10-10-2003, 12:11 AM
I likewise had a recent e-mail from "eBay", which said that my account was to be terminated because of lack of verification. I was immediately suspicious, and went and placed a bid, just to make sure everything worked! I was especially suspicious since in the e-mail, "eBay" wanted me to enter my user ID and password. After having seen a very similar e-mail from "PayPal", I was quite suspicious, and contacted eBay, who confirmed that the e-mail was a hoax.
The e-mail looked REALLY good, just like the one from "PayPal"... They looked just like something that the company would send, and, in fact, the eBay one came from a reasonably legitimate sounding address: [email protected]. Here's the actual text of the e-mail:
"Dear eBay User,
"During our regular update and verification of the accounts, we could not verify your current information. Either your information has changed or it is incomplete.
"As a result, your access to bid or buy on eBay has been restricted.
"According to our site policy you will have to confirm that you are the real owner of the eBay account by log in and complete the form that will pop up or else your account will be suspended without the right to register again with eBay.
"After you will login please verify your information in order to complete this verification.
"Thank you
"eBay Customer Support"
Now, what's interesting is that New World notes in his posting that eBay was wanting his friend to change his User ID because it was his e-mail address. I actually got that same notice on the same page as a bid confirmation! (Not an e-mail!) It warned me to change my User ID before January 2004. I disregarded it because my User ID isn't even remotely my e-mail address, but now that spoofs are using the same approach, it's quite interesting!
--Dave
The e-mail looked REALLY good, just like the one from "PayPal"... They looked just like something that the company would send, and, in fact, the eBay one came from a reasonably legitimate sounding address: [email protected]. Here's the actual text of the e-mail:
"Dear eBay User,
"During our regular update and verification of the accounts, we could not verify your current information. Either your information has changed or it is incomplete.
"As a result, your access to bid or buy on eBay has been restricted.
"According to our site policy you will have to confirm that you are the real owner of the eBay account by log in and complete the form that will pop up or else your account will be suspended without the right to register again with eBay.
"After you will login please verify your information in order to complete this verification.
"Thank you
"eBay Customer Support"
Now, what's interesting is that New World notes in his posting that eBay was wanting his friend to change his User ID because it was his e-mail address. I actually got that same notice on the same page as a bid confirmation! (Not an e-mail!) It warned me to change my User ID before January 2004. I disregarded it because my User ID isn't even remotely my e-mail address, but now that spoofs are using the same approach, it's quite interesting!
--Dave
