Just a reminder to becareful with emails that look like they come from ebay.
I received one the other day that looked to be from another ebay member who was upset that he had sent money for something I had for sale on ebay and he had not receive the item yet. There were just two small problems.
I don’t have anything for sale on ebay and
The email address that this email came to is not associated with my ebay account.
However, it looked exactly like a bona-fide ebay email.
I contacted ebay’s security department and verified that it was not from them and that it was probabaly phishing for personal data.
Two important things if you get something like this
DO NOT REPLY TO THE EMAIL
DO NOT “CLICK” ON ANY LINKS IN THE EMAIL!
Instead, go to ebay and click on their security link and follow the directions there. They can tell you in a matter of minutes whether the email is bogus or not.
Similar issue here. The only difference was that I was listed on the seller’s page as the recipient of payent for an auction that I knew nothing about, and I discovered that my debit account had been accessed. I was getting certifed letters from a guy in Califirnia want to know when I was going to ship his merchandise. Turned everything over to the FBI but never heard anything. Also contacted ebay’s Customer No-Service and didn’t hear from them ether. No great surprise there.
Just another reason to avoid ebay. I cancelled everything pertaining to ebay and paypal.
Clearly, the vast majority of people deal securely with ebay, or there would be no ebay! People who get phished are able to be hooked, as far as the phishers are concerned. They must somehow get information that you have allowed them to access, even if it is by an oversight or innocent error…they still capitalize on it. So, to withdraw from ebay is not really solving the problem. If your commercial behaviour allows others to glean perosnal information, you might want to learn how to protect yourself…to change habits.
I don’t say this as a rebuke or assault…not my intent…but merely to conclude that there is a weakness in your privacy management that unsavoury people exploit.
Bull. People who have never had paypal accounts get Phishing emails. People who have never had Washington Mutual accounts, get phishing emails. Or Sun something or other bank. Now go ahead and ask how I know this… All anyone needs to send an email is an email address. Nothing more. Just simply don’t log into anything from an email and you’ll give them Nothing. Do not respond either. If you wish, forward it to spoof@institution.com.
I speak only from my experience. I have never recieved a spurious email from an institution wanting any private information. Perhaps it has more to do with my privacy settings, such as those dealing with SPAM, but that would merely reinforce my contention…you have to manage your privacy these days.
From what my ISP (roadrunner) has told me, many if not most phishing scams are sent out be computers by the 100’s of thousands to known ISPs using random names. Sooner or later they will get one that finds your address. I will get ones that have in the “to” line a name that is similar to my e-mail address. Mine is actually on the list because they are actually sending to a few thousand possible recipients with that mailing. We will all get these sooner or later if you are using any major ISP account. The e-bay ones have no real connection with e-bay or paypal. They do not actually have your e-mail address and account numbers. That is why it is called phishing! They have to wait for you to take the bait! There are also ways that phishing schemes that can find and take your personal e-mail from a variety of sources. There are ways to diguise your address like adding the words “nospam” in your address when you send to someone. The person on the other end recognizes the “nospam” message and has to remove it to send you an e-mail. Most of these scams are highly automated so it is possible to defeat them./ One thing that has been said before is - Do not reply to any e-mail that you are not absolutely sure who i