"At first glance, it may appear like just another scam, but it highlights a growing sophistication in how attackers weaponize trust, familiarity, and urgency. What stands out in this case is the use of email spoofing combined with psychological pressure, a classic one-two punch. Spoofing the sender address to mimic PayPal adds a false sense of legitimacy, while the alarming message about a nearly $1,000 unauthorized charge triggers panic."
"Spoofing the sender address to mimic PayPal adds a false sense of legitimacy, while the alarming message about a nearly $1,000 unauthorized charge triggers panic. This kind of emotional manipulation is exactly what makes phishing so effective: it hijacks the victim's instinct to act before thinking. The attackers also cleverly obscure their tracks by using odd recipient addresses and distri"
Researchers observed a sophisticated phishing campaign targeting PayPal users using the subject line "Set up your account profile" to lure recipients. The sender address is spoofed to appear legitimate through software that allows any address to be presented. The email falsely reports a nearly $1,000 payment and instructs recipients to call a phone number tied by the Better Business Bureau to known scams. The message includes a link claiming a 24-hour expiry to finish account setup; clicking it initiates adding a secondary user, granting attackers access to account finances. Attackers send emails to distribution lists to compromise many targets and leverage trust, urgency, and psychological pressure to provoke rapid action.
Read at Securitymagazine
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]