Ginseng Jim twist to spoof PayPal ID theft scam

A ginseng factory owner in Wisconsin has been revealed as the owner of a fake PayPal website that is engaged in an identity theft racket encouraging victims to enter personal details and bank and credit card numbers.

A spam email which has been doing the rounds over the last week contains a link to the site, which is a more detailed and professional-looking version of a long-running PayPal account details scam.

A sharp-eyed silicon.com reader looked up the registration details of the fake PayPal billing network site and found it is registered to a Jim Schumacher in the US. A further search of his details reveals he is also the owner of the 'World's Finest Wisconsin Ginseng' factory – an unlikely front for a major fraud racket.

Indeed, as a security expert explained to us yesterday, Jim is unlikely to be aware the fake site has been set up in his name and the real villains behind the scam are more likely to be Russian hackers using stolen credit cards and identities to set up the site with a hosting company.

Jim was contacted by silicon.com but was unavailable for comment.

Meanwhile PayPal has responded to silicon.com readers' concerns that the hackers obtained a list of PayPal account holders to target. A spokeswoman said the fraudsters send out large volumes of random spam emails that will eventually hit some people with a PayPal account.

She said: "PayPal is very aware of these spoof sites and works very hard every day to educate people about how to avoid them. Regarding this specific case, PayPal does know about this site and is working to shut it down."

She reiterated that PayPal never asks for account or billing information via email and that customers should use "common sense". Details of dubious emails can be reported to spoof@paypal.com.

A visit to the fake site reveals it has indeed now been taken down.