The Dell / Paypal phishing scam

This week I came into work and found an email from "PayPal Inc. Security Center" . This email informed me that I had purchased a Dell computer for $699.99.

Normally I would not fall for this, but I had indeed purchased a Dell at Best Buy just a few days prior, on my American Express card. So instead of an involuntary eye roll, I scanned quickly through the message, and clicked on a link for sbcglobal.net (note that sbc is the phone company for the midwest, where my in-laws live).

Here is where we come to lesson #1: don't click on anything.

It's crazy, but I tell my kids, relatives, people I know, my kids friends they drag over to the house, random people at the coffee shop--"don't click on anything you don't trust!" That includes not opening attachments. It's not like we were born yesterday.

However, I know you, Wise One reading this, will have already put together that little bit of trivia. Part of the reason I'm writing this is because someone actually came up with a scam that caught me. Dell is a popular brand and I'd imagine that on any given Monday there would be thousands of people who would have recently purchased a Dell computer. That part made me wonder who at Best Buy ... but we're talking sheer speculation.

So, on to lesson #2: use a browser that protects against phishing scams.  Please!!!

Firefox 3.0 is a pretty wonderful browser. I am a BIG fan of Firefox. It saved me (this time) from my stupidity! For free software, that's a pretty good deal.

The default installation for Firefox 3.0 asks if you want to turn on the phishing feature. Of course, I highly recommend it, and now even more that it's saved my skin (so to speak).

More in Part 2.