PayPal, likely the most frequent subject of phishing expeditions, has now turned the tables on the practice and without doing a single thing to change their business model is using this practice to their advantage.

Getting a PayPal email in your inbox is almost an immediate 'mark as spam' action -- unless you see the title of something you recently bought in the subject line. This subject line said: "How to spot scams and protect your identity"...not too many phishers would pick this as a topic. But just to make sure, I opened it. Inside was a beautifully-crafted html page with various sections and links, better than some of the finest of online page design. At the top of the page banner, centered off of the PayPal logo was a large "Hello Paula Thornton" (most phishers don't have a lot of personal information). There were enough cues in the piece to clearly suggest that this indeed was from PayPal.

Of the many actions available on this newsletter-like piece was the following:

How PayPal Works
Check out the new demo
See why PayPal is the safe and simple way to pay online.
Find out the many ways you can use your account. Watch the demo.

While they never really use the words directly (very crafty) by the tying in of this message to all the other messages around identity theft, phishing and the like, they're reinforcing the opportunity for people to use their service as a means to secure their personal identity and related financial information.

Classic.