email fraud

---

Hi all,

 

Since I know some of you purchase from Ebay, I thought this might be something useful to know about.

 

Today I received an email stating that my Ebay account had been used to make fraudulent purchases in Europe.  It was a very convincing email, complete with the Ebay header, disclaimers, and an address.  It linked to an apparent Ebay sign in page that in turn linked to my real Ebay account if I followed the links at the top.  It also stated that account information had to be verified within 72 hours or my Ebay account would be cancelled.  After opening a link and apparently logging into Ebay, a page opened which asked for information I've never supplied to Ebay and which Ebay never asks for.  Logging in probably supplies the password for the Ebay account, and the page asks for credit card numbers, security numbers, pin numbers, social security numbers, etc.  It is a very well done fraud.

 

When contacted, Ebay responded within 5 minutes that it was indeed a fraud.

 

I have received other such attempts, quite a number for supposed Yahoo and Ebay sites.  They usually ask if I want to set up a credit account or some such thing.

 

If this particular one had asked for information that Ebay really had already, I probably would have fallen for it, and it is very convincing.

 

If you get such a note, contact the company supposed to be asking for the information.  Never supply the information without checking.  My wife has been getting similar emails supposedly from banks where she has accounts; however, those were never so professionally done, and were obvious frauds.

 

For anybody who wants details, I would be glad to supply text copies of the fraudulent note (with headers and links removed) and the response from Ebay.

 

Dave