Warning! EBay Fake Message

Subject: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: GUEST,Q as Guest
Date: 25 Feb 06 - 10:29 PM

Several of us use EBay to find or sell music or instruments.
I received a message with the EBay logo, with the Subject Warning! "Billing Update Confirmation # 39288.
Dear Valued Customer"-
The letter talks about suspension, termination, etc., unless I 'click here' and enter credit card and other data- very complete data. It finishes-
"Regards, Safeharbor Department eBay, Inc.
The eBay team
This is an automatic message. Please do not reply."
The next line has links to the eBay links such as Security Center, etc.

I logged on to eBay and found everything in order. I have sent a copy to EBay.

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 25 Feb 06 - 10:37 PM

D'uh

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Rapparee
Date: 25 Feb 06 - 10:40 PM

I do not, EVER, respond to a notice such as that I receive by email. Not from Amazon, not from Ebay, not from a bank, not from NOBODY!!

What I have done is do a whois lookup on various IP addresses in the headers (if you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry about -- just assume that I found out where the email came from).

The latest, a notification from Visa, came from Seoul, South Korea. Others have come from China, Egypt, and the Netherlands.

It's called "phishing".

Just click "Delete".

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: jacqui.c
Date: 25 Feb 06 - 10:41 PM

Had the same with Paypall a few weeks back, on a redundant account.

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Amos
Date: 25 Feb 06 - 10:42 PM

Q:

Google trhe word "phishing" and you will learn a whole mess of stuff about evil in the world of which this is just one example. They are almost always incompetent, doing things that give them away such as having different "Reply-To's" headers or bogus HTML links.

They are currently doing a whole campaign pretending to be the IRS, as well, using eMail AND snail mail.

Ya gotta stay awake, I tell ya...


A

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: GUEST,Q as guest
Date: 25 Feb 06 - 10:48 PM

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: GUEST,Q as guest
Date: 25 Feb 06 - 10:53 PM

Phishing is the computerese term and I am famliar with it, but occasional users are not.
Why not just call it a scam attempt?

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Amos
Date: 25 Feb 06 - 11:00 PM

Sure, no worries. It's getting into pretty wide circulation, but plain speaking is always best.

A

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 25 Feb 06 - 11:44 PM

If it doesn't address you by NAME, then it's not from the real eBay, Paypal whatever....

That's common knowledge by now...

Or it AUGHT to be

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Amos
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 12:13 AM

Hell, even if it does, view source and check the HTML codes.

A

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 12:22 AM

Most likely not necessary, but it sure won't hurt

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Zany Mouse
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 03:55 AM

If you get anything through without your own name on it then forward it to [e-mail]. You will get a response back which will tell you that it isn't from them and they gather the information to take action against the potential criminal. These people are trying to collect your passwords, especially for your Paypal account.

Rhiannon

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Cluin
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 04:54 AM

I've gotten that same e-mail.

And since I've never dealt with E-Bay at all.....

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 04:59 AM

RE the term "Phishing:"

A recent flurry of activity that falls within the general "phishing" catergory reportedly used internal email directories "hacked" from several large businesses to send similar emails to employess asking them to "confirm" their passwords and other sensitive information. In some cases they asked for personal information "to confirm the identity of the respondent."

The gimmick here was that the purported "sender" of the requests was the CEO or other high-ranking company official, with reasonably good simulation of the format/layout of messages common in the businesses that were attacked.

As one article asked, "If you worked for Microsoft and received a personal request for information from Bill Gates, wouldn't you reply???" Apparently a lot of people did.

The more specific term "Spear Phishing" was briefly popular to describe this particular variant - "Phishing using the names of specific persons known to the victim, who are members of management of the organization where the victim works."

It does seem that it might be a bit more "persuasive" to get an internal message from your boss making a ridiculous request, than to get a message from your bank. It's still a fake.

John

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 05:06 AM

I've had two of those from eBay in the past couple of months, plus two from PayPal, which is owned by eBay? Sent reports both times to which I received legitimate replies.

