" Dear paypal user, We would like to inform you that we are upgrading our server to install a better protection software. "...

This spoof Paypal email (see image below) is in HTML format and includes a link which has been disguised using HTML code to look like a genuine link to Paypal.com.

The email looks very authentic and this is achieved by calling up Paypal's own code and graphics from directly from their servers. Users could be forgiven for thinking that it is genuine.

The link will actually take you to bogus web content which located on a server owned by Beijing Online Communication Technology Limited in China. Paypal are very good at having bogus content removed very quickly, and the bogus web page had been removed by the time we had received the first report of this spoof. As with most spoof emails, it will no doubt resurface in a day or two with the bogus content hosted at a different location.

The Spoof Email ...

The forged Paypal web page ...