A fake PayPal email, addressed "Dear PayPal", with an attachment to fill in? What could possibly go wrong?

Fake mail

The email reads as follows:
Dear PayPal user,

We recently received a report of unauthorized credit card payment attempt associated with this account. To protect you against any further unauthorised payment attempts, we've limited access to your PayPal account. Please take a minute to review the details below and what steps you need to take to remove the limits.

----------------------------------- Details of disputed transaction ----------------------------------- Case ID Number: PP-001-546-712-049 ----------------------------------- What to do next -----------------------------------

Please download the form attached to this email and open it in a web browser. Once opened, you will be provided with steps to restore your account access. We appreciate your understanding as we work to ensure your account safety.

----------------------------------- Due dates ----------------------------------- Please get back to us as soon as possible. ----------------------------------- Other details ----------------------------------- There are no other details for this transaction at this time.

Yours sincerely, PayPal

Just like the spam from mid-February, this one comes with a zipped attachment:

Case ID Number PP-001-546-712-049

with a .html file inside called...well, you can probably guess what it's called:

Case ID Number PP-001-546-712-049.html

html attachment

The form asks for:

Email address, full name, PayPal password, DOB, billing address / town, county, postcode, home phone, credit / debit card number, expiry date, security code and sort code.

Of course, you shouldn't fill this in or hit the "Send" button - just delete the attachment and send the mail to the spam folder.

No doubt these scammers will be back with a fresh ploy in the near future but for now, this one will hopefully have a low success rate.

Christopher Boyd