The purpose of this guide is to provide actual examples of spoof emails and how to stop them.

Information on spoof emails is located at the following eBay address: Stop Spoof Emails & Web sites

Every month it seems that I recieve an email concerning my PayPal account.

The PayPal account is in my wife's name with her personal email address.

I should not be getting these spoof emails at my email address where I work.

Here is an example stating that my PayPal account will be deactivated and deleted if not renewed immediately.

Dear PayPal Member,

This is your official notification from Paypal Management that the service listed below will be deactivated and deleted if not renewed immediately. Previous notifications have been sent to the Billing Contact assigned to this account. As the primary contact Primary Contact, you must renew the service below or it will be deactivated and deleted.

Thank you for using PayPal.

We appreciate your business and the opportunity to serve you.

PayPayl Management.

Sounds like a threatening demand letter. I really like the last sentence.

Another example is not as threatening and redirects me to another web address.

If you are not automatically redirected, CLICK HERE

At least I did not waste alot of time reading it.

Below is another example for me to securely confirm my information.

Dear PayPal member,

During our Security and Resolution Center regular maintainance it has come to our attention that your PayPal Billing Information is out of date. The update process is a very simple and fast one and it must be completed immediately in order to avoid any future issues - Terms of Service (TOS) violations, cancellation of service, account suspension or even account termination.
This process is mandatory, and if not completed within the nearest time your account may be subject for tempory suspension. To securely confirm your information please click on the link bellow:

//innovatietechniques.org/doc/webscr-login.php

We encourage you to log in and perform the steps necessary to restore your account access as soon as possible.

Copyright 2007 PayPal Inc. All Rights Reserved

This person needs to use the Spelling and Grammar feature of their word processing software.

I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but

• the word maintainance should be spelled maintenance and the word bellow should be spelled below and
• the use of the word nearest in the phrase "if not completed in the nearest time" is not good grammer.

Maybe a course in English As A Second Language would be helpful.

Here is a classic example of requesting information because my PayPal account has already been compromised.

Attention PayPal Online Client:

You have received this email because we have strong reason to believe that your PayPal account had been recently compromised.

In order to prevent any fraudulent activity from occurring we are required to open an investigation into this matter.

If your account informations are not updated within the next 72 hours, then we will assume this account is fraudulent and will be suspended. We apologize for this inconvenience, but the inconvenience, but the purpose of this verification is to ensure that your PayPal account has not been fraudulently used and to combat fraud.

Please login into your PayPal Online account and complete verification process

We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause and we would like to thank you for your cooperation as we review this matter.

This person also needs some instruction on using the Spelling and Grammar feature.

Famous last words: "the purpose of this verification is to ensure that your PayPal account has not been fraudulently used and to combat fraud."

What better way to combat fraud than to use fraud!

Now that you have seen several examples of spoof emails, let me suggest how to deal with them.

The first step is to always report these fake emails to PayPal.

Information on how to report fake (phising) emails can be accessed by clicking the:

• Security Center link at the bottom of the page,
• PayPal Security Center link in the Choose Topic area.
• Report fake (phishing) email link in the Report a problem area.

Once you have reported the spoof email to PayPal, you will receive an authentic reply/response from PayPal as pictured below.

Please take time to review the information at the PayPal Security Center.

The last step is to "block" the email address of the sender.

Your email software allows for customized email rejection.

Take time today to learn how to block or reject emails using the  features of your communications software.

I hope this guide has helped you recognize spoof emails and to understand the importance of reporting them to PayPal.