The Phishers Aren't Trying Anymore

January 30, 2008 12:36 AM

I just got an email stating that Paypal's Account Review Department suspected an unauthorized transaction on my account. So, I did what any panicky user would do: I clicked on the big PayPal logo at the top of the page.

I immediately realized PayPal probably wouldn't send any emails with a reply-to address of akstcaagsemnsdgs@aagse.com

Ironically, the big PayPay logo at the top of the page was really and truly a link to https://www.paypal.com/. So had I logged in, I think I would have been safe. The tiny, normal, inline link to the "Resolution Center," however--that was the trap.

So--the most prominent link on the page takes you to the real site, and the link on the bottom of the page takes you to the phisher's site. Is it just me, or does that seem like the most ineffective scam ever?

Comments

Hmm...

Nathan Blevins • January 30, 2008 09:19 AM
On the flip side, it does offer a bit of legitimacy. I usually hover links in emails to see where they go and it they are legit. In that case, I probably would have hovered the PayPal link and moved on to the next.

Then again, maybe they would have just gotten lucky w/ me.. :)

On a side note, looks like you have a free floating " --> " comment ending on the upper-left side of the content area.

Legitimacy

Dylan Wolf • January 31, 2008 12:19 AM
I don't really think phishers look at legitimacy that much. It's like spammers--I don't think they proofread, or think about what will sell, or anything like that. If you send enough out, odds are someone will fall for it.

I think I fixed the comment thing. It's probably from where I commented out the Amazon ads... which were neat, but (1) probably pointless and (2) hosing up my site when they didn't work right.

Russell Hooper • February 5, 2008 06:41 AM
Isn't there this new thing where people have links to a site, usually your bank's online banking page, that appears to be 100% legit but is actually a scam to get your bank account number?

Could this be the same?