# Important warning about a site that looks like Paypal, but isn't **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 27, 2002, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-warning-about-a-site-that-looks-like-paypal-but-isnt/116198 "2002-06-27T08:00:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-warning-about-a-site-that-looks-like-paypal-but-isnt/116198/1 "2002-06-27T08:00:17Z")
This is a warning I got in an email today from Bonehead of the Day Award. I don’t use PayPal myself, but thought that some of you might. > [@](#): > > TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS > AN IMPORTANT WARNING!! from the Bonehead Of The Day Award: > > Be careful if you receive an Email that claims to be from PayPal > telling you that you need to log into your account or it will be > terminated. The Email looks official and if you click on the link, it > takes you to a site that looks exactly like PayPal, for it grabs its > graphic content from the actual PayPal site, but the site is a spoof > meant to collect your login name and password > > This came to me today and when I downloaded the web site page source, it had code to Email both the ID and password to some lowlife who would have instantly transferred out all the money from my bank account and taken money from my credit card until it was maxed out. > > We immediately called the hosting service, [Bizhosting.com](http://Bizhosting.com), to alert > them. The site was taken down within 30 seconds. We also alerted the FBI. There is no telling how many accounts had been emptied and charge cards used up by the time we got the Email and exposed the scam. We only hope that they were able to catch these pigs. > > Be careful about any Email that wants you to go immediately to some site and enter private information. > > Please pass this around to your friends and acquaintances. F\_X (aka **Flamsterette[sup]TM[/sup]**… ask **Res** ) ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-warning-about-a-site-that-looks-like-paypal-but-isnt/116198/2 "2002-06-27T18:32:31Z")
:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-warning-about-a-site-that-looks-like-paypal-but-isnt/116198/3 "2002-06-27T19:45:47Z")
That warning most likely refers to the PAYPAI site, that came and went in July 2000. You can read about it [here](http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,s2080344,00.html)[here](http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,s2080344,00.html) The PayPai site was shut down very quickly and no longer exists, but the e-mail warnings about the site continue to this day. In a nutshell, evil sneaky people had a site called PayPa(lower case “I”), that looks like the authentic PayPal site, since the “I” looks like a lower case “L” in the navigation bar on some browsers (due to the ugly default font). Then they’d e-mail people to tell them they had a big, fat payment waiting for them. ---
**Author:** ![MannyL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MannyL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MannyL)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2002, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-warning-about-a-site-that-looks-like-paypal-but-isnt/116198/4 "2002-06-27T23:16:05Z")
Charmian that warning is about a new scam site. Damon from PayPal posted about on AuctionWatch ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-warning-about-a-site-that-looks-like-paypal-but-isnt/116198/5 "2002-06-28T04:30:16Z")
I got that e-mail recently… out of curiosity, I clicked on the link, and the site that it went to was a 404. I thought it was kind of stupid that they were trying to scam people with a website that didn’t even work. The e-mail I received had the Paypal logo, but it looked nothing like the real e-mails I get from Paypal. I tried to contact Paypal to tell them about it, but they make it way too hard to contact them about anything. ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-warning-about-a-site-that-looks-like-paypal-but-isnt/116198/6 "2002-06-28T04:55:00Z")
Be wary about _any_ email that asks you to confirm info (esp. password/account info)…I got a couple emails from a site claiming to be [eBay.de](http://eBay.de) that wanted me to go and confirm some info. I smelled something fishy since I am in the US and have never used [eBay.de](http://eBay.de).