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March 15, 2004

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I HATE SPAM and will not sell, rent, loan, auction, trade, or do anything else with your e-mail address. Period.

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Another bad phish

You've heard a lot about "phishing" recently, I'm sure, and you're probably on your guard. But even someone who's paying careful attention could be fooled by an e-mail I saw on Monday, March 15.

To see annotated larger views of the images, click any of the images shown below.

The message at the left claims to be from PayPal and it looks uncommonly legitimate. The huge list of bank names, URLs, and phone numbers at the right is a clever attempt to be convincing, but a detailed reading turns up a couple of small errors and an examination of the message's innards expose it for what it is.

Most of the links in the message actually GO to PayPal, but the critical one -- the one that asks you to "confirm" your information -- goes to an IP address. When I traced that, I found that it was registered in Australia:

The IP address, combined with additional information, resolves to a directory on what appears to be an association website in Asia. The site has probably been hijacked.

The page (at right) is nearly identical to PayPal's site, too. The graphics have all been stolen from PayPal. Here again, most of the links are TO PayPal, except for the one that asks for enough information to steal your PayPal account, your checking account, and your credit card.

You can't depend on your EYES to reveal a hoax these days. Any e-mail claiming to be from a business or organization that wants you to CONFIRM your information already HAS the critical bits of information, so you should never provide more information than the system shows you.

NEVER provide any of the following:

Account number or credit card number
Security code (no legitimate organization will EVER ask for this)
PIN (no legitimate organization will EVER ask for this)
Social Security Number
Checking/savings account number
Bank routing number
Mother's maiden name or any other "security question"

These are all examples of information the bank or company already KNOWS. If you are being asked to fill in an form to "CONFIRM" any of these, it's a hoax.

The only time someone can legitimately ask you for this kind of information is when you are ESTABLISHING an account. When you set up a PayPal account, for example, you'll be asked questions like this. No follow-up message will ever ask you for it again.

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Joe Bradley

Joe is the host of the Sunday morning program on WTVN radio. He still uses an original IBM PC and thinks Apples are only for eating.

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Bill manages to remember how to get to WTVN most Sunday mornings. He can turn any computer to sludge, whether Windows or Mac.

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