Down the Bog

I got one of those bogus and yet amusing emails yesterday advising me that my Paypal account had been compromised and that I would be unable to access it until I followed the link in the email and entered my personal account details.

I’ve copied the main content here.

“We have noticed several attempts of fraud. Seems like somebody tried to access your account. You are able to log into your account but all your payments are suspended untill you will update your personal information. PayPal works day and night to help keep your identity safe. That’s why it has come to our attention that your PayPal account information needs to be updated as part of our continuing commitment to protect your account and to reduce the instance of fraud on our website. If you could take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and update your personal records you will not run into any future problems with the online service”

Just reading through it leaves me with the impression that it’s completely bogus. Expressions like “seems like someone tried to access your account” makes me smile seeing as it’s trying to portray an official communication from Paypal with such poor writing.

I don’t know if it originates from overseas where the writers native tongue isn’t english or whether it’s someone who is not very good at writing but they could at least make an effort to write properly. On the other hand it’s much more amusing this way.

I’m being flippant but of course it’s worth emphasising that no financial institution or company will write to it’s customers asking them to follow a link and give their personal details or password. It will never happen unless it’s an attempt at fraud.

I like to feel that I can see these attempts a mile off but newcomers to the web (and there are still lots of them) quite possibly won’t and need to realise the importance of ignoring such nonsense.