Job Discussion Forums

[johnslat]

Dear Colleagues,
If any of you are Yahoo users, I'd like to warn you of a very professional scam that's going on. The other day, I received ( in my Bulk mail folder, which made in initially suspicious ) the following message:

" Dear Yahoo! User,
We encountered a billing error when attempting to renew your Yahoo! service. This type of error usually indicates that either the credit card you have on file has expired or that the billing address we have is not current.

This is your final notice. Please take a moment to update your credit card information by clicking here and submitting your information.

Please note that we will attempt to renew your service five days from today. If we are still unable to charge your credit card at that time, your service will be terminated.

Sincerely,
Yahoo! Billing Department "

This was very " professionally done " even including a " Yahoo blue line " across the top of the message. When I clicked on the link to " update my credit card info " I was taken to a page which had the " official Yahoo logo " and asked for the following:

" Your E-Mail:

Password:

First Name:

Last Name:

ZIP:

Debit or Credit Card #:

Expiration Date:
Month 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 / Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Debit/ATM PIN: "

That last one REALLY got me suspicious - why would Yahoo need my Debit/ATM PIN number? So, I forward the message - with full headers - on to the Yahoo mail abuse address:

[email protected]

and received the following message back:

" Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Mail.

We appreciate your report notifying us of possible abuse of Yahoo! Mail
services. After investigating your report, we have found that Yahoo! is
in no way associated with the email you have received. Please know that
the Yahoo! Mail Abuse team aggressively investigates reports like
yours,
and takes the appropriate action as per our Terms of Service.

If you receive any further email of this nature referencing a different
Yahoo! Mail address, please send Yahoo! an unedited copy of the email
message, including the full email headers. Please forward this
information to:

[email protected]

and a member of the Yahoo! Mail Abuse team will look into the situation
promptly. For information on how to send "full email headers," please
see:

http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/config/config-11.html

In your report, please include as many details as possible -- the more
information you provide, the faster the Yahoo! Mail Abuse team will be
able to assist you.

We appreciate your interest in keeping Yahoo! a fun and friendly place
on the Internet!

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Customer Care.

Regards,

Yahoo! Customer Care
http://www.yahoo.com/ "

Hope all this is relevant to some other posters - whoever is behind this really did a convincing, " professional " job of it. But asking for that PIN number pushed it a little too far.
Regards,
John

[Shonai Ben]

John:
Thanks for the warning.People should be very careful using the internet credit services.
Cheers.

[shmooj]

Yep. Thanks for the warning

BTW, just out of interest, what is your pin number

[johnslat]

Dear shmooj,
Well, since I KNOW I can trust you, it's

5920469218320567118403926699001486283497211476091273947528810

Admittedly it's a little long and the very devil to remember, but it surely makes me feel secure that the chances of someone accessing my account accidently are rather slim
Regards,
John

[Stephen Jones]

So you're another one who believes in using his age for his PIN number.

[johnslat]

Dear Stephen,
Age? Hell! That's my I. Q.
Regards,
John

[kimo]

[johnslat]

Dear kimo,
Too late - I've already emptied your account.
Regards,
John