Re: OT: Completely OT: PAYPAL does it suck?

On 11/22/06, Sally Caves <scaves@...> wrote:
> >  Frankly you're probably not
> > technically geeky enough to be able to distinguish fraudulent emails
> > from the real ones;
>
> Hey, don't jump to condescending assumptions, Sai.  I'm quite technically
> geeky enough to erase all the other Paypal phishes that have come my way,
That's not at all meant to be condescending, honest. Reading full mail
headers is the only way to (try to) tell, and that is simply not a
skill most people care to develop because it's too arcane (hence
'geeky'), even among computer geeks (which comprise a large portion of
my friends - half of whom I'd also bet against being able to tell a
real header from a poorly faked one). That's not a comment on your
intelligence, only on your purely computer-technical experience.

So one goes on the content alone rather than trying to trace the path
of its sending to determine if it's legit or if it's showing traces of
having been forged, and that doesn't require geekery, just a bit of
intelligence mixed with paranoia. ;-)

Also FWIW, perhaps you mistook (or they misprinted) a 'bill' in the
sense of 'receipt' for one that wanted you to pay more? I've certain
gotten package inserts that said 'bill' on them, or 'amount due', with
the understanding that that's what they print up quote-unquote
"before" paypal pays them. (Also from their perspective: who these
days is willing to mail something of value *before* it's been paid
for?)

> JUST ordered a book from England that required a PAYPAL payment.  It wasn't
> on Amazon.com.  I RECEIVED the f**king book, and it had an amount due on it.
> I looked at my bank account, and Paypal had deducted the amount for the
> book.
Then they got paid, and you can point to that record if there's ever a dispute.

> Now I'm worried that I responded, after all my experience, to a fake Paypal
> warning, thinking that my account hadn't gone through properly.  I gave the
> effers my scaves account, asked for a new password, and then left it in a
> panic.
FWIW, did that email specifically refer to the business you had
transacted? If yes, then it's rather more likely to be legit.

Also, you can go to the real paypal site and change your password
again, notify them that you may have been phished, and they can
probably put a watch on it. Or you can call your banks (which were
recorded in your PayPal account) and ask them to do likewise. Although
you said that the info in your PP account is out of date - if so then
there's not much risk.

> But Sai, don't add grease to the fire by telling me that I can't tell
> fraudulant emails from real ones, as though I'm some naive little sh*t.
It's honestly not meant that way. :-/

- Sai