ultimato
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posted on April 29, 2003 07:19:43 PM new
I'm hoping someone here can tell me what to do, quickly. I believe my Ebay account may have been hacked into. Here is what happened. I signed on to Vendio this evening to check the status of my auctions that were to end in an hour. I received an error message saying that my Ebay information could not be retrieved and I needed to check my Ebay password and preferences.
I then tried to sign on to Ebay and it would not let me in. It said the password was invalid. I have not changed the password. So I then clicked on the Forgot Password link and was asked for the answer to my "secret question." I gave the correct answer but was told it was incorrect.
I then went in to change my Ebay password and Ebay said it would send me a new temporary password. Instead I got an email saying that the new password was forwarded to my "new" email address. Except that I don't HAVE a new email address.
So by now it's become obvious to me that something is dreadfully wrong here. I just had a dozen auctions end and I received no confirmation emails. Furthermore I can not even contact my winning buyers to tell them not to pay anyone else but me, because I can't retrieve their emails. I thought about doing that using my half.com account but I operate under a different user name there, so my winning bidders would very likely think they're being scammed by someone, whereas the truth is they are probably about to be scammed by someone else.
I've emailed all the details to Safe Harbor and even tracked down a support phone number for Ebay, but of course they are closed now and they say it can take up to 72 hours to get a response. I have a bad feeling I'm about to be ripped off really big time. I've changed the password on the email account associated with my Ebay account but what else should I do? What else CAN I do to try to get this resolved as quickly as possible? I really feel like time is of the essence here. I have a perfect feedback record on Ebay and do not want it compromised. Does anyone think something else might be wrong here or have I definitey had my account compromised? What is the quickest way to get this resolved? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Thanks.
[ edited by ultimato on Apr 29, 2003 07:21 PM ]
[ edited by ultimato on Apr 29, 2003 07:23 PM ]
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stopwhining
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posted on April 29, 2003 07:42:14 PM new
do you accept paypal>>may be you can contact them as they handle emails out of india.time difference,they must be daytime now
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dadofstickboy
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posted on April 29, 2003 07:45:19 PM new
There may be some work arounds.
You could go to one of your auctions, use ask seller a question make sure to include send your self a copy.
Then when it comes to you you could check the header to see who it's from.
You could bid on one of your auctions then you could pull contact info.
If you get his phone # you could put it in google will get his name and address
Mapquest will show you where he lives.
Then you will have info to give to Ebay!
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ultimato
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posted on April 29, 2003 07:45:30 PM new
I do use Paypal. I'll contact them and see if they can do anything. Thanks.
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ultimato
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posted on April 29, 2003 07:48:31 PM new
>You could go to one of your auctions, use ask seller a question make sure to include send your self a copy.
Then when it comes to you you could check the header to see who it's from. <
This won't work because they've apparently changed the email address associated with the account so I won't get any copy.
>You could bid on one of your auctions then you could pull contact info. <
This might work. I'm going to try that now. Thanks.
If you get his phone # you could put it in google will get his name and address
Mapquest will show you where he lives.
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neglus
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posted on April 29, 2003 07:51:41 PM new
I think Dad meant to say you would see where the "ask seller" question WENT when you copy yourself (ie: what email address is the hacker using)
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neonmania
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posted on April 29, 2003 07:53:30 PM new
::If you get his phone # you could put it in google will get his name and address
Mapquest will show you where he lives.::
You realise this only works if the number is listed right? I find it har d to believe that any ebayer would use a listed home phone number. That's just asking for trouble.
[ edited by neonmania on Apr 29, 2003 07:54 PM ]
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ultimato
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posted on April 29, 2003 08:07:09 PM new
OK, the plot thickens. I bid on one of my own auctions using another account and immediately did a contact seller. It showed that the user ID still belongs to me--correct address, phone number, etc. I also did an ask seller question and it came right to me.
Unfortunately, neither one of those methods reveals the return email address. So maybe the account wasn't hacked after all, but then why has my password been rejected and why can't I receive any emails at the address associated with the account? I'm totally locked out of this account although my auctions appear to still be functioning.
This is all really weird.
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Libra63
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posted on April 29, 2003 08:29:14 PM new
Try going to the bid history and ask for the email addresses and see what happens. Are you locked out of PayPal also? If not paypal will either have a message for you about your password or they will email you. When I changed my password I forgot to change it in both Vendio and PayPal and they immediately got in touch with me about it.
