From: rob at ebeep.org (Rob Adams)
Subject: PayPal issues another blow to user security

[[Warning -- I do not speak for, nor do I represnt, my employer. --Rob]]

Aaron Horst reported earlier this week that Paypal violates their own 
anti-phish policy. He received an official email that included a 
clickable link to "paypalcreditcard.com." Their stated policy is that 
they will only ever link to "paypal.com." Paypalcreditcard.com appears 
to be a legitimate web site operated by Paypal's business partner, 
Providian Financial Corporation.

I received a similar solicitation. I forwarded it to the 
"spoof@...pal.com." I think you'll enjoy the response:

=================

Dear Rob Adams,

Thank you for contacting PayPal.

Thank you for bringing this suspicious email to our attention. We can 
confirm that the email you received; was not sent to you by PayPal. The 
website linked to this email is not a registered URL authorized or used 
by PayPal. We are currently investigating this incident fully. Please 
do not enter any personal or financial information into this website.  
 
If you have surrendered any personal or financial information to this 
fraudulent website, you should immediately log into your PayPal Account 
and change your password and secret question and answer information. 
Any compromised financial information should be reported to the 
appropriate parties.  
 
If you notice any unauthorized activity associated with your PayPal 
transaction history, please immediately report this to PayPal by 
following the instructions below:
 
1.  Go to https://www.paypal.com/ 
2.  Click on the Security Center at the bottom of the page  
3.  Click on "Report a Problem"
4.  Select the Topic: Report Fraud
5:  Select the Subtopic: Unauthorized use of my PayPal Account, and 
click Continue.
6.  Follow the instructions to access the appropriate form  

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us 
again.

=======================

Rob Adams

Aaron Horst wrote:

>Just when I thought that PayPal may actually care for
>their customers, I get the following message in my
>inbox:
>
>-------------------------------
>
>Dear *********, 
>
>This holiday season...
>
>Put PayPal Visa? at the top of your list!
>
>
>0% Intro APR* for purchases.  PLUS:
>
> 
>- $5 credit the first time you use your card
>
>- No PayPal sending limit - up to available credit on
>your card
>
>- No annual fee
>
>- New card designs to choose from! 
>  
> 
>https://www.paypalcreditcard.com/paypalbanner?banner_id=paypal/email/
>
>
>You'll have an online response in about 30 seconds. 
>
>* The intro APR on purchases applies for 3 billing
>periods after account opening. For complete pricing
>information and important terms and conditions, click
>here.  
>
>
>https://www.paypalcreditcard.com/paypalbanner?banner_id=paypal/email/
> 
>
>This PayPal notification was sent to
>******. Your notification preferences
>are set to receive the PayPal Periodical newsletter
>and Product Updates when you create a PayPal account.
>To modify your notification preferences and
>unsubscribe, go to https://www.paypal.com/PREFS-NOTI
>and log in to your account. Changes may take several
>days to be reflected in our mailings. For more
>information about the security of your information,
>read our Privacy Policy at
>https://www.paypal.com/privacy. Replies to this email
>will not be processed; if you would like to contact
>PayPal, please go to our online Help Center. 
>
>If you previously asked to be excluded from Providian
>product offerings and solicitations, they apologize
>for this e-mail. Every effort was made to ensure that
>you were excluded from this e-mail. If you do not wish
>to receive promotional e-mail from Providian, go to
>http://removeme.providian.com. 
>
>Copyright? 2003 PayPal, Inc. All rights reserved.
>Designated trademarks and brands are the property of
>their respective owners.  
>
>-------------------------------
>
>(NOTE: UID's removed)
>
>I put it off as just another ploy to get your vital
>information such as Social Security number, but decide
>to check it out anyway. What do you know, it's an
>"official" PayPal site! (See:
>https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_help-ext&leafid=1782
>)
>
>After all the work that others have done to help
>people keep their vital details safe, Providian spams
>all of the PayPal user base with advertisements to put
>your personal details into a "PayPal" site that is
>hosted on "www.paypalcreditcard.com"! This even goes
>against their own stated policy on avoiding web scams:
>
>?The term "spoofing" and "phishing" have been used to
>describe the act of collecting personal information
>using a fake email in order to commit identity theft,
>credit card and Internet fraud. If you receive an
>email that appears to come from PayPal and you click
>on a link, check to make sure the web address at the
>top of your web browser reads exactly www.paypal.com.?
>--
>https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_help-ext&leafid=56413
>
>This issue is a blow to me personally, as I have told
>many people time and again not to click on any links
>in any email that claims to be from PayPal, Ebay, or
>other scammer oriented target. This massively
>undermines the efforts that many people have put into
>ensuring that less then savvy users still are able to
>keep their private info private. I hope that PayPal or
>any of their affiliates never do something like this again.
>
>__________________________________
>Do you Yahoo!?
>New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing.
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>
>_______________________________________________
>Full-Disclosure - We believe in it.
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>
>  
>

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