Important: the new kind of scam

[janestarz]

From Slashdot:

IT: Voice Phishing Hits PayPal
Posted by CowboyNeal on Saturday July 08, @05:26PM

Chai Vanilla writes "The latest social engineering phishing attack is now using phones instead of fake web sites. Identity thieves have spammed fake PayPal account compromise warnings to lure users into dialing a phone number and giving up credit card information. Unlike normal phishing e-mails, there is no URL or response address. Instead, the e-mail urges the recipient to call a phone number and verify account details."

In the comments of the Slashdot page, there's one of these e-mails, verbatim:
(thanks to Faux_Pseudo)

PayPal
Account Verification
Dear $email_addres
You have received this email because we have strong reason to belive 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 Credit/Debit Card on file is not updated within the next 48 hours, then will assume this account is fraudulent and will be suspended. We apologise for this inconvenience, but the purpose of this verification is to ensure that your PayPal account has not fraudulently used and to combat fraud attempts.

To speed up the process, you are required to call us ($phone_number) to verify your PayPal account.

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

Regards,
PayPal Account Verification.
Copyright (c) 1999-2006 PayPal. All rights reserved.
--
Please do not reply to this e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered.

Just so you all know, Paypal always writes you with the NAME you supplied to them, i.e. Dear Jane Starz (yes, the complete name) and not your e-mail address. These e-mails are scams, they are trying to steal your money.
Spread the word.