Anatomy of a phishing email scam

My email account at work is pretty well set up to filter out spam and other uninvited messages. I've gotten so used to having my email protected that it surprises me when an occasional message slips through. Like this morning when I received a very official looking PayPal phishing message (click on the image to enlarge).

Phishing emails are fake messages designed by identity thieves to try to gather personal data from unsuspecting consumers. The PayPal email I received today was centered on convincing me that someone had purchased $350 stereo equipment in my name. When you click on the prominent "cancel order" button it delivers you to a PayPal login page. This page is designed to look exactly like the PayPal website and even links back to the official website. But with a web address of "Mujes.cz" it is most definitely not authentic.

What should you do if you receive an email like this? First, do not enter your information into any of the forms provided. Next, do a little research to confirm that the email is a fake. You can look up recent phishing scams online here and can visit the PayPal security center here. If you are still concerned that the email may be authentic, call the company directly to investigate. You can go directly to the website (by typing in the URL yourself) to login and check your account status. Phishing emails are getting increasingly sophisticated; it is often difficult to determine real emails from the fakes.

Have you received a phishing email lately? Have you almost fallen for a phishing scam before? Share your feedback in the comments section below.