This has been around for a while. Not getting scammed is very easy... All you have to do is remember one simple fact - companies do not email individuals about these topics.

I get these Phishing attempts (from PayPal, from ebay, from various banks I may or may not have a relationship with) all the time.  I forward them, with headers, to the abuse address at whatever institution may be being spoofed, as well as the ISP of the sender (you can find it in the headers) and to the FTC (spam@uce.gov) in hopes that they will be tracked down and prosecuted.  If nothing else, the more reports on a particular person that the FTC gets, the more evidence they'll have when it DOES get to court (which can take a long time) and if the institution being spoofed is notified, they can bring their greater weight to bear in pushing for investigation and prosecution.  I send it to the ISP so that they can investigate and perhaps shut down the internet account, at least causing a bit of trouble for the criminal attempting to perpetrate identity theft. 

These scammers have been around for years.  Over the last few years they have become far more sophisticated employing even PayPal graphics in their emails.  PayPal does not ask for your personal account information this way, period !  If you get any email that does not address you by name, reads like broken english, asks for your personal account information, asks you to log into your account using a link, don't do it.  You can forward a copy of the email to PayPal for investigation.  Be sure to include the email header information.  Usually you can get that by right clicking on the email (it shouldn't be open), copy the information in the window, paste it to the top of the email that you will forward to PayPal and then send.  After you forward it, delete the darn thing !

This is nothing new. One immediate clue is the scam emails start off addressed to "Paypal User" not your real name. Official Paypal emails use your full name you registered with them.  

This FBI spoof isn't one I've run into before, but its so pathetically written, I don't worry much about it succeeding. Anyone foolish enough to fall for it likely doesn't have a chance anyway.

Dear Michael,

Paypal users are not the only ones that are being scammed. I just got not one but two emails 'from' Yahoo' stating I had to give them my: name, address, country of origin, logon and password in order to keep my account. Of course both emails were not from Yahoo, but a comcast address and a verizon email address. My advice, be wary about anyone asking for your personal information however innocuous. Have a great day"!

Betina

Oh, no need to worry about anyone scamming me Betina. You are correct, theres scams out there for just about anything. Seems I got one last week asking if I wanted to join in on a class-action lawsuit. Oviously you need to send money for fee's. Thats a new one.

Thanks for the warning, I have a Paypal account on my website to sell my DVD's.  I did get an email a few days ago about my card expiring so I guess i was hit also, BUT I went to my paypal account and checked and there was nothing.

Michael,

There's so much out there to avoid. It's hard to tell what's real and what isn't. I get emails supposedly from about 6 banks a week that I've never heard or don't do business with - to update my info.

Steve

The bank emails look a bit like this:

From: WATERMARK Credit Union <service@watermarkcu.org>
Subject: Internet Banking Account Locked
To:
Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2008, 5:36 AM

...   Dear Member,

   This is your official notification from Watermark Credit Union that the service(s) listed below
   will be suspended and deleted if not renewed immediately. Previous notifications have
   been sent to the Billing Contact assigned to this account. As the Primary Contact, you
   must renew the service(s) listed below or it will be suspended and deleted.


   Renew Now your account at Watermark Credit Union immediately.
   SERVICE: Online Banking.
   EXPIRATION: July, 10 2008  

   Thank you for using Watermark Credit Union Home Banking service. We appreciate your business and the opportunity to serve you.      Watermark Credit Union Member Service  

Michael,

I get "update your account info" emails all day and nignt...everyday...from all kinds of places where I don't have an account.  When I had a PayPal account I got scary emails saying "someone just used your PayPal accoutn, please update" and I cancelled my PayPal account as a result.  Later I realized it was a scam email...but it turned me off to PayPal entirely.

We take the position of never responding to any e-mails that come from Pay Pal , banks or anything else that wants info. It is best to originate the contact oneself.

Yes, ARDELL, I've seen those too. They want you to believe someone is attempting to access your account. Poor PayPal, not a lot they can do about it. I received emails supposedly from Wells Fargo, and Bonk of America as well.

As I said earlier, the only truly new scam I've seen lately is the fake lawyer emails telling me I'm part of a class action lawsuit against some drug manaufacturer and stand to win a fortune. It a bit like the newspaper ads you see with similar notifications, except of course these aren't real lawyers.

Although there are many clues, the very first one "Dear Member"  - as pretty much all banks, PayPal, etc, state your name, not member.

Great Michael thanks, I sent this on to my daughter who does everything by pay pal...I just saw same mail from there sitting on her desk...................so there might be something of interest here for her....:-)  Thanks!  

Your welcome, many have fallen for the scam, and once they clean out your PayPal account, you don't get it back. Paypal isn't liable for you giving out your account info.