Blocking out the eBay and PayPal Phish

October 4th, 2007 at 11:54 am

THAT IS VARY GOOD

October 4th, 2007 at 12:34 pm

Glad to see this , GREAT

October 4th, 2007 at 12:34 pm

Great , Glad you did this

October 4th, 2007 at 12:40 pm

Great news! Can you eliminate the viagra people next!!! :^)

October 4th, 2007 at 1:07 pm

Yahoo is blocking my Windows mail via my ISP Suddenlink.net. Suddenlink tells me they are working with Yahoo to correct this problem. I have several relatives that use Yahoo mail exclusive but I like to send them HTML email through Windows mail that I can’t through Yahoo.

I feel your SPAM blocking procedures need adjusting.

October 4th, 2007 at 1:38 pm

this is cool do you make your own avatar?? please help me!

October 4th, 2007 at 1:49 pm

good it was time.

October 4th, 2007 at 2:03 pm

I am glad to hear that Yahoo has taken this action with eBay and PayPal. I recently cancelled my eBay and PayPal accounts because of excessive phish warnings from eBay. This change gives me confidence I can now go back and create an account in eBay.

October 4th, 2007 at 2:08 pm

This is great for commercial companies that agree to help providers block phishing, I am really glad Paypal and EBay are working hard to help prevent phishing and I hope the large commercial companies like banks, that handle lots of consumer transactions and information, follow suit.

The problem with this approach as a *general* solution is that there are plenty of legitimate reasons why you would put a different return address on your email than the originating domain that sent the email.

All those websites that allow you to put a retrun address, when for instance you want to send an article on a website to a friend, will be rejected as spam if this approach is adopted as an industry-wide standard. A lot of filters already flag email where the return address is not the same as the sending domain as spam, and that’s just too restrictive.

I like the Bayesian filters that I train myself, to filter based on MY criteria - I prefer letting in a little bit of spam vs throwing legitimate email into the bit-bucket

October 4th, 2007 at 3:13 pm

Hey I keep having a malfunction with my Yahoo! Mail. Every time I log in it tells me that I have 7 new messages or such number through my messenger are they having a problem with their database?

Thanks

October 4th, 2007 at 3:17 pm

This is a good use of tech know how I hope it does not stop. Keep up the the good work. We really appreciate it. Thank you yahoo,Ebay and PayPal.

October 4th, 2007 at 4:45 pm

Great news. I think most organizations should adopt this as well.

October 4th, 2007 at 5:34 pm

Great news, prove it works, then notify us again.
Thanks

October 4th, 2007 at 6:51 pm

The word “phish” is cute, but is itself part of the problem. Both Ebay and Paypal did not want to have people leave in droves, so they supported the “cute” terminology called “Phishing”, probably ot buy themselves some time to fix the problem.

However, it is far more serious than that. All this phishing has undermined the confidence of many people , and cost us dearly, In real life….In millions of real dollars we really cannot afford to lose.

In real life, if someone “phished” my check book. (In other words “forged” my checks) they would have some serious “real life” hell to pay.

But,hey, this is cyberspace and the funds really didn’t come out of my bank account. Hey, Anybody know why my Paypal Balance is negative?????

JOHN

PS: The fella who allowed emails to disguise them selves as being from Bank of America when they are really from slovania….(key ingredient to “phishing”) otta be shot. (Virtually of course)

October 4th, 2007 at 7:00 pm

You might also be looking into phishing on Western Union as well.

October 4th, 2007 at 7:20 pm

Yeah I second the motion on western union and the Nirobi guy wanting information so he can give cash, yeah right.

October 4th, 2007 at 9:02 pm

Great, thanks! but this was way overdue and should have been done months ago. I lost my eBay identity to a phisher from a Yahoo mail and was very fortunate eBay came to my rescue. I guess now we shouldn’t kill the messenger.

October 4th, 2007 at 9:20 pm

I’d like to see those spammers telling of UK Lottery Winners…I get 2-5 of those a day!

October 4th, 2007 at 10:39 pm

eBay and PayPal both warn members that they do not solicit via email, nor do they ask for passwords, account numbers, etc. It’s not difficult to weed out “phishers” because if you did not initiate email contact with either of the above, and you get email from them, you know immediately that it’s bogus.
As for contests, if you didn’t enter it, why on earth could you win it? Is that concept too difficult to understand?
It’s very easy to weed out bogus emails. I wish yahoo would allow keyword blocking instead of just address or domain blocking. I’d block any email that had, in the subject, any character(s) that were not alpha/numerical, and especially the word Viagra! LOLOL You don’t have to be a genius to understand that you must NEVER give out personal information over the internet, unless you’re positive the site is secure and legit.
Here is another hint that may help some people who buy over the internet. Buy a credit card that allows you to preset the spending limit, such as the new Green Dot Visa. They work like a pay-as-you-go phone card. Only fill the card with the amount you intend to spend. After your purchase, keep only a minimum amount on that card, then if that credit card number is compromised, no one can use a card with just a dollar balance! You can’t charge over the limit that you set, and you can just throw the card out if the account number is stolen. It might be slightly inconvenient, but that’s better than being wiped out and your indentity stolen!

