PayPal is one of the easy targets. The service is a victim of its own popularity and convenience. All a perpetrator has to do is somehow acquire the e-mail address of an account holder and then the password. That can be done by using PayPal's own logos to launch phony e-mails.

The drawback for the perp is that such e-mails are easily traced. However, if they originate in a foreign country (you can test this sometimes by just looking at the address; if it has ".ru" on the end, for instance, it is from Russia), authorities have little chance at apprehending or jailing the perp.

Simple solution: Never give your usernames and passwords away online - unless you go to the original URL on your own without replying to an e-mail.

On a side note, many computer viruses are launched in a similar manner. Never open an attachment unless it is from a sourc with which you have corresponded electronically in the past.

Common sense equals less angst and fewer ripoffs.

Learn more about this author, Gerald Carroll.
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