Paypal is pissing me off...

[suicideneil]

Instead of clicking on the link that appears in these fake emails, just 'mouse-over' it, and look at the address in the status bar at the bottom of the screen. It will be some random address or close copy of the real paypal/ebay website, but is clearly a fake address designed to steal your details.

Once bitten, twice shy....

[ClodMaxx]

you can log into paypal and request a debit card that is from them, and linked to your account. then you use it like you would a normal debit card linked to a bank account.

whenever i sell anything, or receive any money, i go straight to a credit union ATM (so there are no ATM fees) and take the money out as cash. the few odd dollars over the even amount that i can't get at from an ATM get transferred to my bank account.

[BrianG]

Originally Posted by suicideneil

Instead of clicking on the link that appears in these fake emails, just 'mouse-over' it, and look at the address in the status bar at the bottom of the screen. It will be some random address or close copy of the real paypal/ebay website, but is clearly a fake address designed to steal your details.

Once bitten, twice shy....

yeah, you gotta be careful about that. Sometimes, they use subdomains to try to trick people. Something like http://www.paypal.com (look in the status bar).

Just make it a policy to NEVER open a link from an email. Not only could it be a phishing attempt, but the link could have some type of id embedded in it and when you click the link, you are telling a spammer that the email address they sent to is valid.

Always open a fresh browser window and enter the site manually. If entering sensitive data (user/passwords) make sure the site is secure. Look for the "s" in "https://www.blahblah...." and/or some little padlock icon, depending on what browser you use.