I got this email today. It’s what’s known as “phishing” where someone sends you a message that looks somewhat legitimate, to try to trick you into logging into an unknown website and entering private information. In this case, they tried to make it look like a message from PayPal. I’m a PayPal user, so this caught my eye at first. But not for long, because PayPal actually proofreads their messages before they send them out. Here’s a hint for phishers – if you want your bogus email message to look legitimate, run it through a spell checker and make sure to spell the name of “your” own company correctly.
See if you can count the number of errors in this message that a professional writer for an American company wouldn’t make (I got 5):
Dear valued paypal user,
We recently reviewed your account, and suspect that your PayPal account may have been accessed by an unauthorized third party. Portecting the security of your account and of the PayPal network is our primary concern.
Therefore, as a preventative measure, we have temporarily limited acces to sensitive PayPal account features.
Click below in order ti regain acces to your account:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=login-run
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and appreciate your assistance in helping us maintain the integrity of the entire PayPal system.
Thank you for your prompt attention in this matter.
Sincerely,
PayPal Team