BB FANS

Got this very convincing looking Email supposedly from PayPal which included the Email address I have registered with PayPal but has it had appeared in the Junk folder and not the PayPal one I knew that chances of it being genuine was slim.

Now I use Outlook Express with loads of message rules to sort everything into which makes things tidy. I've also got the 'Preview' pane closed so you only open a message if you want to by double-clicking it.

So in this case I right-clicked the message and selected Properties and selected the 'Details' tab. In there you see all the header information which is basically everywhere it's been en-route to you. And I have to say most of it looked as it should for a real Email from them.
There was one header that looked suspect.
Next I clicked on the 'Message Source' button and the message was in plain text say that the account they thought had been accessed by a third part etc.
The came the bit where they asked me to confirm some of my details by going to a website with an IP address of 202.127.107.xxx at the start.

First rule is that they and just about every other service will Never ask you to click any link to access you account from an Email but you would be asked to login at the main site.

Now out of curiosity I entered just the IP address into the browser in this PC (Firefox) and the adware add-on instantly told me that the site had been reported as a bogus site used to fraudulently obtain user details. The index page does have some links on there but nothing else.

Please never login to a site from an Email reporting to be from Banks ,creditcard companies etc. And never fill in login forms in Emails again that claim to be from any of the above as again you'll Never be asked to do this by the genuine site.

Always ensure that you have anti-virus software installed and up to date.
I'd also recommend to download some anti-Spyware software and keep it up to date. I'd also recommend you install a good third-party Fireware rather than rely on the Built-in one in Windows.

I have firewalls in two routers between by computers and the Internet and have third-party Firewall software installed on all of them. Two have the full Pro versions which give them a triple layer defence. And have Anti-spyware on the two that actually go on-line eg surf. The third just does Email collecting 24/7 and is never used with a Browser.

If someone if hell bent on getting access to your system I say make it as hard as possible for them.

I haven't see any bogus eBay ones recently but PayPal and Banks are certainly doing the rounds at present. Tread carefully and be safe.

Thanks for the info, Larry.

I keep getting final demands to claim my *British Lottery* winnings of nearly a million quid. These emails have sneeked through to my main email account, and although I'd love them to be true...

NTL are doing a good job blocking most of the junk mail but a handful get through some days.
So anything that looks suspicious gets the Delete key without inspection.
The Ebay /Paypal ones have their source looked at just in case there's anything worth following up. Ebay messages I'm sure would appear on-site in the message system 'My Messages'.

There are far too many people every year getting caught by scams / bogus mail.

'This Morning' had a spot the other day on this subject and one pensioner has spent all here savings replying to these ones saying she had won something but had to send an admin fee. Think they said she had run up debts to £30000 (Thirty Thousand)!
They said that there is a list where if you reply to one your name goes on and this list is sold on repeatedly to different companies who each send out more of the same type of mail. The pensioner was getting so much mail that the post office was making a special trip just to deliver her mail. And once on the list it appears there's no way of getting removed from it.

It's another sad reminder of todays society.

Thanks for that one Larry. I received the same one on Wednesday and realised it was a scam but contacted PayPall. They came back and asked for the complete email + headers etc and said they were going to sort it. I even received a phonecall thanking me for my help.

The big laugh is I don't have a paypal account and never use them