One issue that needs to be carefully monitored by eBay and sellers alike is the phishing problem. It is threatening the security
THE FUTURE OF EBAY AND ONLINE AUCTIONS of the eBay marketplace, so be sure to stay up-to-date on this important issue. Phishing, also known as spoof e-mails, is when a third party sends you an e-mail that looks like it comes from eBay, PayPal, or any type of banking institution. The e-mail asks you to follow a link to update your account or to give sensitive financial information, in an attempt to defraud you.
Note: eBay and PayPal will never send an e-mail asking you to follow a link to input financial information. Knowing this is the number one way to protect yourself. Always access eBay pages by going to the home page and finding the links from there.
Even though I know about phishing, I almost answered one this week and gave out my eBay user ID and password. It looked so real coming from an eBay member that said, “Where is my item? If I don’t hear from you in two days, I am filing negative feedback.”
That got my attention, and I immediately clicked on the link to take me to the eBay item number. eBay then asked me to sign in, and I went ahead and inputted my information. Luckily, my computer expert had installed a firewall, which popped up and said, “Do you really want to send this information to skeleton?”
It was not sending my information to eBay but to a scammer. The sender on this was eBay Safe Harbour aw-confirm@eBay.com, and the subject line was “eBay Account—Suspicious Activity.”
eBay says that if it sends you an e-mail asking for pertinent personal information, the request will also show up in your My eBay page under My Messages (on the left-hand side of the page).
Always, always access these messages through the eBay home page.
The issue of phishing e-mails and fraud on eBay and PayPal
must be addressed. eBay has been working diligently to combat this problem, but it’s still out of control. It is my hope that eBay can wipe out phishing fraud in the near future.