fake ebay emails - warning

castoff

16 years ago

For the umpteenth time over the past few years, the following email appeared in my junk mail box.

QUOTE:

Dear eBay user,

eBay Customer Support Team requests you to complete eBay user confirmation form.

This procedure is obligatory for all users of eBay.

Please click hyperlink below to access user confirmation form.

http://userconfirmationform-id470606.ebay.com/userdirectory/eBayISAPI.dll

Thank you for choosing eBay.

This mail generated by an automated service.

UNQUOTE

To those of you who are eBay users, you need to know the following:

1. The real eBay will never, ever send you an email that asks you for personal information. There is no need for them to do it and IF the legit eBay wanted some sort of update, they would ask you to go to eBay.com or eBay.ca and log in the normal way. They will never, ever provide you with a LINK in an email.

2. What you see here is called "Physhing". Scam artists send out thousands upon thousands of these fake requests in the hopes that people will be gullible enough to fill out their fake forms. IF you do this, then you have just given these people enough information to steal your identity, get into your bank account, take out a mortgage on your home, buy things with your credit card and generally destroy your life.

3. In addition to eBay scams, I routinely see similar emails pertaining to banking institutions in the USA. There is always a sense of urgency about such requests in order to protect your interests. Once again, banks don't send out emails asking for personal information such as account numbers, PIN's and other details.

Don't let yourself become a victim.

When you see an email like this, report it to eBay or the financial institution and then delete it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fake eBay link for you to look at ONLY. Do not fill out.

Comments (12)

tom_k_de
16 years ago
IF a message does come to you from Ebay,it will contain your user name,if you use Ebay.Everyone I get,I forward it to Ebay and they can trace who is sending this junk to you and me.tbk
butchs_hobby
16 years ago
I've seen a couple of those, wasn't real sure what the deal was but I never opened them, just deleted. I've been an e-bay member since 03 and bought five tractors plus different parts on e-bay without trouble, but you do have to pay attention, it seems the world is full of a--holes that would rather steal than make an honest living. I've always thought there should be a year around open season on shoting those kind of varmits.
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Mitch, Letters like that go out randomly to people that don't even buy or sell on Ebay and who do not have Paypal accounts. The sender is hoping for a reply so he can verify that he sent the email to a working email address. Then the junk mail starts coming and coming. However, some letters go out asking for updates to a PayPal account and though the attached link seems valid, it isn't. And once the victim updates the information, the scammer has access to CC information amd a checking account number. All correspondence should go directly from you through eBay and PayPal after you initiate the email. It's a shame, isn't it that we always have to be on the lookout for scams?
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Wow--eBay sure has changed, and not for the better, IMHO. Sellers cannot leave negative feedback? When I sold a few things several years ago, I always checked the record of the winning buyer, just so I could steal myself if some freaky business went on during one of his/her previous transactions. I never had a problem, but if I'd seen that, say, someone claimed the item never arrived, I would have encouraged the buyer to pay to insure the shipment. Now to the shoes issue: Can you take the pair to a place that you know sells the real thing, compare the sizes (for that same exact shoe) and also compare the shoes to see if there's anything fishy with the eBay ones? As has been said already, clothing even in the same collection can vary in fit, and shoes, too. Returns are so very important on these--whether on eBay, from catalogs, from websites. Unless I am 150% sure on something, whenever I see "no returns," my antennae go up and I go someplace else. I'm sorry, but I think you're stuck unless you can verify that either the size is mismarked on the shoe (and even then, the seller might not have been aware of that) or it's a fake that was advertised as the real thing. I wouldn't resell it on eBay. Because how are you going to advertise it? How are you going to prevent making another buyer go through what you are feeling? Some people could live with passing along their bad luck. Hopefully you are not one of them. But I would try to sell it through your local Craigslist--you could meet someone in a parking lot of a large store, someplace safe, and they can try the shoe on. And if the shoe doesn't fit, it's not a big deal. If it does, you've made a sale without being underhanded about it.
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mownie
16 years ago
I will second the motion for open season on "them thar varmints", but only if you stipulate that a "gut shot" be used. :^(
walt2002
16 years ago
I have gotten a half dozen similar to this and I don't even have an ebay account. I forwarded one to the Abuse address but nothing happened.

It is puzzling to me with today's technology why these, and really the Terrorist sites, can't be closed down.

Walt Conner
castoff
Original Author
16 years ago
If you are not an eBay member, the Abuse center will not reply to you.

Tracking these bas tards down isn't an easy task. Lots of them operate from areas inside the former USSR and funnel what they do through hi-jacked sites. Most of them don't even make use of the information they get from unwitting respondents. Instead, they sell it to others.

As fast as the police root out one of these little crooks, four more spring up to take their place. Without total international co-operation, it's just about impossible to do anything against them. They pretty much act with impunity due to ambivelence of the government/police where they live or that age old problem known as corruption.

The best defence to these guys is to educate the general public so that they recognize the fake emails and simply delete them.
baymee
16 years ago
For those who use the internet alot to do purchasing, like me, I recommend Lifelock. Although you can do the same thing as Lifelock, it's worth the 10 bucks a month for them to do it and they have a 5 million (I think) dollar protection plan for ID theft.
butchs_hobby
16 years ago
Castoff, only reason I haven't been snorting any MF fumes is that it's been too wet to do a darn thing. But you did give me a chuckle.
wheely_boy
16 years ago
I heard they are all sent by lb59.
williston
16 years ago
Any email sent to you by Ebay will also be matched in your Ebay account in the messages section of "My Ebay". If you get an email that says it's from Ebay, log into your account, and check to see if it's there as well. If not, it's a FAKE.
marineguy
16 years ago
Watch out for second chance offers, too. I got one once for a JD 214 that I didn't win, saying the original seller had backed out, and my $700 bid was now the high end. I was more than a little suspicious when the seller said he would not charge me for shipping, so I contacted the seller through ebay.com, and gave my phone number. She called me within about three hours saying the tractor had been sold and picked up, don't pay this person a dime, and report him. I sent him a polite but honest email telling him what a low-life drain on society he was, which I'm sure he promptly deleted, but it made me feel better. His email was from kred.com, which I guess allows anyone to set up anonymous accounts, like hotmail.
The lesson in the end is that like Castoff said, if ebay or an ebay user wants to get in touch with you, they'll do it through ebay.com, not from some random email account, directly to your personal email account.
Also, if it looks too good to be true, it is. No one's going to ship a tractor at a cost of $450 when the sale price is only $700. They also won't sell a three-year-old name-brand CUT with a loader and backhoe for the buy-it-now price of $2,500.
Buyer beware!
lakeguy43
16 years ago
I've had some of these fake 2nd chance messages as well. I don't bother to sent them to E-bay anymore 'cause nothing ever happens. I don't do as much on E-bay anymore due to the high volume of stolen goods. I DID just pick up a Brinly Moldboard plow yesterday though....
tom_k_de
16 years ago
Those phoney e-mails are called a phish,aka fish.The senders are fishing,and sooner or later,they catch a sucker.not a suckerfish.As was once said,there is a sucker born every minute,and after your give them your finacial imformation,you get reeled in,and no way to catch them.

fake ebay emails - warning

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