While the Filipino freelancers, online buyers and sellers are excited of their Paypal account, the paypal fakers are also busy thinking of strategy on how they will effectively perform their fraudulent acts in the Philippines.

We need extra vigilance. Why, because these phishers will be taking advantage of the situation. Doing it just in time – when everyone else is still in their after-registration excitement, updating profiles or verification stage. And I believe these people are also aware of how we / our country, Philippines hopefully waited for the full availability of Paypal .

So guys, beware.

Just a few hours ago, I received an email that says: Critical Information Regarding Your Account

Some of the information you provided was incorrect. Please take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and update your personal records. Failure to update your records will result in account suspension.

Still yawning, I clicked the link. I started the day positively and yes I’m still sleepy that I cannot yet function well to spot phishing.

If not for this warning below, I’ll be crying right now and cursing the fakers for stealing my TLA / blog / design earnings, financial informations and my online account identity.

I immediately forward the email to spoof@paypal.com. Paypal replied and and told me to run a security scan of my computer since I clicked on a link inside of a spoofed email.

So here’s few basic tips to protect yourself:

1. If you’re using a Mozilla, got to Options>Security.

2. Check “Tell me if the site I’m visiting is a suspected forgery” (I’m so thankful for this warning)

3. Read, digest and never ever provide your account info.

4. When in doubt:

Never respond or click on any of the links in the email message
Do not change the subject line or edit the email in any way.
Forward it immediately to spoof@paypal.com. Then delete it.

5. Perform security scan on your computer.