I actually got an e-mail like that asking for my E-bay user ID and password. It looked very authentic, but I had read the E-bay warning about how they will never ask for your password like that, and read things here as well. I tried to forward it to the E-bay e-mail I found on the e-bay site as they ask you to forward the whole scam e-mail to them, but it wouldn’t work. It was like the e-mail was made not to be forwarded, for I have never had problems forwarding things before.
Anyhow, I’m surprised they weren’t talking to this guy from jail. But then I guess in real life things are much more complicated. It’s scary to think there are people like that out there… just be careful.
When I’ve looked at the source code of those “phishing” letters I’ve
always found that the URL at first glanc looks legitimate, but close
examination reveals an “@” symbol after the first part of the domain - so,
to give you an example from a recent pseudo-PayPal message I got:
on the part after the @, I found out that it went to a page for which the IP
address is part of a block allocated to KRNIC, the Korean address
agency. I suspect this overseas location makes pursuit of the criminals
particularly difficult for U.S. authorities.
All of the things I’ve been involved with online such as Ebay and online games make it a policy that they will never ask for your password under any circumstances. Some customers just aren’t aware of it and are unfortunately taken in by the official looking emails.
It really is a shame that this happens at all. I’d never give out my passwords to anyone or in any mail no matter how official it looks.
Yep, I was almost taken by a fake escrow service that a scammer ebayer led me to. I did a search for the escrow web address in google and it came up under a long list of scam escrow sites. I actually got so ticked that I did some private eye work myself and found the scammers home address and an article published by a paper in her home town about how her husband ran into someone with his Mercedes. I wrote her “So, is that how you can afford to drive a Mercedes - with Ebay scams?!” Freaked the scammer out pretty good! This scammer wasn’t as smart as the guy in the article mentioned above… If I was really ticked, I could have flown to MA where she lives and had a little talk! But alas, I’m a lover not a fighter… Well, usually!
Sara