[X4U] re recent thread on paypal phishing emails

[Ed Gould]

On Mar 18, 2009, at 7:48 AM, Linda wrote:

> On 3/18/09 7:30 AM, Ed Gould wrote:
>
>> I got an phishing email, so I thought I would report it.
>> I went to the banks web site and I looked and looked and looked and
>> could not find any contact information.
>> The only way I could contact them was *IF* I had an account.
>> Now you tell me who should I contact in those circumstances?
>
> There are several email addresses that just about every company has  
> created
> in this day and age:
>
> abuse@[insertnamehere].com (or .net, or .info, or .us, or .biz, etc.)
> postmaster@[insertnamehere].com
> spoof@[insertnamehere].com
> spam@[insertnamehere].com
>
> and even if those addresses aren't "live", domains can be set up so  
> that
> mail that doesn't come to a legitimate email address is still  
> routed to
> another box at the company.
>
> You might get bounces using one of those addresses, or you might  
> not. If you
> get a bounce, well, you tried; if the email goes through, well hot dog
> you've helped them out a little.
>
> One thing that hasn't been mentioned in the thread so far (that I've
> noticed, anyway) is that when forwarding these emails to the proper
> authorities, you should if possible include the long headers where  
> the real
> info about sending IP, etc., is stored.
>
> You should also forward spam and phishing emails to spam at uce.gov.  
> The FTC
> uses the crap that's sent to them to pursue legal action against  
> phishers.
>
> <http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/tech/tec02.shtm>
>
> And, if you can handle yet ONE MORE forward of the email, that link  
> says you
> should also send a copy to your own ISP, so that they can take  
> steps to
> blacklist the IP the spammers are using.
>
> ~Linda
>

Yes I know about the "special" cases the point I was attempting to  
make was a typical user ie "joe six-pack" does not know about these.
The web site, IMO if they are serious about stopping phishing should  
have contact information on the front page (or at least under a  
"contact" place where everyone has access to.

Ed