ebay account restricted - or is it phishing?

mgdavid

Received this overnight, spelling and grammar looks OK, but I'm very wary of identity theft.

 I've been a member for >20 years, have recently moved to Managed Payments OK, and received a message from another ebay member some 4 hours after this email says I can't. Did a forum search but nothing matched since 2016 so thought best to ask.Genuine or phishing?

"Hello xxxxxxx (name redacted),

We understand this may be inconvenient, but we’ve identified a possible discrepancy with the information provided at registration and need your assistance. Until we're able to resolve this matter, your account will remain restricted and you will be unable to buy/sell items, or engage in member-to-member communication.
To help remove the restriction, please provide a color image of your passport. If you do not have a passport readily available, please provide an alternate government-issued ID (front and back).

Go to the following secured link to upload your documents:
https://ocsnext.ebay.co.uk/ocs/mudcwf?deptName=GSS

Here are some things to keep in mind:
- Please make sure that your submitted documents are current, valid, readable, and unaltered.
- Your name should be visible and match your current eBay account registration information (name and address).
- It may take up to 3 business days to review your information.
- Any subscriptions you have are canceled, and you will have to reapply for them after the restriction has been removed.
- Do not make any changes to your account until this matter is resolved.

Thank you for your cooperation in resolving this matter as quickly as possible.

Thanks,

eBay "

pbartlett

One way to determine is to look at the web address they are sending you to - in this case, the web address xxx.ebay.co.uk is a valid ebay domain.

That said, it is extremely bad practice of them to send you an email and ask you to click on a link and then upload sensitive documents. 

cattie

Personally I'd ring ebay to ask if it's a genuine request or not. Sounds a bit fishy to me, especially asking for passport or government issued id. And the link seems very odd & suspicious.

Spoonie_Turtle

If it helps, I've clicked on the link and it's taken me to what appears to be the genuine site, addressing me by my first name with my username at the bottom.  I didn't have to input any details for that to happen as I'm already logged into eBay on this browser.  It therefore send to me that the link is to eBay's standard 'upload documents' page.

https://i.imgur.com/cF57bhS.png

(Edit: though to clarify, I would have been very suspicious too.)

pbartlett

Not at all surprising - as I said, because the tld is ebay.co.uk it IS a valid ebay address....

theonlywayisup

Does it appear in your messages on Ebay?  For me it shows as a valid link and takes me straight to an upload page (that I have used before).

mgdavid

theonlywayisup said:

Does it appear in your messages on Ebay?  For me it shows as a valid link and takes me straight to an upload page (that I have used before).

ah, yes, thanks - found the message in ebay messages as well as email (where I saw it first).

Have uploaded a doc, hope it goes through OK as tomorrow is managed payments payday!