October 5th, 2007 at 1:04 am

Good for all user. You need to join this.

October 5th, 2007 at 1:57 am

hello to eveeryone

October 5th, 2007 at 4:31 am

This is fraud and something needs to be done about it! I don’t know who to contact about it, so if I am in the wrong place maybe you can steer me in the right direction.

CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA
TINUBU SQUARE, VICTORIA ISLAND,
LAGOS-NIGERIA
[OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR]
TELEPHONE/FAX 234-8027-080-710
E-MAIL:officegov_cbn03@yahoo.com
IMMEDIATE FUND PAYMENT NOTIFICATION
MAV/NNPC/FGN/MIN/009

Attention: Beneficiary/Inheritor

We apologies, for the delay of your payment as directed by Dr. William Okon and all the inconveniences and inflict that we might have indulge you through. However, we were having some minor problems with our payment system, which is inexplicable, and have held us stranded and indolent, not having the aspiration to devote our 100% assiduity in accrediting foreign fund payments.

From the records of outstanding fund due for payment with the Federal Government of Nigeria your name and company is on the list who have not received their payments for the Federal Project Executed.

I wish to inform you that your payment is being processed and will be released to you as soon as you respond to this letter. Also note that from the record in my file your outstanding fund payment is USD$18Millions Dollars but what we are going to pay you now is USD$8 million dollars the rest of your money will be pay to you in next two month so kindly contact us for the immediate transfer of your already approved funds ok!

Please re-confirm to me if this is inline with what you have in your record and also re-confirm to me the followings.

1) your full name.
2) Phone, fax and mobile #.
3) Company name, position and address.
4) Profession, age and marital status.
5) Working Id/Int’l passport.
6) Bank name/address/Bank account

As soon as this information is received and confirmed, your payment will be made to you VIA KEY TESTED TRANSFER (KTT) from Central Bank of Nigeria. As a result of the on-going drive of the Government to update its books and clear payment to contractors, I strongly recommend that you
promptly start your clearance as soon as possible for more
clarification and for immediate transfer of your funds

YOURS SINCERELY,

PROFESSOR CHARLES C. SOLUDO,
GOVERNOR, CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA (CBN).

October 5th, 2007 at 4:45 am

“Great news, prove it works, then notify us again.”
I’m with Jim on this.

October 5th, 2007 at 5:46 am

FABULOUS

October 5th, 2007 at 6:34 am

to mike’s comment on the “you have won series” send me your account # blah blah blah… I didn’t see any related comments on blocking this type of phishing. I supposedly have been the reciepent of over 30 million dollars (if you add them up) sure would like to nail these guys . Any suggestions?

October 5th, 2007 at 7:09 am

Not too mention the 10 I get a day telling me someone wants to give me 35% of a few million dollars if I just give my bank account info. This will be a great tool!

October 5th, 2007 at 7:21 am

For those of you with ebay and paypal accounts, you can safeguard your account passwords etc. by downloading the ebay toolbar to your web browser. this will warn you if you are entering your password on a site not authorized by ebay. good job yahoo! hopefully the nigeria scams will be on your list of things to tackle soon.

October 5th, 2007 at 7:22 am

very good

October 5th, 2007 at 7:43 am

i was wondering why i havent seen those emails in a while - good job!

October 5th, 2007 at 7:55 am

I agree with Rob, can the viagra people be blocked next!

October 5th, 2007 at 8:39 am

I think that before an email (be it spam or not) is sent to me, it should be filtered by whether I can reply directly to it to a verified email address. If not, then I shouldn’t ever receive it in the first place. It shouldn’t come to my in box, out box, or any other damn box if I cannot reply to it and spam the dirty B#@&*@d back !!!!!

Aarcane

October 5th, 2007 at 8:40 am

great your a greast service thanks

October 5th, 2007 at 8:42 am

Regarding the “we have money for you” emails, these guys are using an old con that conmen have been using for CENTURIES. They use the “mark’s” own greed against them. If you feel your greed thermometer rising when you read these emails, it is your own common sense telling you to RUN in the other direction.
I have used the asterisk in my yahoo email to block all emails coming from African states. I don’t correspond with people from that part of the world, and I would guess most of the folks here don’t, either. Just FYI

October 5th, 2007 at 9:18 am

I received an email relating to seeking me to “clarify” information re my paypal account - I forwarded the email to Paypal and they were on top of it.

