Ebay and paypal spoof mails. Please read

soolin

At the suggestion of some users and with Mod approval and I am posting this as a sticky. Some new users are unsure about whether emails they are getting supposedly from ebay or paypal are genuine and I hope this thread will be able to reassure users how to deal with them and what to look for. All follow up posts are welcome as I am sure to have missed something. In future please don’t post suspicious emails to the main forum, either follow the advice on here or post them here..

The first line of a phishing mail is usually the give away. Both ebay and paypal will address you by name, anything that starts ‘dear user’ or by your email address is a fraud.

Beware of emails asking you to update your personal information within the email or via a website. eBay & PayPal will never ask you for your account or credit card details, username or password in any communications.Always open a new browser and type in the address yourself to ensure you are visiting the genuine websites.

If you are in any doubt that an email you have received or a website you have visited is fraudulent, report it immediately to spoof@ebay.co.uk or spoof@paypal.co.uk and forward the entire email. They will reply promptly letting you know whether or not the email or website is fake or genuine. If you are in any doubt at all, always check - it is worth taking the time to be sure. (copied from ebay website)

The ebay tutorial dealing with spoof emails is at:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/education/spooftutorial/index.html

As long as you only log into ebay and paypal in a browser window you have opened yourself you will be fine. Remember to change your passwords frequently and use a random selection of letters and numbers. Never use the same password for both paypal and ebay. Never leave yourself logged into ebay, always do a full log off when you leave the site. Never share your ebay account details with anyone in case they are not as security minded as you.

Remember that the "From" field of an email can easily be altered - it is not a reliable indicator of the true origin of the email.

I’m sure I’ve missed lots here, so please feel free to PM me with any errors so I can correct them.

Keep safe

Soo

Aiadi

I may be a bit of a dreamer but can eBay or the mighty law not trace these emails, find the beneficiary and the prosecute them. People how download MP3s without paying are being taken to courts in the US and Europe but people who cause financial ruins to decent internet users are getting away with it. This is all, I think, because the individuals who are affected don't have the might and money of the big music or entertainment companies and basically no one would bother protecting their rights.

soolin

Ebay close them down within hours of reporting them but for every one that closes down another 10 spring up.

Soo

MarkyMarkD

Most fraudulent e-mails are sent from dodgy countries using dial-up internet accounts which don't require any decent registration proof of identity. So, as soo says, for every one which gets squashed, another is set up.

nalibz

Soo could you please add details of NIgerian and Western Union scams to your above post.

Thanks

mah_jong

I had an email from 'paypal' this week..... the email even said said to visit the paypal site its self ( as if to authenticicate) I, being a sensible sort, forwarded it to spoof@paypal and yes it was a fake!

ma

MarkyMarkD

Rockee wrote:

Just a quick reminder to anyone who doesn't know, never even open any spoof/dodgy email. Only read through your inbox window. As soon as you open any spoof, the scammers then know your email address is live (check out separate thread on Phishing).

Rockee

No, that is not true. They only know if you've opened an e-mail if they've set it to send a read receipt and you allow that read receipt to be sent. I've never seen this (or virtually never) on spam and certainly never on a phishing e-mail.

Nobody is going to be phished twice - so why would they care if your address is real or not? Either you respond, or you don't.

shrek101

Got thsi email this evening. I dont use ebay all that much and when I do its using static Ip address. I havent clicked on the link in email. I aint with aol.

Dear eBay Member,
We recently noticed one or more log in attempts to your eBay account from a foreign IP address and we have reasons to believe that your account was used by a third party without your authorization If you recently accessed your account while traveling, the unusual login attempts may have been initiated by you
The login attempt was made from:
IP address: 224.144.211.16
ISP Host: cache-66 proxy aol com

By now, we used many techniques to verify the accuracy of the information our users provide us when they register on the Site However, because user verification on the Internet is difficult, eBay cannot and does not confirm each user's purported identity Theft, we have established an offline verification system to help you evaluate with who you are deal with.


click on the link below, fill the form and then submit as we will verify

http://ebay-userpage.com/?eBaylSAPI.dll&VerifyRegistrationShow {DONT CLICK ON THIS)

Please save this fraud alert ID for your reference

Please Note - If you choose to ignore our request, you leave us no choice but to temporally suspend your account.

* Please do not respond to this e-mail as your reply will not be received Respectfully,
Trust and Safety Department
eBay Inc.



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eBay will not request personal data (password, credit card/bank numbers, and so on) in an email. Learn how to protect your account.

Malestrom

Yes, definately a scam. Poor english grammar and a non-ebay webpage are the obvious indicators.

shrek101

Thanks I thought so, just wanting to make sure.

DonnyDave

So how do they get your email address? Surely only people you buy from/sell to get it.

I had a PayPal one the other week on an email address which I use for PayPal/eBay. I've only been registered for just over a month, and the address/domain which it was received on has only been working for that length.