New scam?

[jeepster2007]

I received this today. Probbly a scam - yes?

Subject: Robert, action recommended: update your browser today
To: *********************************
Date: Monday, June 6, 2011, 10:27 AM

Update your browser today to help keep your PayPal account secure. Having trouble viewing this email? View online or text version

		Hello <name removed>, It looks like you may be using an outdated browser with known security issues.  Help keep your computer and your PayPal account protected by updating your browser today.

	© 2011 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. PayPal is located at 2211 N. First St., San Jose, CA 95131.

[frankiedoll]

and its still not all that clear that its a phish since two mods have said its for reals.  baaaaad communication.

[revrobbie]

Update your browser today to help keep your PayPal account secure. Having trouble viewing this email? View online or text version

		Hello Robin ..., It looks like you may be using an outdated browser with known security issues. Help keep your computer and your PayPal account protected by updating your browser today.

	© 2011 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved. PayPal is located at 2211 N. First St., San Jose, CA 95131.

 

[TestGuy]

Glad I came an investigated this.

Like everyone else I too am already using the latest and greatest of my browser choice.

What really concerned me is the fact PayPal in the email said "we noticed you...."

Did you now? I hadn't logged into PayPal for 4 months prior to this time here to investigate this email.

So I was concernde what they were "noticing" about my account when I haven't been using it.

Very concerning email.

[gshirst]

It would be helpful if Paypal would say how we were picked to receive the email.  I also keep my browsers up to date and I was worried if someone had logged into my account from a funky system.  Reading this thread I'm assuming they just set the criteria low.

[JonG]

Actually, reading this thread and the offensive and belligerent nature of the PayPal Moderator response, I would say that they have zero criteria and are just sending this out randomly.

I've had my PayPal account since around 1998, and this may be the straw that breaks the camel's back in terms of my continuing to use PayPal.

[Old_Fart]

I thought there was something strange about that "ad", too. I figured it was just another attempt by Google to continue their "taking over the world." I try my best to refuse anything related to them, including their browser.

So, I typed in the URL, manually by including the "s" in the "https" portion. But, like others, I did not see anything on PayPal's site/pages pertaining to that notification. I had NOT logged into my account at that point. So, to find  more information about the the email, I then logged into my account and came here. Should have been unnecessary.

My question is:

Why doesn't PayPal put that "browser suggestion" on it's own PayPal Home Page? Doing that would negate any necessity for sending out e-mails. Nobody should have to login to their PayPal account to get that suggestion to "make sure you're using the latest browser!"

Seems simple enough for me.

[june9]

Well I just received my reply and it says it is a phishing scheme.

[Beatdemon]

This just keeps getting more interesting. We've got a PayPal Moderator (Andy) and Administrator (Adrian) confirming the email is legit, but spoof@paypal.com has replied to me and others stating the email is indeed not from PayPal. I hope by my posting the origin of the email, I am not going to again get censored, but here goes:

Received: from om-paypal-na.rsys4.com

Just so everyone knows, spoof@paypal.com was right. The email did NOT originate from PayPal. It originated from Responsesys: http://www.responsys.com/ (For the record, this is public information that can be looked up using any 'whois' type service so it's not "violating PayPal terms of service" for me to post this). 

Responsys is an email marketing firm (more details are available on their website). So now I am questioning what is really going on here. Here are my questions:

1. Was this a blanket email sent by PayPal to gather analytics-type data on their users (see who clicks which logo in the body of the email)?

2. Why am I and others getting 2 different responses from PayPal representatives: One hand claiming "it's fake" and another claiming "it's legit"?

3. Why hasn't anyone apologized and set the record strait?

Clearly, with the Wiener story fresh in the news, the timing is really bad here for another "scandal".

Please give us the true story here. PayPal does not NEED to send an email to customers prompting them to update their browser. There is JavaScript, as one example, that can automatically gather that information when you log in and detect your browser and prompt you at that time. All PayPal had to do (if they really wanted to do this right) is send an email prompting customer to log on to their PayPal account and go to the "Security" tab to check their web browser security. Simple and legitimate. That is, IF that was PayPal's true intentions.

Hope we can get to the bottom of this soon.

M

[Beatdemon]

UPDATE: Please be aware that I have contacted Responsys (the originator of the email) and they are now investigating the issue. They will update me as soon as they get to the bottom of it.

Best regards,

M

[Budleitz]

I have IE 8 - Can't use IE 9.  Will not print right.