Beware the false sense of urgency many phishing attacks cause.
The ongoing PayPal attack sends emails camouflaged as ‘unusual activity’ alerts warning you of suspicious logins from unknown devices. This campaign attempts to gather all your credentials and financial info. The newest phishing attack and how it works is explained here.
The following information is taken from the linked site.
PayPal lists the following signs you can look for to identify phishing messages easier:
- Impersonal, generic greetings are used; such as “Dear user” or “Dear [your email address]”
- Asks you to click on links that take you to a fake website
- Contains unknown attachments
- Conveys a false sense of urgency
- “Your account is about to be suspended,” “You’ve been paid,” or “You have been paid too much” warnings
Customers who have spotted a phishing message in their inbox posing as an official email sent by PayPal are asked to report it as soon as possible by forwarding it spoof@paypal.com and to delete it as soon as possible.
As always, the safest way to get to a site is to write the address of the site manually in the web browser or use a previously created bookmark if available to avoid being redirected to sites designed to collect your info or infect your computer with malware.