One thing that is standing out to me since I have been a user on EBay is the increasing amount of spoof emails that I am receiving. Emails claiming to be either EBay or PayPal in an attempt to steal your details to obtain access to your accounts and sometimes even try and get your bank details!
As a result I felt that my next article should be about how to determine an EBay and PayPal Spoof email!
Recognizing a spoof email from EBay or PayPal can be initially quite difficult. Mainly because the URL address appears to be an EBay or PayPal one, and the familiar logos and graphics of EBay and PayPal look authentic. However, once you have a good amount of these spoof emails sent to you, you soon realize that they all seem to follow the same format. So I am going help you distinguish suspect spoof emails that are the most common:
PayPal or EBay account suspension –
These emails are claiming that your account is either suspended or will be suspended by a certain date if you don’t take action right away. Some look more authentic than others. They ask you to click on the link below to rectify the problem which then takes you to a false EBay login screen where the spoof company will steal your eBay username and password! Dangerous if you don’t recognize the signs.
But these emails are relatively easy to identify as eBay or PayPal do not generally send out emails about account suspension. If you are concerned however about your account; logon to eBay from your internet browser manually to be on the safe side.
The first time I had an email claiming that my account had been suspended I was quite concerned and clicked the link without any suspicion and luckily my virus software picked-up on an abnormal symbol in my URL (supposedly eBay) and urgently told me to close down the page. When I looked closer at the URL I could see that the URL “ebay.signin.”etc was the opposite way round to the authentic eBay site. Ever since then I have been very cautious and always manually logon to eBay.
EBay or PayPal Unauthorized Access –
These emails claim that someone has been attempting to access your accounts from a different I.P address. Some will even show you false I.P addresses and locations from where your account was apparently accessed. These are quite clearly spoof emails as they claim that someone trying to access your account from a different I.P address; just is not right as this “someone” could be you accessing your account from another location. They could never know that it isn’t you.
PayPal payment sent –
These spoof emails claim that an authorized PayPal payment has been attempted and sent. I receive one that claimed I had sent $170 without my knowledge, and then they have a link saying if you did not authorize this payment then “click here” which takes you to a spoof PayPal page where they will try and steal your username and password. This is easy, as you know when you send a genuine PayPal payment they do not generally mention anything about being unauthorized and if PayPal did suspect that an unauthorized payment was being attempted they would just hold the payment until proof from the real identity.
EBay ID or PayPal Name –
If an email addresses you with either your name or your eBay user ID it most probably genuine.
For example a genuine email from eBay would say “Hello Bluemonkey-ebooks…you are the winning…etc.” If an email addresses you with your email address “Hello, purchase@bluemonkeyebooks.com…you are the winning…etc” then you know that this is a spoof email.
Excessive use of the company logo graphics –
Many of the spoof emails will use the eBay and PayPal graphics in the emails in an attempt to look authentic, however some use excessive amounts and when compared to an authentic email can be quite easily identified as being a spoof!
If you identify a spoof email using the above tips you must definitely not clink on any of the links inside that email. If it is an eBay spoof forward it to spoof@ebay.co.uk or if it is a PayPal spoof forward it to spoof@paypal.com, as soon as you have forwarded it – delete it straight away. It is best to be safe than sorry!
It is always best to be cautious, so logon to eBay or PayPal manually change your password regularly. Don’t get caught out…
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