Warning - fake Ebay request

[71_safari]

Hi everyone,

Most of you are aware of these but just a reminder.

Tonight I received what appeared to be an authentic email request from Ebay to update my credit info. Since I rarely use Ebay and it has been awhile, it seemed like a reasonable request. The email looked totally legit, with all the correct logos and even a secure sign logo at the bottom, but the included "link" to click on pointed to an unknown http address which immediately red-flagged it for me. So I logged on separately to Ebay and of course there was no update requested, but lots of warnings about these sorts of scams.

Just a heads up to be careful and double-check everything.

-john

[fabofabo]

Last week I thought I had a motorhome sold on ebay,
with an individual who was interested to pay me via my
bank account.
Turns out such person had bought 9 different motorhomes or the like,
for an average of 8-9k. Never heard from him again.
I relisted and I think now I have a legit buyer, althought he's taking while with the balance payment.
F

[Janets Husband]

Originally Posted by 71_safari

Hi everyone,

Most of you are aware of these but just a reminder.

Tonight I received what appeared to be an authentic email request from Ebay to update my credit info. Since I rarely use Ebay and it has been awhile, it seemed like a reasonable request. The email looked totally legit, with all the correct logos and even a secure sign logo at the bottom, but the included "link" to click on pointed to an unknown http address which immediately red-flagged it for me. So I logged on separately to Ebay and of course there was no update requested, but lots of warnings about these sorts of scams.

Just a heads up to be careful and double-check everything.

-john

John

This is called "Phishing" they will copy all of the company's logos and it will look like it came from that company. EBAY, PAYPAL, CITIBANK customers and others have had such attacks. It is so sophisticated that you can be directed to a fake web site which looks just like the real one.
Never and I repeat never ever provide any personal information that is requested on line. If you do not initiate contact for an account do not provide personal information. No reputable company would ever conduct business in such a manner.

My $0.02

[markdoane]

I heard today that Federal prosecutors have just indicted 3 men (2 in CA, 1 in CO) for fake bidding on ebay. Could cost them 5 years in prison.

[Stefrobrts]

I got a unique phising scam the other day. It was made to look like a PayPal receipt - it looked like we had paid $300 and change for some rediculous item. It included a link to follow to log in and cancel the payment. That was the trick, of course it wasn't a link to PayPal and it would have given the scammers our PayPal login, which of course would give them access to our bank account - scary! Luckily it was fishy enough to rouse our suspicions, so we just went and logged into PayPal ourselves the regular way and confirmed there was no payment like the one described in the email. Very sneaky.

[71_safari]

Geez! What will they think of next? Get these guys real jobs! It is definitely Scam City out there.

Thanks for posting all the other news everyone, I am now doubly aware.

-john

Credit card charge backs are another tool used by scammers. If someone pays you via Paypal using a credit card, they can charge back up to $500.00 no questions asked. A lot of sellers refuse to use Paypal for this very reason. I know someone whos account was tied up fpr over 6 months disputing $1500.00 in chargebacks. I've just had my first experence after over 400 Positive eBay transactions. The paypal explanation is " sooner or later it will happen to anyone conducting busineson ebay and accepting Paypal" My account will be tied up for 75 days while paypal disputes the chargeback with the credit card company.

[ALANSD]

There was a great Bluebird for sale on Ebay recently, with a super low buy it now price. It was a scam, and the Ebay folks pulled it after a day or two. As great as Ebay is for many people, it brings out the sharks. Bid carefully friends...and check the feedback before you do so.

[josephhh]

About once every 6 months I get an email from PAypal wanting me to update my information. I always ignore it. Wonder if that is a scam too?

josephhh

[ALANSD]

you should never get one like that from them, as I understand it. You will only get a message when you log in to your account directly that it needs an update, and that has only happened to me once in three or more years.

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by Craftsman

My account will be tied up for 75 days while paypal disputes the chargeback with the credit card company.

That's what they say now. But the reality for us was eight months to get our money back! That's the reason we now do not accept PayPal.
And those people using credit cards have an unbelievable amount of time to dispute payment! In one case I know of, the customer claimed fraudulant use of his card FOUR months after payment had been made! PayPal then backed up that transaction..... meanwhile, the customer had the item, and the seller was totally out!

Elizabeth in Iowa

[Stefrobrts]

Don't get me started about credit card companies. I just laugh when they run those ads saying how they're working to stop CC fraud! Their idea is to make it easier for the customer to dispute charges, which they then yank out of the merchant account, putting all the burden on the merchant. Does anyone want to go after the actual crook who used the stolen credit card? Even if you know his address he had the items shipped to? No! It stops at the merchant.

