Paypal Phishing Scams?

[hugeaffiliates]

I've come across some email phishing scams recently where emails pretending to come from paypal have logos which when click, ask for our login info.
I think most people know about this and would not fall for it but the thought/question i can't figure out is...
How is this done?
More importantly, when i visit a website and it has pay via paypal images, can they also be scams?
Basically, what i'm thinking is if an image in an email can lead me to a scam site that pretends to be paypal, would clicking on such images on a webpage expose me to the same danger?

This would seem very important both as a user and a merchant as many sites use such images...

incidentally, i recently came across a service i very much wanted to buy but didn't dare to as it only offered paypal payment via such an image on the site...

would appreciate any advise to allay my fears...

[sun818]

Two things:

1) If you move your mouse over the link or image, the lower left corner of your browser will typically display the destination link. If it is not to Paypal, it is a scam link. If you are not sure, you can e-mail the seller and conduct the transaction over e-mail or phone.

2) If your browser is not up to date, the destination link may contain malicious code to add unwanted programs to your computer or worse.

[Birdman]

Also, beware of the destination URL in the status bar, it can easily be faked using javascript. The right-click menu should give you an option to copy link address. Then paste it into the address field and check it.

Also, some of those images are form submit buttons which won't give you a destination URL on hover. To check them, you have to view the source code :(

[PCInk]

...and read the domain properly.

1) paypal.com
2) paypal.com.cc

Completely different. Take care.

[MarkHutch]

Also watch out for sub domains that look real if you don't pay close attention. Got one the other day that was ht*tp://paypal.com.xyz.com. Pretty slick.

[PayPalPB]

If you're an IE user, check out the new eBay Toolbar which flashes Green when you're on authentic eBay and PayPal sites and Red when you're on known phish sites.

[pages.ebay.com...]

[EliteWeb]

Greetings,
You can NOT rely on the status bar or even the location address bar. There was a hack talked about before which MS refered to as a feature that actually displays the URL in the address bar they think they are going to but really are going elsewhere. That with a mouseover javascript for the status bar you can be faked into logging in so dont log in by clicking a link in a email.

[sun818]

I'm not familiar with the term "phishing". The only "phish" I know is a rock band that started in 1983.