From the horses mouth…

Hey ya’ll. Watch out for the latest eBay scam in the mix. Well, it’s new to me anyway and I’m embarrassed to say that I fell for it—hook, line and sinker.

Today, I received an email from eBay saying that I had not honored payment on an item that I won. Ya see, lately I’ve been bidding on the iPod Nano and thought (okay…secretly hoped) that maybe, just maybe I had won an auction and just didn’t notice. So…I clicked on the link within the email and proceeded to enter my login information. After a round about login process and never actually being taken to the so-called winning product page, I did the whole process over. This time—as I was suspicious—I noticed that the copyright info in the footer of the login page was still reading 2006 and eBay’s is updated to 2007. I also noticed that although the page claims to be using SSL the URL was “http://…’ and not ‘https://…’

Feeling ashamed and honestly a little upset, I quickly changed my eBay and PayPal passwords and reported the email to eBay. They confirmed that it was, indeed, not an official eBay email and gave me info on how to protect myself and not be so gullible in the future.

So, watch out peeps! It was a very official looking email and although I am very embarrassed for taking part in this scam, it is a pretty good one. The email alone will send you clicking and giving your personal info hoping for that iPod Nano just around the corner. Don’t do it. It’s not there.

Feel free to pass warning on to family and friends so they don’t go down the same path. I’m fortunate enough to have figured it out before any damage was done, but I find it hard to believe that the older generations are quite a savvy (Sorry, Mom!).

Helpful eBay link:
Recognizing Spoof (fakes) eBay Web Sites