Should i be worried. Serious question

[Thor4140]

got an email today from ebay that i bid on something. I bought one thing from ebay about six or seven years ago. It had my real name on it and my user name. it looked very legit. I emailed ebay but got nothing in return. Has this ever happen to anyone? The thought that someone is gonna empty my accounts don't sound like something i will enjoy.

[Ego74]

whatever you do, DON'T CLICK THE LINK IN THE EMAIL

go to ebay by typing in the address, and then login to your account and go to "my ebay' to see if someone bid on something or bought something using your user name.

If they DID NOT, make sure to change your password there just to be safe

[Ego74]

this is for paypal, but the same goes for EBAY



How to protect your PayPal from getting hacked !

---

1.) The Password -
Choose a password which is different than the passwords you use for DP , for your email address or any other password.
A good option would be to visit this password generator & get a good long password like
5W2bPBV1ioM8r6%@lmkf , which is impossible to guess.

Do not store your password in a document on your PC , use Roboform or a Safe , so that even if your PC is hacked , the passwords cannot be stolen.

Do not use your keyboard to type in your password , use the On-Screen Keyboard available in Windows XP & above. This will nullify any keyloggers.

2.) Phishing Emails -
You may get many emails which look as though they have come from PayPal , but are not from PayPal. To differentiate between real & spoof emails , use Iconix , which is approved by PayPal.
Also, please forward all emails which are not approved by Iconix to spoof [at] paypal [dot] com to help PayPal security team to disable it.

3.) Protecting your PC
Use a combination of an Antivirus , an Antispyware & a Firewall to protect your PC from getting intruded.
You can get all fo these for free , & I would recommend -
Antivirus - Antivir Personal Edition - More about Antiviruses
AntiSpyware - Spyware Search & Destroy
Firewall - Zone Alarm Personal Firewall

Use a safe browser , like Firefox & update it regularly. The latest stable version is 2.0.0.7 .

4.) Use the PayPal security key
It’s a device that generates a temporary 6-digit security code every 30 seconds. Use it every time you log in for added security. It costs a one-time $5 fee , but it is really worth it.



Inspite of this , if your PayPal account does get hacked & the hacker uses the $ in your account to purchase different items, PayPal will help you get them back.

1.) Do not Panic - Even though you have lost a lot of money , do not panic, as there is a good chance that you will get all the money back , within 10 days.

2.) Block/Suspend your Credit Card - If you have a Credit Card associated with your PayPal account, block it , so that no further payments can be made.

3.) View the details of all transactions & get the emails of the people/companies the payments were made to. Using your PayPal email address , email each of them that your account was hacked & the payment made is unauthorised.

4.) Login to your PayPal account , change your password , change both Forgot password questions & their answers.

5.) Go to Resolution Center in your PayPal account , & report all the unauthorised transactions.

In my case, as I was in constant contact with both PayPal & the companies to whom the payments were made , I got my money back in 2 business days. You can call up all of them if you like , but imo , email is enough.

Well , that is it , hope it helped,

[Sound of Silence]

Dont click on it. I'd say 90% of the phishing emails I get are EBay/Paypal -- not hard to have a computer pick-off usernames.

[Ego74]

Some more important info to protect yourself


E-Bay - A Target For Identity Thieves

---

E-Bay is a popular website online that is used by millions of people around the world to sell and purchase new and used items. It is like a giant garage sale that you can access from anywhere in the world. However it seems that the bane of popular websites is that the more popular they become, the higher the likelihood scam artists are to attempt to defraud people at the website.

The scam plaguing E-Bay is quite similar to the one that is also plaguing PayPal, which oddly enough are both owned by E-Bay. The scam for both E-Bay and PayPal are done via email. The email that you receive will ask you to update your account information for some reason or another, usually listed as your account being suspected of fraud or that your account has been suspended.

The email will contain a link for you to click, either a written out link or a radio button - don't click it if you receive one, rather, right click and you will see that the URL is phony. These emails look incredibly real and sound realistic enough. There are a few ways that you can spot an E-Bay scam by email, read every email you receive from E-Bay thoroughly, even 'bid won' emails - you can never tell when someone is trying to defraud you.

Be wary of emails sent to an email address that is not listed with your E-Bay account. Just because you have more than one email address doesn't mean it's legitimate, on the contrary, it is probably a scam.

Watch the links that you are clicking on or being asked to click on. URL links can easily be forged, if you think the email is real; don't click on it, rather log on using the standard link you saved on your favorites.

E-Bay will not ask you for your personal information in an email, nor will they ask you to update it via email. Any email from E-Bay or PayPal that requests your information such as your User Id, bank account number, password or any other financial information is likely a scam. If E-Bay (or PayPal) needs you to update your information, they will have a notice on your account page when you sign in or will telephone you asking for the information and for you to login to your account online. However, you should not have to give your account information over the phone either.

Watch for overly urgent subject lines in the email. Words such as Urgent, or stars, or a blatant request to update your account is a high indicator the email is a scam.

Another thing to watch is for generic greetings such as "Dear E-Bay member". E-Bay knows your name that is associated with your email address and your account and the company does not send out generic or mass emails.

A threat in the email that your E-Bay account will be suspended if you don't act immediately is a sure sign that the email is a fake and you are being scammed.

Bad grammar and misspelled words are also a key that the email is not legitimate.

If you think the email is legitimate, do not click on the link. Close your browsers and email, run a spyware check on your computer and then open a fresh browser and go to your E-Bay account. You can email E-Bay from the main site as well asking if they requested the information. Chances are, they did not, but don't be afraid to ask. Doing so could save you and your identity from being stolen.

ID FRAUD - HOW NOT TO BE A VICTIM - HOMEPAGE

[Thor4140]

thanks guys. I think i did click it but nothing really happen. I just went and googled ebay and went in that way and changed my password. When i went to the site i saw the same question i allegedly asked this so called seller. it looks exactly like the email i got.

[mr merlin]

I had that happen to me a couple years ago, they said I bid on something and then backed out and that I owed something like $5 in fees - I told them that I have never bought anything on ebay and that my account(inactive) must have been hacked.
they kept bugging me to pay but I never did and eventually they took the charges down.

[WildBill]

This just happened to me in the past week. I go to my email account and I see an Ebay message that my password has been change, but it has been opened. I think that is weird and I go read it, but don't click on anything. Then I try to open my Ebay account by going directly to the site and I get a message that my password is wrong. I eventually get on the live chat and these guys tell me yep my password was changed, but all the thief did was send some messages to Ebay users with them, no bids or anything. Freaked out about it, I changed all my passwords all over the place and so far nothing bad has happened. But I am a bit worried about it. I never clicked on any of these spam emails, still wondering how they got my passwords. I fear lots of sites are getting heavily hacked these days so I am being very suspicious now.