October 5th, 2007 at 9:43 am

John, phishers make a fake PayPal email that looks identical to the real thing… except the underlying reply address differs. These people are evil, unrelated to the real site. Note a real site will not make spelling or grammar mistakes in their email.

Aarcane, there are many good sites that do not give a reply address in certain cases. (I agree that they should though.) For example, if you forget your ID or password, they can email that info back to you; usually the sender is something like DoNotReply@yahoo.com.

Everyone, check out Scopes.com. They give a lot of information about scams, fake mail, and bad rumors.

October 5th, 2007 at 10:46 am

Good news, and about time. I wish this was in place a few years ago, but later is better than never. Keep up the good work

October 5th, 2007 at 11:14 am

OK. I am not that email savvy. I have never heard of the asterisk option. How does it work?

October 5th, 2007 at 11:22 am

Far too many legitimate emails end up in my Spam folder, and far too many Spam messages in my inbox.
Though I agree that this is a good idea in the cases of PayPal & eBay, I don’t trust Yahoo’s filtering technology to make the right decisions about what to block in most other cases.

October 5th, 2007 at 12:02 pm

Now if the world could just do something about all the widows and children of former Nigerian prime ministers who need help relocating their millions of dollars.

October 5th, 2007 at 12:52 pm

I AM GLAD TO HERE THE GOOD NEWS. NOT REALLY THE SAME THING BUT JUST A FEW WEEKS AGO I CALLED MYSELF BUYING A SIDEKICK 3 FROM CRAIGSLIST (FIRST TIME INTERNET SHOPPER) I FIGURED THAT I COULD TRUST THE SITE I THOUGHT CRAIGSLIST AND EBAY WERE SIMILIAR. ANYWAYZ, EVERYTHING WAS GREAT I PURCHASED THE PHONE BUT NEVER RECEIVED IT. I KEPT GETTING DIFFERENT EMAILS UPIN THE PRICE FIRST THE PHONE WAS ON ITS WAY, THEN THEY NEEDED MORE MONEY SERCURITY CLEARENCE & SHIPPING WHICH WAS NOT MENTION ONCE IN OUR EMAILS OR ON CRAIGSLIST. I SAVED ALL THE EMAILS IT WAS ABOUT 100 EMAILS. I ALSO EMAILED CRAIGSLIST ON SEVERAL DIFFERENT LOCATIONS EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPEN AND ASK WHAT STEP SHOULD I TAKE NEXT AND NOTHING THEY NEVER RESPONDED ONCE.

NOW IF YOU COULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT THESE KIND OF SCAMS THAT WOULD BE GREAT.

BUT THANKS FOR ALL THAT YOU ARE TRYING TO ANYWAYZ IT IS NICE TO KNOW THAT SOME BUSINESSES ACTION DO TRY TO HELP US AND NOT GET OVER ON PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY CAN.

October 5th, 2007 at 12:56 pm

APOLOGIES TYPING TOO FAST (SEVERAL DIFFERENT OCCASIONS……)(SOME BUSINESSES ACTUALLY DO…..)

October 5th, 2007 at 1:04 pm

Go to onlineauction.com its only 8 bucks a month list as much as you want for 8 bucks! Get rid of the monopoly of ebay. ola.com or onlineauction.com stand up to the giants!

October 5th, 2007 at 1:07 pm

What do you mean you do not correspond to people in that part of the world (AFRICA) You guess most folks here don’t.

hopefully you are speaking on SPAM. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH PEOPLE FROM THAT PART OF THE WORLD. PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE AND EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. WE ARE ALL EQUAL. WE MIGHT NOT ALL BE FARE BUT WE ARE ALL EQUAL.

FYI MS. DONNA

October 5th, 2007 at 1:08 pm

I AGREE MR. MIKE
AND ALSO THE UNITED KINGDOM DOES THE SAME THING.

October 5th, 2007 at 2:59 pm

Yes ,yes,yes there are many scams and crooked schemes around-WATCH OUT!!!! Another rteal good source of suspect scams is ….paul@pauls-scam-review.com…..ciao….jimmy

October 5th, 2007 at 3:04 pm

WATCH OUT FOR THE CROOKED SCAMS!!!!!!A GOOD PLACE TO GO TO TO CHECK THESE TYPES OF THINGS IS……..PAUL@PAULS-SCAM-REVIEW.COM.CIAO,JIMMY

October 5th, 2007 at 5:45 pm

IRS Scam
Anyone else received an email about how the IRS made a mistake on your federfal return and owe you $142.31? I was surprised when I saw this email, followed the links to sites that look exactly like the IRS.gov sites! But beware, not the IRS, or the treasury, look at the url, unsecured http…..

