I received an e-mail that I thought was from paypal today stating that they were upgrading their security system, and asking me to click on a link, and fill in the questionaire to renew my account. The following is the message sent in the e-mail: "Dear paypal user, We would like to inform you that we are upgrading our server to install a better protection software. So please click here and fill in the registration form again to renew your account. Paypal Administration. " While this e-mail may look official, it is NOT...It is a phoney web address. I have verified this with paypal. So, if you get an e-mail addressed from paypal that has "verify your identity" in the subject line, DO NOT.. and I repeat.. DO NOT fill in that form or send your information to them. To see that this is indeed a phoney addy.. hover your cursor over the link they provide you... do NOT click on it. You will see that it takes you to the following address: http://200.80.16.181/sys/pp/ remove everything but the ip and you get sent to this web site: http://200.80.16.181/ This site is a foreign site and is NOT affiliated with paypal. again, while the site you are originally sent to may seem to be legitimate, it is NOT. DO NOT fill out that questionaire or submit your personal information without first contacting paypal administration to make sure that the e-mail in question is legit. Hope this catches you all before you send anything in. oh.. so you know.. I contacted paypal BEFORE I did anything else..lol..the e-mail didnt look right to me..so I contacted paypal first...so glad I did:) Lynn FanDancer

Important note to remember they always address you by your full name, never a generic "dear paypal user"

Alot of new users to paypal may not be aware of this fact, or the fact that paypal also has a privacy disclosure statement in all the e-mails they send to thier customers. OH.. one more thing also.... If paypal needs you to update your information? they will do two things: 1. They will send you an e-mail telling you that you need to update and to go to your paypal account, login and follow directions. IF they provide you with a link, its to www.paypal.com ONLY.... NEVER directly to a questionaire or form. 2. After you log into paypal, a window will pop-up giving you information on what needs to be updated, and where to find it in your account.They will NEVER take you directly to any page with a qustionaire on it. While this is annoying at times, it benefits you in the long run, because that can easily help you distinguish between a legitimate paypal e-mail, and a bogus one.

Here's where that link goes to... ============================================================ Information from whois.arin.net (Querying "200.80.16.181") ============================================================ OrgName: Latin American and Caribbean IP address Regional Registry OrgID: LACNIC Address: Potosi 1517 City: Montevideo StateProv: PostalCode: 11500 Country: UY ReferralServer: whois://whois.lacnic.net NetRange: 200.0.0.0 - 200.255.255.255 CIDR: 200.0.0.0/8 NetName: LACNIC-200 NetHandle: NET-200-0-0-0-1 Parent: NetType: Allocated to LACNIC NameServer: NS.LACNIC.NET NameServer: TINNIE.ARIN.NET NameServer: NS-SEC.RIPE.NET NameServer: SEC3.APNIC.NET NameServer: NS2.DNS.BR Comment: This IP address range is under LACNIC responsibility for further Comment: allocations to users in LACNIC region. Comment: Please see http://www.lacnic.net/ for further details, or check the Comment: WHOIS server located at whois.lacnic.net RegDate: 2002-07-27 Updated: 2004-03-18 TechHandle: LACNIC-ARIN TechName: LACNIC Hostmaster TechPhone: (+55) 11 5509-3522 TechEmail: abuse@lacnic.net OrgTechHandle: LACNIC-ARIN OrgTechName: LACNIC Hostmaster OrgTechPhone: (+55) 11 5509-3522 OrgTechEmail: abuse@lacnic.net

I wonder how they can stop those scammers from Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Is there any enforcement there, or is it like PRC and Korea? Do they ignore requests from both ISPs and law enforcement?

FanDancer, BIG THANKS for the heads up!! will this type of scam EVER end?? :-( jen

I always find it interesting that they ask for stuff that Paypal doesn't even ask for, like a PIN #. If Paypal didn't want it when one signed up, why would they want it now? Scum the whole lot. Thanks for the headsup. Hopefully it will save some bank accounts... ShadowWind