08.09.06
Ebay Phishing Email
Often “phishing” spam messages will use legitimate ‘From:’ email addresses, logos, and links to reputable businesses such as PayPal and eBay in the message. But the message instructs you to click on a web link that sends you to a fake website where you are asked to provide personal information to the scam artists. Such sites will ask for information such as your name, address, phone number, date of birth, Social Security number (SSN), and bank or credit card account number. Providing this kind of information can leave consumers at risk for identity theft.
Here’s how you can avoid being caught by these phishing messages:
- Don’t trust e-mail headers, which can be forged easily.
- Avoid filling out forms in e-mail messages. You can’t know with certainty where the data will be sent and the information can make several stops on the way to the recipient.
- If you click on a link in an e-mail message from a company be aware that many scam artists are making forgeries of company’s sites that look like the real thing. Verify the legitimacy of a web address with the company directly before submitting your personal information.
- If you go to a link offered in an unsolicited e-mail, check to see if there is an ’s’ after the http in the address and a lock at the bottom of the screen that indicates the link is secure and encrypts data.
- Contact the legitimate company named in the email to confirm whether the request is from them. Most companies do not ask customers to confirm personal information by sending an email.
- Never click on a link in an email message. If you were to get a legit message from Paypal, eBay, whomever, simply go to your Web browser and type in the address of the company Web site. Then log in as normal and check to see if there are any messages or other indications that there really is a problem. I’ll bet that there isn’t anything wrong at all.
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