Having written an article titled ‘10 cool ways to use Paypal‘ on Mashable, I expect myself to be a bit smart using the service Thankfully I managed to save face four times.

Recently I received four phishing mails with the subject ‘Critical Information Regarding Your Account’. The emails were designed to look like they were from Paypal. The contents read:
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Dear PayPal member

You have recently updated your PayPal account according to our standard security procedures. Unfortunately the update procedure failed because some of the information you provided was incorrect.

Please take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and update your personal records.

However, failure to update your records will result in account suspension.

To update your PayPal records click on the following link:
Some link….http://

Thank You.
PayPal Service Department
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The first time I received the email, I ignored it. But when I received a similar mail for the fourth time, I thought I should just check it out properly. Two odd things I observed while reading it:

1. Although the sender’s display name was Paypal, the email domain was ‘ipaypal’.

2. The link mentioned on the mail was http://www.paypal.com/………., but when I hover my mouse over the link, my Firefox’s status bar showed me the actual link, which starts with something like http://ogk-d………

I forwarded the mail to spoof@paypal.com and they confirmed it was a phishing mail (email attempts to steal your identity, password, or other financial information). You can visit Paypal’s Security Center to learn more.

Related post: Withdraw Paypal money in Indian bank account now

This is probably the greatest news for Indian Paypal users. Paypal has now started a new service through which you can withdraw your Paypal money to your Indian bank account.

The banks where you can withdraw your Paypal money are State Bank of India, Bank of India, Canara Bank, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, ING VYSYA Bank, Axis Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC, and Citibank. The money transfers will be completed in 7 working days and are free of cost for transfers above Rs. 7,000. For transfers below this amount, there is a charge of Rs. 50.

The best of this news is that there are no minimum or maximum withdrawal amounts for verified Paypal users. For unverified users, the upper limit is USD 500 per month though.

You can add your bank account by going to your Account Overview page and hovering your mouse on the Profile subtab. A drop down menu will appear. Click the ‘Add or Edit Bank Account’ link and on the page that follows, fill your bank account form. Pretty easy.

This new development means no more transferring Paypal money to our US relatives, or using other money transfer services. In the absence of this service, Indian users have been using services like Xoom and Virtual Money International ATM card.

Guess Paypal has finally recognised the rising Indian market.

Read more about this here.

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