Basically never even bother reading anything that randomly appears in your inbox like this, almost all of them will be obvious scams.
I got the same e-mail on April 24, 2012. Forwarded it to "spoof@paypal.com" and it was confirmed as fraudulent.
Good luck straightening the mess out. John
If I were you, I would contact Paypal customer service via telephone and tell them what happened, I am sure they can advise you on corrective measures.
Log into your PayPal account. Under Contact Us, find call. When you click on that you will get a phone number and a pass code number.
John
See, that's the problem. How do I know I'm logging into my real account, and not the paypal phishing site? They could show the number of a fake customer service setup. Maybe I am being too paranoid, but I do NOT want them to get more information from me than they already have.
Have an e-bay account? I always use the portal from e-bay to paypal when doing anything with paypal.
The PayPal number is 1-888-221-1161
As for the e-mail, I have found going to properties (right click) very useful in detecting the real thing; although, I would not put complete faith in that. The phished sites will usually have a return or something that is suspicious. The one I got was "help@payp.support18.com"
I would still recommend logging in, get the number (same as above) and your own pass code. If the phone number matches that is probably a good sign. The pass code's I have gotten were 6 numeric digits. Actually, I have never called PayPal.
If it's a DNS spoof, then try going to one of paypal's addresses:
C:\Users\Owner>nslookup www.paypal.com
Server: UnKnown
Address: 10.0.1.1
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: active-www.paypal.com
Addresses: 173.0.88.34
173.0.84.2
173.0.84.34
173.0.88.2
Aliases: www.paypal.com
www.paypal.com.akadns.net
wlb.paypal.com.akadns.net
and I do recommend www.malwarebytes.com (not free, but very low cost) and Microsoft Security Essentials (free).
Initial scans should be made in safe mode and not connected to the internet. MSE will take a few hours to complete.
Interesting, DerStrom. I get the same messages on Chrome and on Firefox.
I understand your feelings of vulnerability. It is like when your home is invaded, you never feel safe again.
Spoof will probably respond, but it will all be by e-mail.
I think the likelihood that the PayPal phone number has also been hacked is remote -- that would be a Federal crime. I would prefer talking to a real person. Do you have the ability to record a phone? (I believe Vermont is a one-party state.)
John
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