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Phishing and Real Estate…
May 22nd, 2007 categories: Real Estate News
What do phishing and real estate have in common?? maybe nothing, but at the risk of being a little lot off-topic, I’ve got to share something with you in a rant, but also in the hopes that it will help you, too.
I have bought and sold a few items on EBay, and though no where near even a frequent user, firmly believe in the great opportunities there. Seems that virtually all the users of EBay use PayPal to pay for their purchases and be paid for selling something. With a PayPal account a person can have money securely transferred directly in and out of their bank account – like maybe their checking account. It’s a little un-nerving at first as it sort of feels you are opening your bank account for the world to see.
Nevertheless, there are those types out there who want nothing more than to separate you from your money. I just received an email with very believable wording, graphics, etc. They even had a PayPal copyright graphic at the bottom. The message was basically that they had noticed several attempts to login to my account from overseas, and that unless I was traveling overseas, it is probably unauthorized. It even went on to say that they are committed to security, blah, blah. Pretty bold statement – I guess even crooks have a sense of humor.
I consider myself pretty cynical when it comes to these sort of emails. Usually there are some pretty obvious signs like obvious typos, bad grammar, etc. This was quite well written, and combined with the fact that I had recently used my PayPal account, I was alarmed. Of course the email “conveniently” provided a link that I was to click on and then follow the instructions. Looking at the link it had the “https” prefix which often suggests a secure address. It included the PayPal address with other believable sections of the address.
Still being skeptical, I opened a second 
window and went to PayPal’s site. Woo…hoo… I did the right thing. To PayPal’s credit, they had an entire section devoted to security and particularly emails of this type. Two things that they listed on their site were enormous red flags in the email. First of all, it says, they will not send an email to a client without addressing the email to me using my first and last name. This particular email had no greeting. The second red flag and maybe the most incriminating thing was that it said to point my mouse to the link and look in the lower part of the screen to see where it was actually linking to. Lo and behold the link was to a site in Romania…. Dang, I should have thought of that. I was so hung up on the link, I didn’t even look there…
So, in the end, my skepticism worked, I didn’t give out any personal info, and thanks to PayPal for a great job of helping us stay a little more secure. I learned a nice lesson here…. So I wish you a pleasant – “Be careful out there….”
June 5th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Portland Place has also catered for many rich and famous tourists. Emperor Louis III, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward, to name but a few, have graced the Langham Hilton with their presence.
www.33portlandplace.com