eBay Scam, Sara and the greatness about GMail


Sara learned a lesson last night when she clicked on the link to this email. Thinking it was eBay asking to update her info she clicked the link. She then proceeded to enter her username and password not noticing that Safari showed the actual URL, an ip address. Step 1 of the scam was accomplished.

She then wised up and asked me about the page when it asked for her credit card info, I was pissed/surprised/disappointed. I thought how she could do this, I always tell her about stuff like this and Martha B. went through the same exact thing last year. So we quickly changed her eBay password and let it go. Hopefully nothing else comes about and something like this won’t happen again.

So just now I noticed that I got the same message, sent to my junk mail box of GMail. Wanting to just post about it I noticed a wonderful feature of GMail. GMail not only put the phishing scam email in my spam box but Gmail created a warning header and also made the entire message an image, disabling its links. So if a reader doesn’t notice it’s labeled “spam” or the bright red warning they will be stopped because they cannot click on the dreadful link.

FYI: I have been using GMail exclusively.

About the Author, Dan Cameron:

I'm the owner and solution engineer at Sprout Venture, a web solutions company that specializes in web development including WordPress.

I started my first blog in 2003 and transitioned to WordPress in 2004. Since moving to WordPress I've written a few plugins and themes for public consumption. Lately I'm busy engineering/building/coding and have only been able to share a few code snippets.

If you're in need of some web development, web design or custom WordPress plugins and/or themes contact me, I'll be happy to discuss it with you.

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  • Wei
    Thank you very much for tell me that
  • Adam
    shortdeals@gmail.com is a scam. He sells computer parts and laptops
  • scam_auction_hunter
    I would just like to expand on this topic by informing people what these phisherman (Is that a new word?) do with your information once they get it.

    What they will do is log in to your eBay account and post dozens and dozens of fake auctions. In the description text they will put some text that says something like "BEFORE BIDDING CONTACT ME AT shortdeals@gmail.com FOR COMPLETE DETAILS AND BUY IT NOW PRICE OR YOUR BID WILL BE CANCELED" They may also give some excuse why they can't get mail through the "Ask seller a question" but the real reason is they need to deal outside of eBay. If you send them an email they will try to get you to wire money to them (Western Union or equivelent). Guess what... you will not get your item.

    I know this because for the last year or so I have spent an hour or so every day searching out these fake auctions and reporting them to the seller and to eBay. As an added bonus, I like to send a note to the hackers just to tell them they have been blown in. I know this frustrated them because I have gotten plenty of hate mail and threats. I've even set up a little spam workstation to periodically send them a note asking for more information. I know... I hate spam too... but if it pisses off a hacker it's considered good spam!?

    I won't tell you how I can find them so fast (don't want to help the hackers) but I will tell you this: • DON'T EVER MAKE A DEAL OUTSIDE OF EBAY... YOU WILL GET RIPPED OFF!!! • DON'T EVER USE AN ESCROW COMPANY REFERED TO YOU BY A SELLER (They can be phony... Here read this... it's great. http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/ ). • ALWAYS USE THE ASK SELLER A QUESTION LINK RATHER THAN EMBEDDED EMAILS • AND IF YOU HAVE AN EBAY ACCOUNT... CHECK IT ON A REGULAR BASIS TO MAKE SURE YOU DON'T HAVE AUCTIONS RUNNING THAT YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT. (Otherwise, I may have to send you a note warning you).

    AND LIKE THE PREVIOUS POST SAID - ALWAYS MAKE SURE THE LOGIN URL STARTS WITH - https://signin.ebay.com
  • Crazysox
    Thanks for your help. I did learn my lesson though.
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