Police, Visa, Postal Service (buying items through the mail with stolen CC # is postal fraud), none of them will have anything to do with it. So the card holder gets their money refunded, the seller gets stiffed, and the crook gets their goodies and goes on to do it again! Am I the only one who sees anything wrong with this system?

We have not had a problem with Paypal yet, but I have heard horror stories. Unfortunately many people prefer to pay that way now, so not having it would probably lose us more sales than the risk of having someone do a chargeback.

[Janets Husband]

Originally Posted by josephhh

About once every 6 months I get an email from PAypal wanting me to update my information. I always ignore it. Wonder if that is a scam too?

josephhh

That is a BIG YES.
PayPal knows about this one. They told me don't answer.
Seems no one is able to do any thing about it.
Hanging is too good for them I tell you.

[71_safari]

I was a victim of credit card fraud once, about 8 years ago. My SS# and DOB had been stolen by a student in a class I took. They got three of us in the course. Took two years to clear up, and the worst part is that the minute the derogatory info appeared on my credit report (from the bad guys not paying on the account that they fraudulently opened in MY name) ALL the credit card companies except one raised my interest rate immediately to 24%. Ouch! In spite of there being a police file open on it and everything.

Needless to say, that one company was the only card I kept, and I would not even have that one if it weren't that in today's society you are practically an outcast financially unless you own and occasionally use a credit card. Even debit cards contribute to tracking and profiling of individuals now. And I suppose this invasion of privacy will only continue to get worse.

[Minnie's Mate]

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

Police, Visa, Postal Service (buying items through the mail with stolen CC # is postal fraud), none of them will have anything to do with it. So the card holder gets their money refunded, the seller gets stiffed, and the crook gets their goodies and goes on to do it again! Am I the only one who sees anything wrong with this system?

About 10 years ago I received a cell phone bill for $3,500. I called the cellular provider and asked for billing. When I told the lady about my bill, she smugly said yessss. I said, "look at my last three month's bills." She said, "Oh, I see. Someone has cloned your phone." She then transferred me to the fraud department.

The lady I spoke with there told me that she would credit my account with the entire amount and I would owe nothing. Nothing! I told her I would gladly go through and pay the charges that I had honestly incurred. And she just said don't bother this kind of thing happens all the time. She then wanted to give me a new phone number. I didn't want that so she set up a PIN so it would have to be entered to make a call. She told me that as soon as the person that cloned my phone found out that they couldn't make calls on my number, they would move on to another number. I asked if I should leave my phone turned off for a few days so they could track down the person who made the calls and she said no that was too much trouble and they didn't try to catch the person doing the cloning. The next month I received a bill for more than $1,700 and the cell provider wrote that off, too.

More than $5,200 in two months and they didn't even want to catch the person who had ripped them off for more than five grand! This is the kind of deep pocket apathy that leads to the smaller merchant being the one who gets burned.

[markdoane]

Originally Posted by Minnie's Mate

More than $5,200 in two months and they didn't even want to catch the person who had ripped them off for more than five grand! This is the kind of deep pocket apathy that leads to the smaller merchant being the one who gets burned.

And the consumer gets burned too. For some reason I don't think the employees or management of Verizon/T-mobile/AT&T got the $5200 taken out of their paychecks. And I don't think it came out of the shareholders.

Who's left?

[Stefrobrts]

The thing that gets me is that if you were to not pay your $50 phone bill, they would be all over you, putting your credit on notice, sending bill collectors after you, yet someone steals 100 times that amount and it's not worth their time to persue?

[gryphon]

A few years ago I got a call from some cell company. They wanted to give me two free phones for some obscur reason. he wanted info and asked me all sorts of questions. Then he wanted my social security number. No way. He insisted he had to have it and blah blah about the free phones. I told him I never give my socnum to anyone over the phone. He gave me a number that would varify for whom he was working. I still didn't give it up. I called the number the next day. It was a con. Point is the scam has been around ages. Never give out your socnum to anyone.
I have two email accounts. I get at least one bogus email daily - to verify this or that. Many accounts we have never had.
One of our members here got whipped out a while back.
The internet and the communication world is really a wild west show.
(sigh) I reminder the net before many folks knew what it was. Someday that will return.
There are good folks here and there are some real scumbags.
But BE CAREFUL.