reappearance tells me one thing – this scam pays off for the cyber criminals who are behind it. Since new users are continuously signing on to the Internet, they are essentially a new crop of potential victims.

What could be better for scammers than this; a natural market for fraudulent emails – new, and unaware users. Staying safe on the Internet is definitely one area where experience counts.

According to a recent email, sent to my relatively new Gmail account, my G mail account (these guys can’t spell – it’s Gmail not G mail), will be deleted within 24 hours unless I verify my user name, password, date of birth, and country information.

To an inexperienced user, this could look like an official email, and the enclosed link makes it simple to get this problem solved with just a mouse click. What could be easier than that?

Clicking on the link would have redirected me to a spoof page, comparable to the original site, and I would then have begun the process whereby the scammers would have stripped me of all the confidential information I was willing to provide.

If you have received the following email recently, I trust you recognized it for what it is, and after reporting it as Spam, you simply deleted it.

If your email account is not relatively new, it’s unlikely you received this email but reading it can still be instructive. BTW, all of the spelling mistakes are the spammers.

“This Email is from G mail customer care and we are sending it to every G mail accounts owner for safety. We are having congestion due to the anonymous registration of G mail accounts so we are shutting down some G mail accounts and your account was among those to be deleted. We are sending this email to you so that you can verify and let us know if you still want to use this account. If you are still interested please confirm your account by filling the space below.Your User name, password, date of birth and your country information would be needed to verify your account.

Due to the congestion in all G mail users and removal of all unused G mail Accounts. G mail would be shutting down all unused Accounts, you will have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Lo gin Information below after clicking the reply button or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.

* User name: …

* Password: ……

* Date of Birth: …….

* Country Or Territory: …..

Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his or her account within Seven days of receivinga this warning will lose his or her account permanently.

Thank you for using G mail !”

Be kind to your friends, relatives, and associates who are new computer users and let them know about this type of scam. In that way, it raises the level of security for all of us.

Advise them to:

Consider every email, telephone call, or text message requesting confirmation of personal and financial information as a scam.

Not open emails that come from un-trusted sources.

Not run files received via email, without making sure of their origin.

Not click links in emails. If they come from a known source, to type them on the browser’s address bar. If they come from an un-trusted source, to simply ignore them, as they could redirect to a web site designed to download malware.

Keep their computer protected by installing a security solution and keeping it up-to-date.

Report suspicious e-mails as Spam.

To see how cyber criminals target new users, and new email accounts read “Email Spammers Are Smarter Than You Think”, on this site.

If you enjoyed this article, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

Hotmail Account Phishing Warning – Again!

If you were to Google “Hotmail scam”, you might be surprised to learn that these scams go all the way back to December, 1997 – at least that was the earliest one I could find. Not surprisingly, the hackers/scammers are at it again. Well why not? Hotmail account users’ are such an easy target.

The most recent email scam, currently in circulation, which appears to come from the Hotmail Customer Care team, is in reality just a poor attempt at a phishing con. This is not the first time we’ve seen this – the last time we saw this one was in August, 2008.

If you’re unfamiliar with phishing, it is defined as the act of tricking unsuspecting Internet users into revealing sensitive or private information. In a phishing attack, the attacker creates a set of circumstances where the potential victims are convinced that they are dealing with an authorized party, in this case Hotmail’s Customer Care team.

The newer email (as opposed to the older one pictured above), states in part: “We are having congestions due to the anonymous registration of Hotmail accounts so we are shutting down some Hotmail accounts and yours was among those to be deleted – We are sending you this email to (sic) so that you can verify and let us know if you still want to use this account”

The email goes on to request that the recipient provide Username, Password, Date of Birth, and Country. It seems to me that Hotmail would already have at least 2 pieces of this information already – user name and password.

Like so many scam emails like it, this one contains the usual spelling and grammatical errors, which should act as a tip-off that the recipient is looking at a fraudulent email.

Unfortunately, the old expression “I learn the hard way every time”, will come into play here with enough recipients falling for it, to make this scam profitable for the cyber-criminals behind it.

Advice that’s worth repeating:

Consider every email, telephone call, or text message, requesting personal information of any kind, as a scam

Never, ever, ever, click on embedded email links