March 27, 2007 (IDG News Service) -- PayPal, the Internet-based money transfer system owned by eBay Inc., is trying to persuade e-mail providers to block messages that lack digital signatures, which are aimed at cutting down on phishing scams, a company attorney said Tuesday.

So far, no agreements have been reached, but the idea is one that PayPal would like to see from other e-commerce businesses, said Joseph E. Sullivan, PayPal's associate general counsel, at the International E-Crime Congress in London.

An agreement with, for example, Google Inc. for its Gmail service could potentially stop spam messages that look legitimate and bypass spam filters.

more.. link to news article

Gmail is already doing something that is catching most of the phishes I've seen on my Gmail accounts, at least for eBay. The good eBay emails come to my inbox and look normal. The phishes have gone directly to my junk box and if I open then to check, they have a big red warning bar across the top that says " this email may not come from who it says" ( or something to that effect.)

So far Gmail hasn't missed on any of them.

Carol

I found one of the phishes in my Gmail junk folder. Here is the message they have on it --

Warning: This message may not be from whom it claims to be. Beware of following any links in it or of providing the sender with any personal information. Learn more.


If people still give away info after that , then they are too dumb to be on the internet.

Carol

I treat each and every email from Ebay,Paypal,banks,etc the same.Delete,delete,delete.I only correspond with the businesses through their site after i sign in on a secure page. JMHO.

Seems to me they may be right and the ISP's need to get involved. Tracking down on phisher at a time isn't going to work but blocking them all at one time will. I hope they all cooperate. A lot of uninformed innocent people are still getting duped by these emails.

What I find 'interesting' is that Google is already doing 'it' and now ebaY asks for help? Will they take credit for something they did not 'affect'? Besides that, I do agree sellmyinventory.com - I too treat ALL of my messages - the same way, log in and then 'see' if it's real.

What scares me tho about ebaY and PP is .... now that accounts are being hijacked - employee and customer - members are getting messages that aren't 'real' in their mymessage area!

Nothing seems safe anymore...

What was it...
About a month ago that eBay was asking email providers to do this same exact thing?
Now Paypal is asking the same thing?

Yes phishing emails suck. Yes we all wish they would stop.
But why is eBay's and Paypal's problem all of a sudden the email providers problem.
Are they trying to make everyone think that they do not have any problems....
What a joke.

I have been using Google Checkout for the past 2 months and not paypal.
I have not received ANY phishing emails from either eBay or paypal.


WOW...
I stop using paypal and the phishing emails stop.
I guess it is no use to send them to me since I do not use paypal anymore
and paypal can't lock my account and make themselves some more money.

Hey Paypal....

I don't think its a case of passing the responsibility to someone else. Phishers are like roaches - you just can't stamp them out one at a time. Its apparent they'll never stop because people are still uninformed or just plain stupid enough to fall for their scams. Its hopeless to think ebay or paypal can hunt down each phisher and stamp him out. Whereas if they find a way to blanket block these emails, that would certainly put a big dent in the phishing business. In this case (though I hate to admit it) I can see Ebay and Paypal's point.

"WOW...
I stop using paypal and the phishing emails stop.
I guess it is no use to send them to me since I do not use paypal anymore
and paypal can't lock my account and make themselves some more money. "

That's disturbing...how do they know you don't have a paypal account anymore?

^^^^^^^^^^
My point exactly.

To go into the conspiracy theory plan.
Maybe paypal has a secret division that sends out these emails.
Then they have more of a reason to lock down accounts.
That way they can make even more money.
I would not put anything past paypal.
I know it sounds nuts... but is it?

I would think it nuts only because there are regulations and really harsh penalties if they're caught and found guilty of manipulating accounts. I wouldn't rule out an inside job though - it only takes a few bad apples...