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toasted36
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posted on April 29, 2003 08:33:25 PM new
I just changed my e-bay password and this is the e-mail they sent me ..instantly
You have successfully changed your password.
This is a courtesy notice. No response is needed.
If you or anyone with authorized access to your account did not
make this change, please send an email to [email protected]. <~~~heres where you need to contact
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ultimato
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posted on April 29, 2003 08:33:58 PM new
No, I'm not locked out of Paypal. I changed my password there and they did send me an email to make sure it was me who did that. Haven't changed the Vendio password yet, guess I'll do that now too.
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auctionace
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posted on April 29, 2003 08:35:34 PM new
Yesterday, for the first time ever in 5 years on ebay my password was invallid on ebay. I didn't want to try it too many times for fear of ebay locking up the account. I hit the "Forgot Your Password?" link and answered the secret question and changed my password. All day yesterday when I logged in it said invalid ID and password but had a set of 4 additional numbers in odd fonts to type in each time that allowed me to log in successfully. Today the extra numbers were not needed to log in. I do not think it has a hacked account but more likely an ebay glitch that cause my problem.
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ultimato
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posted on April 29, 2003 08:42:53 PM new
Toasted--I never got that email. Instead I got one saying that my new password was sent to my "new" email address, except I don't have a new email address.
I just wrote to that Ebay link you gave me. Thanks.
For what it's worth, one of my customers who won an auction tonight successfully paid me via Paypal so at least it seems that my Paypal account hasn't been compromised. But they probably did that directly by using the Paypal link from the auction. I doubt any of my other buyers even got their winning bid notices tonight.
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ultimato
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posted on April 29, 2003 08:46:39 PM new
Auctionace--Thanks. Interesting that you had a similar situation and got out of it OK. I think I may have tried the secret question thing too many times though because I couldn't believe it wasn't accepting my reply and I kept trying different variations, like abbreviating Avenue and leaving it out altogether. I mean, I DO know what street I grew up on!
So is it possible I locked myself out by doing that? The thing that's weird to me is that when I tried to change the password I got an email saying that the new password was sent to my "new" email address, and, as mentioned above, I don't have a new email address.
Oh well, I guess I'll find out some time in the next few days, hopefully!
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dadofstickboy
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posted on April 29, 2003 08:51:42 PM new
Thing that gets me is if they have a new address for you, Why were you still getting emails?
They should have been going to your New address!
So you would have never gotten them!
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ultimato
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posted on April 29, 2003 09:19:12 PM new
I'm back in Ebay! I got hold of a Live Help person who confirmed that someone changed my email address today. How they got into my account, who knows. But once they did, they listed three high ticket items that the Live Help person said he immediately could tell were out of character with what I usually list. So he pulled the listings, credited my account and sent me the password changing email again. I changed it, and got right back into my account.
So, a lesson to everyone, especially me: It DOES happen! Your Ebay account can be taken over. The best way to prevent it, he told me, is to change your password often, make it difficult, and never answer any of those bogus emails asking for your oersonal information (which I never did).
Thanks for your help all, I have some work to do!
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auctionace
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posted on April 29, 2003 09:25:21 PM new
There was a thread here a few months back about trying the password too many times and getting the account locked up by ebay. The unscrambled 4 numbers are only sent to the IP address of the account holder as a security feature. An ebay flaw is that anyone may be able to lock up another ebay member's account by trying to log on to their account over and over until ebay locks it up. I mean the offender could use a public computer to do this with no risk of getting caught.
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ultimato
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posted on April 29, 2003 09:50:53 PM new
I have another question. Now that I've successfully changed my Ebay password, I notice that when I go to sign in, it rejects me at first but then asks me to write in a 4-digit code number found below. After I do that I get right in. Is this something new? I never had to do it with my old password?
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neonmania
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posted on April 29, 2003 10:22:30 PM new
Yes, that is explained in two different posts in this thread. It is the byproduct of numerous unsuccessful log-ins to the id today.
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auctionace
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posted on April 29, 2003 10:25:13 PM new
It is also a 24 hour byproduct of changing an ebay password.
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Libra63
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posted on April 29, 2003 10:31:37 PM new
Don't forget to change your eBay password in Vendio and PayPal.
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ultimato
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posted on April 30, 2003 04:38:57 AM new
Thanks again, everyone.
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