posted on June 12, 2003 01:42:22 PM new
I received the following e mail from "ebay" and it sounds fishy to me. I haven't sold on ebay for over a year. I tried mailing it to "safe harbor" and it bounced back and tried several other venues, such as [email protected], since I was a powerseller when I stopped selling. I got a e mail back with a link to a new power sellers web site.
Anyway, I am including the email and wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how I can verify this. There are several reasons that it concerns me, other than the veracity of the e mail itself. I am thinking of listing a couple of things next week. BTW, the clickable link in the original e mail, that is not appearing in the cut and paste below, looks very officious and fairly legit. Thanks for any help. Mike
Dear valued eBay member:
It has come to our attention that your ebay Billing information's records are out of date. thats require update your billing information's If you could please take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and update.
Your billing records you will not run into any future problems with the
problems with the online service. However, failure to update your records will
result in
account termination. Please update your records right now.
Once you have updated your account records your ebay session will not be
interrupted and will continue as normal. Failure to update will result in
cancellation of service, Terms of Service (TOS) violations or future billing
problems.
posted on June 12, 2003 01:54:28 PM new
You must forward it to [email protected] for them to review and record the email. Mailing it to them will only bounce back. There's a big difference in emailing and forwarding an email.
posted on June 12, 2003 02:56:48 PM new
Somebody is going to call me racist (I feel it coming) but here's a tip when you get email like this.
Any time you see an inappropriate plural, you can assume the text was written by someone whose first language is of the Asian variety. Here's what I mean:
Billing information's records are out of date. thats require update your billing information's
It was explained to me years ago that most Asian languages don't have the concept of a collective plural, which is how you get words like "informations" or (in our area where there are many Hong Kong and Taiwanese immigrants) "furnitures".
This is a good way to spot phony eBay email. If you're still in doubt, check the headers.
--
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posted on June 12, 2003 03:01:23 PM new
Here's another twist scam email that's going around
-----
From: [email protected]
To: XXXXX
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2003 8:22 PM
Subject: Important eBay Security Enhancement
Dear eBay Community Member,
We are implementing a site-wide change to enhance security on eBay. Beginning today, email harvesters (people or computer robots that scour the web for email addresses) will no longer be able to use eBay to validate email addresses for fraudulent usage.
This security enhancement will change the way members can look up information about other members. Until today, you could search for another member and their eBay information (such as items listed, bids placed, etc.) by using either their User ID or their email address. Starting today, you will only be able to look up another member's information with their User ID.
System Status and site performance updates could have as an effect the partial loss of our members' contact information data. Please click below to login, check your contact information on eBay and update if necessary:
http://cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?SignIn
Note: All eBay members must have accurate and up to date contact information.
For more information see The eBay General Announcements Board.
posted on June 12, 2003 03:43:39 PM new
Ace- i thought that was a real eBay announcement...are the bad guys sending emails already? Where's the scam though? Seems it doesnt have a place to give your password etc..?? I think that link is the REAL eBay signin link.
[ edited by neglus on Jun 12, 2003 03:46 PM ]
posted on June 12, 2003 03:58:46 PM new
Neglus - they have found a way to take a real siuation and use it to their advantage. Chances are that the actual address for that link is far different from the addtress shown in the text of the link. Remember, you can assign any text you want to a link, it is the address in the backgruound that dictates the destination, not the content of the blue text.
posted on June 12, 2003 04:06:41 PM new
The thread in OTWA about phoney emails where this email was posted say the link in the letter is bogus. Sooner or later a hacker will happen upon the perfect combination of scam and basic human nature and get a larger percentage of takers in an email attempt.
posted on June 13, 2003 06:07:11 AM new
Thanks for all the responses. I initially did forward the email to ebay, not an email telling them about the bogus inquiry, and at one point, I got a response from them "thanking me for my resume". I guess I had forgotten how the ebay world goes round.
Anyway, I forwarded the email to [email protected], and did get the following response. Thanks once again, Mike.
Thank you for contacting eBay's Trust & Safety Department about an email
you received from an address that includes '@ebay.com' but that may not
be an authentic email from eBay. We will investigate this situation
immediately.
Please be advised that there have been cases where people have attempted
to gain access to an eBay member's personal information by sending
"spoof" emails. Spoof emails intentionally give the false impression
that they have been sent by eBay to solicit people to transmit their
account information. Based on your inquiry to eBay's Trust and Safety
Department, the email you received was likely a spoof.
eBay is very concerned about spoof email and is taking prompt action to
address the issue. If you think you may have entered personal
information into a spoof site, we advise you to review the information
at the web address below, which contains more detailed information about
the following steps:
1. Change your eBay password and email account password
Periodically changing your password is one of the most effective ways to
maintain security on any Web site. If you think there is a possibility
of a breach in your account security, we strongly suggest that you begin
by changing your password.
If you haven't already done so, please forward a copy of the email,
(which will include the full header), to [email protected]. Forwarding the
email will help us investigate this matter more quickly. Please do not
forward the email as an attachment or alter the subject line in any way.
For more information on how to identify a header, please visit:
If you entered information such as your social security number or credit
card numbers into a web site that you were directed to via a spoofed
email, you need to take immediate action to protect your identity. The
following web sites have valuable information on the steps you should
take to protect yourself:
eBay Help:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/problems-identity-theft.html
U.S. Government ID Theft Site:
http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/victim.htm
BBB ID Theft Site:
http://www.newyork.bbb.org/identitytheft/newscams.html
As we move forward with our investigation, we will contact you if we
need further information. In order to dedicate resources to
investigating this type of situation, please submit any other questions
or concerns through our Help System, which can be accessed by clicking
on the Help button at the top of any eBay page.
*Please do not respond to this email as your reply will not be received.
If you need to contact us again, please use the eBay Help system.
We appreciate your efforts in helping keep eBay a safe online
marketplace.
