Wow, glad you caught that, Kate. But one additional warning. I get emails supposedly from PayPal ALL the time, saying someone has made unauthorized purchases on my account, and they are phishing...(phishes?) They want you to click on the link included and update your account. Never, EVER do that. Forward the email back to "spoof at PayPal dot com" and they will advise you of whether or not it is genuine. Most genuine notices will not ask you to click on any links. They will advise you to go to their homepage and access your account that way. Clicking on links in bogus emails can cause you all sorts of problems, ranging from being blasted with a virus or worm to allowing unauthorized access to your hard drive. So glad you went straight to their website, Kate, and checked it all out there. I check my bank account online every day to make sure anything they pay out is legit. Marcia

To reitterate " Never click a link in an email saying stuff like you must act now,you been comprimised or such ,and click our link and we can fix it, BECAUSE its a scam to steal your info like above . Always go to PAYPAL through your browser ,or from ebay etc. And backing your Paypal with a checking account is how they verify its you . Go to Paypal and read the scam warnings for more onfo. " And for you that are complaining the most ,go read what steps Paypal has advised you to take to keep your account safe .Remember Paypal does NOT make a profit from you being ripped off. Take toime to read.educate.and arm yourselves,take responsibility ,you allow it to happen by doing nothing.

When I was renting, I personally met with the agent/landlord or whatever to to view the property and to sign the papers. I wouldn't do it any differently now either and certainly NOT by email. Seems to me that the vast majority of people who get scammed simply beg for it by trying to get something for nothing, get rich quick or whatever. There's a way to do business professionally. Meeting the person on site to view the property would like have eliminated this scam. One thing that isn't too common knowledge, and a little tip I'd give is to check phone numbers to see if they're forwarding numbers or cell phone numbers. Check the business number. It should be local. etc. Folks, you gotta be careful, but also use common sense. About 3 times a year I see someone on the news who got scammed by greed. They sold their $3000 car to someone for $10,000, then paid to ship the car to a foreign country, and on top of it gave a check for the "change" and then cry because the check they got turned out to be a fake. Yes I have anger since the bank should be responsible for accepting the check in the first place and 3 months later denying it (since they should be able to find out quickly if it's bad), but that's the way it works. People never cease to amaze me. Gotta run. I'm in contact with a Nigerian General who has picked ME from everyone in the world to help him out! But that's me.... who just bought a vehicle advertised on Craigslist, after checking the ad, the website, the phone #, the business address, the vehicle ID #, values from 3 different sources etc.

When I opened my account - and this may have chenged in the many years since then - you HAD to have a bank account and they verified who you were by putting a few pennies into the account and you would then report a day or two later how much that amount was. I never use my account for paying...I use a credit card. The problem with changing my bank account is that I have several automatic withdrawals each month - two of which are mortgages which ask for at least 30 days notice of any account change - and I am even at a loss for things like account numbers on some "paperless" monthly charges, like Comcast. I have been to the bank (actually, credit union) to fill out fraud papers and have spoken to both EBAY and Paypal. EBAY has no record of this "win" and someone WAS able to change my password for both my Ebay and PayPal accts. NO I have not responded to any phishing emails and I do have antivirus software installed.