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: GUEST,hampsy
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 05:30 AM

' Phishing is the computerese term and I am famliar with it, but occasional users are not.
Why not just call it a scam attempt? '

- because phishing is more specific and besides, most of us like to learn something every day, even if you don't!!

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 05:36 AM

I'm afraid I must protest the advice that it makes any difference at all whether an unexpected message has your name on it or not. It's not a whole lot harder to find email addresses with owners names associated than to find any other kinds of identification.

The lists that have name and email for specific individuals just cost a bit more from the illicit sites that deal in stolen ID information.

If you receive ANY MESSAGE that asks for personal information, you NEVER USE ANY LINK, ADDRESS, OR OTHER CONTACT INFORMATION that comes in the same message with the request.

If there is real cause for you to suspect that the request may be in some way "legitimate," you MUST make your own contact with the person or agency that might have sent it and demand a verification that they originated the request and have a legitimate need for the information.

Assuming that the request is certified, you DO NOT PROVIDE any personal information except on a SECURE LINK, via a contact that YOU YOURSELF ORIGINATED. Before sending any personal information, you should always verify both that the site shows an https: address (note the "s") AND that your browser shows a "secure site" icon on the toolbar. (Either of these can be faked, but no fraudulent sites have been found thus far that have faked both on the same page.)

If you ever find any nominally legitimate organization or agency has asked you to send personal information by an insecure connection of any kind, you should immediately report the security breach directly to the organization's Security, Network Administration, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Executive Officer, separately to each, AND to the appropriate Federal, State and Local Consumer Fraud agencies. (It's optional whether you tell your bartender.)

Or, since PROPER handling of any such request is a whole lot of trouble, you can simply DELETE and forget about it. There is no "middle ground" here.

John

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 05:45 AM

John is right. I usually send thise things (for example) to Ebay in the hope that sooner or later ebay will try to do something about people trying to defraud their users. Did you know the London police get about 200 complaints about ebay fraud daily?

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: gnomad
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 07:12 AM

I've had the e-bay one several times, and since I've never had any dealings with them just deleted it.

Recently I have had a couple from Chase Banking, with whom I have also never had dealings, so they just get deleted as well.

I didn't know about the spoof@ebay address. When I tried to report the thing to them they seemed to want me to sign in before I could communicate anything, and I'm not becoming a member just for that! If it comes again I will know where to forward it, so thanks Z-M.

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Mr Red
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 07:19 AM

I just started using Ebay and they send using your Ebay handle. If you use one that can be deduced from details that you broadcast publically then it may look like the real thing, the safest way is to disguise yourself sufficiently for the genuine and fake messages to reflect a difference.

The only messages I choose to get relate to the items I am interested in and I have chosen to keep the number to one at a time. It makes usage easier - especially when you are a novice.

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 11:14 AM

A small demonstration, regarding the reason one doesn't follow links in a message:

http://www.mudcat.org

It didn't take you to where it said it would, did it? And that is SO ridiculously easy to do. Some of the web access email programs will give you a warning that the target isn't the same as the link name if you mouse over it. Once it's in your computer's resident email program, you may not have the same double-checking available.

I get tons of those phishing emails, I have for a couple of years now, but I rarely see them any more since I set the email to all be filtered. They mostly wind up in the spam filter, but occasionally one of the senders finds some way to get it through (I think they must encode my own address into the "sender" line so it looks like I'm sending myself an email and it lets it through).

With eBay the answer is simple. It has been some months now that they adopted the policy of double sending messages. If they send you an email they also post that same message to your eBay account. If something comes through that says "question from an eBay member" (which is a common spam subject line these days) I just visit eBay and see if there is really a question there. Hasn't been one yet.

Don't hit "reply" or click any links in an email asking for any personal information. Simple as that. Don't download the images in them, have the email and browser set so it won't display those images unless you click something that lets them through if you trust the site. Those images can have a malware payload.

SRS

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 11:18 AM

There are people who mouse over links and don't check the URL bar to see what the link is?!?!?!

