Ray,
I'm sorry this happened, they are getting very creative these day s. The clue is what you said yourself - "don't log into eBay unless you are certain you are in eBay." There is really only one easy way to do this: wh en you mouse over a URL in an email it will show you the ACTUAL URL address in the bottom of your browser window. Or if you are using a "real" email c lient you can right-click on the URL & left click on "Properties" to find o ut the real URL. Please everyone, let's get in the habit of doing this litt le extra step, it could save you a life of misery from identity theft. I gu ess I'm paranoid but I always do it, even if it's from someone I know.
Eric Meddaugh
San Carlos, CA
---
From: Ray Homiski <classicbicycle@gmail.com> To: classicrendezvous@bikeli st.org Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 7:20:47 PM Subject: [CR]I have been hacked, they got me.
To help fellow members identify how this happene d to me on ebay, let me explain. I recently put up my old van for auction , bad transmission and all. For a week now it received moderate attention with several bids and loads of questions.
Today when the auction wa s to close I received one question from an ebay member. It looked like an y other question from ebay so I opened it. The sender (real eBay account name) told me that someone had spoofed my auction and to check it out. It provided a link.
Mistake #1, I opened the link. This did not cause my problem but started me on the road to it. Once I clicked on the link it opened an ebay login page, authentic right down to the verisign logo.
Mistake #2, this was the big one, I logged in and it took me to an ebay page stating the link could not be found.
I immediately contacted eb ay spoof to report this but it was to late. By noon the perp ended my auc tion early and sent a message to the winning bidder. It then sent second chance offers to all the other bidders.
Ebay says that the contacted everyone and explaned the situation but I am still getting emails asking for explanations. Hard lesson learned.
I am pretty good about these th ings but they caught me in a moment of weakness when I was rushing around and not thinking clearly. I now had to change my ebay password, email pa ssword and for good measure I also notified AMEX to put a watch on my acc ount.
If you are one of those who think that I should have only respon ded to email out of the eBay message site I can tell you that that same s poof email is right there with the rest of them. They have the ability to use eBay messages also. This one got me and it is cleaver but I also all owed this to happen by signing in. Lesson learned and I hope to prevent a ny of you following in my footsteps. No matter how tempting don't log int o eBay unless you are certain you are in eBay. eBay has not yet killed th e original auction so I have to get after them on this.
Ray Homiski
Elizabeth, NJ
_______________________________________________
Classicrendezvou
s mailing list
Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
http://www.bikelist.org/