October 5th, 2007 at 6:53 pm

For future reference: Every scam email I have ever received claiming to be from either ebay, paypal, AOL,and other scams, has contained either spelling errors, grammatical errors, or both. If the English is shabby then I hit delete. Sometimes, if I’m feeling feisty, I reply that if the sender wants to be taken seriously they should check spelling and grammar. Then I tell them that I CC: to the Better Business Bureau. May not fix the problem, but it makes me feel better!

October 5th, 2007 at 7:18 pm

This is the best thing ever. I can’t believe it.

October 6th, 2007 at 1:11 am

I just reply to the lottery scams go f— yourself and have been receiving less of them now

October 6th, 2007 at 4:00 am

Continue to eliminate these spams. It would be nice if you could eliminate all of them. To those who are receiving, please don’t fall for anything that promises you more than they are asking for. Go through your mail and spam out the real junk and delete the stuff such as your Travel angencies that you don’t want to deal with at this time and procede to read your mail that you have interest in. Sam

October 6th, 2007 at 5:15 am

Great. So because people are stupid enough to fall for these obvious scams, those of us who run our own mailservers on dynamic IP addresses have to put up with the inconvenience of having our email to Yahoo blocked. I don’t like phishing, I don’t like spam, but making email increasingly difficult to use is not the answer.

October 6th, 2007 at 5:17 am

Is this blocking only in the email? For several weeks now I have been & still am being blocked when I try to access different websites. Yahoo throws up an ERROR #999, unable to comply at this time, blocking me. Says check for viruses (which I,ve done), report it to isp (which I,ve done), or whatever else is on it. Contacting yahoo gets me nowhere. HELP! what is this & how do I get rid of it??

October 6th, 2007 at 6:43 am

I like what yahoo has done, i am a seller and buyer on Ebay, the first i look for is the Domain Key, where it originates from then i know for sure, it is authentic!!! Keep up the good work yahoo!!!!

October 6th, 2007 at 8:01 am

Also need some protection to spammers as penny stocks sellers and Rolex replica watches sellers.

October 6th, 2007 at 9:26 am

great info lots of people believe these e-mails

October 6th, 2007 at 9:30 am

great info, some people are really gullable and have lost a lot.

October 6th, 2007 at 12:03 pm

Although Yahoo is getting credit for this, I send my congrats to EBay and PayPal who has taken the steps to use Domain Keys on their email messages.

As for people who have been nailed by phishers or scams…good grief, where have you been all these years? Anything unsolicited is SPAM. It is worse than junk mail you receive via USPS because there are laws that can be actuated if you get scammed via the mail. Corporations know this, which explains why they spend millions of dollars every year sending you junk mail.

Therefore, if you get mail from a “company” that you did not request that is promising you rewards, asking you for any kind of personal information, or telling you that your account has been compromised and you should change your password…IT IS A SCAM…DELETE IT.

If your account is ever truly compromised, even EBay and PayPal will send you a written letter. This is called covering their a** from lawsuit, and is required by law.

If you get scammed, don’t blame anyone else but yourself. Yes, the criminals doing it are partially to blame, but they didn’t respond to the email that truly compromised your account information. May sound harsh, but I feel no sympathy. Much like in law, ignorance is no excuse.

If you have had your identity stolen, because your information has been stolen by a method other than providing the information themselves are true victims and I feel compassion towards those individuals.

October 6th, 2007 at 1:56 pm

okey dokey

This is on the right track.. now if you could also stop the BAnk of America and other Bank phishers.. and lets not forget the terminally ill millionaires, and the winnings for lotteries out of the country that we never heard of and for sure did not enter.. or WIn… then life in the trash bin of the email by yahoo would be an empty place..

I happen to like empty!!!

Who.. if anyone knows can we report these scammers to since they are out of the country? I would love to know if there is a joint international effort to arrest them.. because i know that there are alot of STUPID GREEDY

October 6th, 2007 at 6:34 pm

If all else fails try spam@uce.gov

October 6th, 2007 at 7:46 pm

Your clogging my computer up with too much blogging/chat replies. Did anyone figure this? D.S.

October 6th, 2007 at 10:12 pm

For some reason…Google mail doesn’t have this issue. Get tons of spam with Yahoo…but hardly any with Google. Since I have free POP3 access and hardly any spam to worry about with Google… something is amiss with Yahoo needing to do this with all of spam I get everyday. In one week…I don’t have enough fingers/toes to count how much spam I get on Yahoo…but less than a handful in two weeks on Google.

October 7th, 2007 at 3:54 am

Anyone that opens e-mail from a sender they don’t recognize or have corresponded with, shouldn’t be using e-mail.

October 7th, 2007 at 5:25 am

I have followed the trail back and it goes to the US .gov. Most of this mail from Nirobi guy and others is sponsored by the Chinese & Canadians.Check out the companies that are doing this to our computer networks an