That's like dialing your phone without looking at the numbers...

So much for idiot proof eh....

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 11:51 AM

If ya wanna feel dastardly you CAN respond to phishing with fake credit card numbers etc.

hehheheh

It'll drive em nuts or just make it easy for them to get caught.

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: open mike
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 11:55 AM

it never hurts to send a copy of the suspicious e-mail
or URL to the authentic organization for their records.

also if you type in the URL and only go to the
official home page for a site you will not fall
into such a trap. most large internet businesses
have a department that deals with such bogus
e-mails.

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 12:41 PM

My system dumps several hundred spam emails a week. I'd be wasting my time to send all of those on to the actual company so they could trace it. I used to do that, and you see how much good it did me. . .

SRS

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: artbrooks
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 10:34 PM

In the last week I've received similar messages addressed to "Amazon Customer", "Costco Customer", "Paypal Customer", "Target Customer" and so forth. Same message to anybody who gets them...delete immediately, don't reply and you're really better off not even opening them.

I'm not sure about other programs...I use Outlook Express (no comments, please), but in that program you can right-click on a message and then left-click properties, then details thenmessage source and read it without ever even opening it. You can also see if you were the only addressee or one of many...another spam indication...and who really sent it.

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Little Hawk
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 11:24 PM

Man, I get those phony Ebay emails almost every frikkin' day...along with phony Paypal emails and a few others. I forward them to [e-mail] and [e-mail]. I don't know if it helps stop them, but I hope so.

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 02:42 AM

Be aware also that what looks like a legitimate link and even goes to the link it appears to represent may still be a fake.

Spammers and scammers make a practice of registering fake site names that closely resemble legitimate ones.

A few people were infected not too long ago by responding to an emai that substituted "red-hat" for "redhat" - or maybe it was the other way around. And while "whitehouse.org" is a known source of all kinds of crud, whitehouse.com is a completely legitimate porn site.

There is, or was a few months ago, a "legitimately registered(?)" site called "microsfot.com," apparently a sufficiently common "typo" to get them useful traffic for whatever their prupose was.

John

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 06:42 AM

I get heaps of the ebay ones - I haven't used my ebay acct for years - I got sick and lost internet access for a week and the silly little lady who I had won the bid with trashed my acct which had dozens of good feedback with a claim that I was in bad faith or whatever, so I have not bothered to try again.

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 08:29 AM

Once ebay started actively supporting the efforts of criminals with many new kinds of blind private auctions and their refusal to stop known felons I dropped them. They have since gone on a binge of fee hikes.

I got one negative feedback 8 years ago that still appears on my account. The auction was for kitchen utensils with some sterling silver spoons thrown in. The negative feedback was because not all the spatulas and spoons were sterling silver.

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Ella who is Sooze
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 08:33 AM

I had the same too... but have been too busy to do anything about it... Lucky - thanks for the warning though, very thoughful.

E>W>I>S

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Mr Red
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 01:24 PM

I had a few "Your Account With Blah Blah Bank" which was clearly scam.

But I took the trouble to decode the URL. enough to know the process.

This involved numerous %'s and %%'s and went via msn and Google both.

I deduced they found a way of filtering the ridiculous %%'s (etc) and by using two search engines it cleared-up the errors and ended-up in their chosen URL, by which time the surfer had been lulled into something official looking and wouldn't check the Address bar.

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 01:27 PM

"They have since gone on a binge of fee hikes."

Once again, you show how woefully uninformed you are....

eBay just DROPPED a bunch of fees.... and added a bunch of free services that USED to cost money....

Your head's always up yer ass isn't it....

Subject: RE: Warning! EBay Fake Message
From: Little Hawk
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 02:50 PM

Most Ebayers eventually get a negative feedback from someone no matter how good their behaviour is. It's not such a big deal if you have 300 positive feedback to compare with alongside it. That tells the story, doesn't it?

Who are you going to listen to when evaluating the reliability of an Ebay vendor? One sorehead who posted negative feedback or 300 happy people who posted positive feedback?