How To Detect Phishing Scams
Posted by Dave Taylor
Is this a phishing scam? I just got some email that looks suspicious with a link to “paypal-labs.com” Is it a scam or phishing attempt? Why can’t they just make it paypal.com?
Dave’s Answer:
Before I do any research and show you how to figure this sort of thing out yourself, let me say off the bat that yeah, it’s probably a phishing scam indeed, email that wants you to go to a domain that has “paypal” in its name and purports to be part of the Paypal organization, but isn’t actually Paypal.com.
Still, I’m really skeptical, so perhaps it’s just me…
The first thing to check with a potential phishing attempt message is who owns the domain name. You can go to a ton of places to do a domain registration check, but I prefer the original service that’s been around forever: Network Solutions.
You can go directly to a WHOIS Lookup on Network Solutions.
The form looks like this:
Search for “paypal-labs.com” and you’ll find…
Registrant:
Host Master
PayPal Inc.
2211 North First Street
San Jose CA 95131 US
hostmaster@ebay.com +1.4083767400 Fax:
Well that’s a surprise. Turns it that the domain is owned by Paypal.
Not sure? Look up Paypal’s main domain — paypal.com — and you’ll see it too is registered to a company headquartered at 2211 North First Street. Still paranoid? Search that street address in Google Maps and you’ll see:
So this time it’s not a phishing attempt, but I often wonder about companies that send out email to customers from alternative domains, especially when informing their customers not to click on URLs in email messages anyway.
Next time you get an email of this nature that you’re suspicious about, do pop onto the Network Solutions siste and check out their WHOIS service.
About the Author: Dave Taylor is known as an expert on both business and technology issues. Holder of an MSEd and MBA, author of twenty books and founder of four startups, he also runs a marketing company and consults with firms seeking the best approach to working with weblogs and social networks. Dave is an award-winning speaker and frequent guest on radio and podcast programs. AskDaveTaylor.com http://www.intuitive.com/blog/
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