« I’ve Just Got Butterfly Marketing 2.0

Warning, Fake Ebay Email Doing The Rounds!

Hello everyone,

normally I don’t report on the fake eBay emails I receive as i probably get two or three a day and most of them don’t even look official, however this one I received half an hour ago nearly got me!

It’s the best one I’ve seen yet. It came to my official eBay email address. It looks EXACTLY like an eBay email would do. It was about a change in my email address which I hadn’t done so it made me look straight away at it because I thought my account may have been hacked!

Check the screenshots below to see how I figured out it was fake.

fake_ebay_email01

Screenshot Two

fake_ebay_email02

As you can see it really does look like an official eBay email but by following the steps outlined below I saved myself a lot of grief.

If you ever receive an email that looks like it may have come from eBay here are a list of things to check.

  1. First of all never, ever, ever click the link in the email.
  2. Roll over it with your mouse pointer and then look at the bottom left of Outlook Express (or Outlook) window and you’ll see the real link address. Beware though because this can also be faked using javascript.
  3. Did the email come to your registered eBay email address?
  4. Login to your eBay account via a new browser window and click on ‘my messages’. Is the same email in there? If not then the one in your inbox is fake. Forward it to spoof@ebay.co.uk or spoof@ebay.ie or spoof@ebay.com and then delete it straight away.

For more hints and safety tips visit eBays official page here:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/account/reporting-spoof.html

Let me know if you have any comments please :)

Richard

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 12:30 pm and is filed under Ebay. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

11 Responses to “Warning, Fake Ebay Email Doing The Rounds!”

  1. Thanks Richard – with the deluge of fake mail and viruses going around it’s good to know that you’re there to help

    All The Best

    Alex

  2. Hi Richard

    Many thanks for the warning! I have been fooled in the past with fake ebay emails, unfortunately these con persons are getting good with fake emails looking like the real McCoy!
    Everyone take heed and be aware.

  3. Thanks Richard I too receive many of these and as you point out in your blog here many are done quite well, I always forward to spoof@ebay.com but was unaware of the manner to find the real address now I know using your method outlined here.

    Charles
    BALDMULE on eBay
    Buckeye Arizona

  4. Hi Richard

    You failed to spot that the email did not contain your name, it has Dear (your email address) it should have your registered name !

    I always look at that line first.

    Kind regards
    Chris

  5. Hi Richard,

    Thanks for the great advice and reminder.

    Sometimes we get carried away when we get a so-called “email from eBay” and tend to follow through without even checking the source.

    Keep up with all the great advices.

  6. Hi Richard –

    I have seen some pretty good ones for eBay and PayPal. I usually don’t collect that type of mail in Outlook of Outlook Express. But sometimes the browser I’m using doesn’t have enough room to see the whole URL in the status.

    My eBay and PayPal emails cone to my AOL account so I usually do a mouse over and the actual link appears next to it. I might have to do it a few times because it only appears for about 5 seconds and fades. Also in AOL you cant – Copy Shortcut – within the email. You can in Gmail so sometimes I’ll forward an email to Gmail where I can. I then paste it into notepad to view it. In AOL between the From area and where the email is displayed is a link that says “Details”. If I click it a window opens with more than enough to see it is a spoof. When I report the spoof I copy and paste that in into the email because they don’t get that if I forward the email.

    I notice they often use the actually links for the rest of the email. So when you open the HTML email all the images are coming from the eBay or PayPal servers. Sometimes there are links included to the actual eBay or PayPal sites. But the one they tell you to click is the dangerous one. Pretty sneaky to use the eBay and PayPal server but it easily creates the very official email.

    Like you said Richard never click anything. Always go to the eBay or PayPal site. That’s what they tell you to do. Nothing is so important that you need to respond in haste. Often these spoofs imply urgency. The real eBay or PayPal give you plenty of time to take care of problems so don’t panic.

    John

  7. Thanks for the time in putting this post together. In my year of selling on eBay, I have only gotten one of these emails and it was missing the the “eBay sent this message to users real name (ebay user id).

    It is important that all eBayer’s look out for one another and warn each other of scam artists.

    David John

  8. Hello Richard.

    It’s really surprising just how many people get tricked by these things. More people need to be wary of anything they get in their email. Never, NEVER just click on a link you think is from eBay (or any bank or credit card company for that matter).

    Just like you said, first thing to do is check the rollover. Another give away to the email you have posted is it starts “Dear {email address}. Anything from eBay will have your username, not the email address from that user. And if you get anything like a “Dispute Closed” it will have your full name on it.

    If you get something like this that looks like it’s from eBay, don’t click on the link. Go to eBay though your browser and check My Messages on your My eBay Page. If eBay sent it, there will be a copy of it there. If not, it’s a spammer who’s phishing.

    I do not recommend this, but if you ever follow any link and find your self at a page that looks like eBay, asking you to sign in, put anything BUT your real info in the boxes. For user name use Dummy. For password use Loser. If you don’t get a message saying log in info is incorrect, your at a phishing site. Get out right away.

    Always log in though your browser from your own bookmarks. That way you know your safe.

    Thanks for bringing this to peoples attention. If more people paid attention, us sellers won’t get those emails saying, “I didn’t make this purchase. My account was hijacked.”

    Best wishes to you,
    Robbie

  9. Hi Chris, well spotted I did indeed miss that!

  10. Someone actually unsubscribed from my lists because of this email! Here are their comments:

    “Right, warn me about eBay fakes. What are we? dumshit non-newbies?”

    The answer to that is no, but not everyone has been using eBay as long as you obviously have. That email I received was the best fake I’ve seen which is why I mentioned it. I knew it would catch a lot of people out and as such felt it was best to report it.

  11. Hi Richard, I had one of these, they are very convincing, I always hover my cursor over a link before clicking it.

Leave a Reply