Ebay Phishing Scam
eBay Phishing Scam Email
What are eBay Phishing Scams? Well Phishing, to summarise (or you can read my Hub on the subject here) is when a fraudster will cast out bait (emails) that contain a hook (link) in an attempt to gain personal information such as credit card numbers or bank accounts.
eBay is a common target for Phishing scams, as they are one of the biggest online auction houses in the world. With over 140 million registered users, and a lot of these people are unfamiliar with more advanced Internet use, eBay is a giant pond that is ripe for the picking.
Phishing fraudsters will obtain eBay logon details so that they can sell stolen or non-existent goods online through your eBay ID, with all of it's positive feedback. Or they will even sell your ID to someone else on the Internet blackmarket.
How do you stop yourself falling for an eBay Phishing email? Well, there are numerous indicators that you can look for, let us run through those:
- eBay will not send you an e-mail requesting your personal information.
- The email will be sent from an e-mail that does not have on file.
- The greeting will say ‘Dear eBay User’ or ‘Dear eBay Member’. eBay knows who you are, so they will typically use the name you registered with.
- The Threat. Generally will revolve around your account being suspended/cancelled/de-registered if you don’t take immediate action
- If you click on the link in the e-mail, you will not be on a secure page. Look for the little padlock in the lower left or right hand-side of your browser.
- Bad grammar or misspelled words contained within the e-mail.
If you receive an Ebay Phishing Scam email, then you can forward it to spoof@eBay.com.
There is two things I would like to finish with:
NEVER CLICK ON A LINK IN AN EMAIL UNLESS YOU ARE 100% SURE OF THE SOURCE!
Educating yourself and using a bit of common sense is your best armour against phishing scams as well as other forms of Internet scams and fraud.
