Scam..using Black Dog Bikes name?

[531colin]

I had an E mail purporting to come from Black Dog Bikes, purporting to be a receipt for a PayPal transaction in excess of £100.
I came straight out of there and logged in to my Paypal account using the usual log-in, not from a dodgy link.
No activity on my Paypal.
I imagine they want you to click a dodgy link and that gets them into my Paypal account?
Black Dog Bikes have a website, but the phone number was unavailable.
Paypal only seem to want to know about transactions that have been through their hands, I couldn't find how to report what i think is an attempted scam.
Anybody else had this?
Anybody know what I should do?

[Mick F]

We get PayPay info by email from a variety of businesses but we just delete them as spam.
We don't have a PayPal account, so that's easy.

Even if we did, I'd still delete them, unless I recognised the company and was in the process of an order from them.

[foxyrider]

Not with that name but there's usually at least one such attempt in my inbox each week.

You should be able to report it to your email provider as a phishing scam.

[cycleruk]

I never go to a website (Paypal, Talktalk, Energy etc.) from an email link. Always use your normal sign-in process but still beware.

[mercalia]

I get phoney paypal all the time just delete -the give way is the address from which it came that is displayed in my email client , is never paypal but some thing else, they are not very bright I think.

The interesting thing is that they knew you into cycles? 531colin now that does worry me a bit makes me wonder they have some info on you from one those many hacked organisations we keep hearing about in the news? Had it been something totally unconnected with you then know its just a mass attack rather than a targeted one?

[LollyKat]

Instructions on Paypal site:

Suspicious emails

“Phishing” is an illegal attempt to "fish" for your private, sensitive data. One of the most common phishing scams involves sending an email that fraudulently claims to be from a well-known company (like PayPal). If you believe you've received a phishing email, follow these steps right away:

Forward the entire email to spoof@paypal.com.
Do not alter the subject line or forward the message as an attachment.
Delete the suspicious email from your inbox.

We'll look into it and email you a response to let you know if it is indeed fraudulent. In the meantime, don't click any links or download any attachments within the suspicious email.

More details here.

[531colin]

Thanks, Lolly Kat, done!

[531colin]

I get phoney paypal all the time just delete -the give way is the address from which it came that is displayed in my email client , is never paypal but some thing else, they are not very bright I think.

The interesting thing is that they knew you into cycles? 531colin now that does worry me a bit makes me wonder they have some info on you from one those many hacked organisations we keep hearing about in the news? Had it been something totally unconnected with you then know its just a mass attack rather than a targeted one?

what can i tell you, i'm with Talk Talk!
And my cycle club mail list seems to have been hacked, we occasionally get spoof...."I'm in Outer Mongolia, destitute after robbery, send cash!" type of E mails.

[MikeF]

I get phoney paypal all the time just delete -the give way is the address from which it came that is displayed in my email client , is never paypal but some thing else, they are not very bright I think.

The interesting thing is that they knew you into cycles? 531colin now that does worry me a bit makes me wonder they have some info on you from one those many hacked organisations we keep hearing about in the news? Had it been something totally unconnected with you then know its just a mass attack rather than a targeted one?

what can i tell you, i'm with Talk Talk!
And my cycle club mail list seems to have been hacked, we occasionally get spoof...."I'm in Outer Mongolia, destitute after robbery, send cash!" type of E mails.

Talk Talk has been seriously hacked several times. I've had nothing at to do with Talk Talk, but a contact of mine used them and their webmail service. Infuriatingly the hack released all his email contacts ie mine and all the others into "the wild", so I still receive spam from this hack. I've no redress against Talk Talk as I'm not their customer. Of course they claim they've fixed the problem.

Out of interest is/was your club mail list stored on Talk Talk's server or your email client on your computer? In other words do you use webmail (email via a browser) or do you use an email client (mail programme) on your computer?

[531colin]

Mike, I'm not knowledgeable.....I don't understand the questions!
I don't have the full club E mail list, and i don't know how its stored.....i think he uses "Mailchimp" to send out an "all members" mail. (but he is on Virgin E mail)
I use Yahoo E Mail and Talk Talk for the 'phone/broadband. I get into my mail via Chrome, is that a browser? (used to use Explorer)
....does that answer?
If memory serves, my brother who isn't a club member got a spam nominally "from me" but the E mail sender was foreign.....

Its simply bewildering if you have no idea how it all works!

[tim-b]

Hi

You might not know about the tech, but you're doing the right things
Briefly, Yahoo provides web-based services such as email and the ability to search the web (amongst other things)
TalkTalk provides you with the connection to the web (it also provides a range of web-based services)

Many companies have been hacked including Yahoo (link), and TalkTalk (link). 2014 seems to have been a busy year for the hackers

Using Chrome suggests web-based email, which is fine, however your emails and address book are probably stored on the web too, and are potentially open to hacking through no fault of yours
An email client (e.g. Windows 10 Mail app, Thunderbird, etc.) sits on your computer and can be set to keep everything on your computer. They can be tricky to set up if you're not computer-savvy, and your personal computer can still be hacked

The bottom line:
You are your best line of defence
EDIT: Don't use the same password for different services, e.g. banking, email, Cycling UK, etc.
Keep your computer updated
Read up here (not technical). Note the green padlock symbol next to the getsafeonline web address; that's a good thing

Regards
tim-b

[tykeboy2003]

I had an E mail purporting to come from Black Dog Bikes, purporting to be a receipt for a PayPal transaction in excess of £100.
I came straight out of there and logged in to my Paypal account using the usual log-in, not from a dodgy link.
No activity on my Paypal.
I imagine they want you to click a dodgy link and that gets them into my Paypal account?
Black Dog Bikes have a website, but the phone number was unavailable.
Paypal only seem to want to know about transactions that have been through their hands, I couldn't find how to report what i think is an attempted scam.
Anybody else had this?
Anybody know what I should do?

This was almost certainly what is termed "phishing", I've been getting them for years, forward it to spoof@paypal.co.uk. NEVER follow a link or download an attachment unless you are certain the source is genuine.

[Tiberius]

531colin

I got an identicle email yesterday. I've had spoof PayPal emails before, which I usually bin, but this one was different...Like yours, it was cycling specific and Black Dog Bikes.

It was the fact that it was cycling specific that made me ring PayPal. They told me that there had been no activity on my account and that I should just delete the email.

BT Internet/MacBook Pro using Apple mail Version 10.3.

I'm just over in Scarborough.....Maybe it's a Yorkshire thing ???.......

[BigFoz]

Typical phishing attempt. Whenever you get something like this, delete it if you're sure it's fake. If unsure (might tally with some recent activity?) go to the real site, not via the included links (So logging into paypal.com absolutely the right thing to do), verify there.

If you hover over the link, you will usually see that it does not direct you to the site you expect, so for this one, instead of "https://www.paypal.com/whatever" it would have had the spoof link in - "http://www.someotherdodgylinkname.com/whatever"

If in doubt, delete.