Dear Phisher...

You have apparently mistaken me for someone who fell off the turnip truck yesterday with this BS e-mail:

Dear Paypal Member,

We're not able to process your account information at this time.

In reviewing your account, we found out that we need more information from you before we restore your full account access.

What you need to do

Please visit the Resolution Center. There, you'll also be able to get more details about your account and what additional information is required, and what you can and can't do with your PayPal account until the issue is resolved.

http://secure-area.dustlady.com/.online/secure/area/identification-code-account-suspended

Once you provide the information we need, we'll send you an email to let you know if we need more details.

Resolution Center

Please note: I have de-activated the link as a click-through; please do NOT attempt to access it unless you want someone to steal from you. Or you're a better hacker than I am and want to f**k with them, in which case I will buy you a beer of your choosing...

Now... Let's count the fail in this e-mail:

1. This e-mail address is not attached to my PayPal account;
2. Poor grammar, missing punctuation, etc.;
3. Not even attempting to hide that the "click me" link isn't even vaguely connected to PayPal;
4. "Resolution Center" for a closing? Serious?

What saddens me is that hundreds if not thousands will fall for this. They'll just click on the link, enter all their personal information, and send it off, blissfully unaware that they're basically handing a thief the key to their house along with a vacation schedule. I'm really torn on how to feel about that - on the one hand, they get what's coming to them for not taking even the most basic precautions of paying freakin' attention; on the other hand, it's the idiots that click on the link that make these scams worth perpetuating...

I hate to horn in on my #1 blogson's territory with security blogging, but I figured that I owed it to y'all to point out this particularly badly executed phishing expedition. I'm certain that y'all are smart enough to do five seconds worth of critical thinking so that you don't get burned. Certainly you'd never click an unsolicited link from an unknown source to begin with, let alone enter any personal information there. But still, there might be someone out there just lurking who wasn't quite sure, and if this helps them out, I'm happy to do it.

Besides, if you want to click a link and give someone your money, here's two places to to it: www.pcf.org/kilted7 or Kilted to Kick Cancer Team Page. :)

That is all.