You may have received an email in which you have received a warning that you can no longer use your eBay account, unless you verify it. The email certainly looks like it came from eBay, the return address even ends in @ebay.com. Clicking on the link in the email may land to the page asking your credit card number. You should turn up your nose and run.
You’ve been the victim of an eBay “phishing” attack. The perpetrator has spoofed an eBay email address and mimicked eBay’s website in an attempt to get you to hand over your credit card number.
The following tips will help you spot the difference between a “phisher and eBay:
+ eBay will never ask you to send your credit card number, password, or other sensitive information via email.
+ If you arrive at an eBay page via an email, check the web address before you signin. The URLs of most eBay sign-in pages begin with http://signin.ebay.com/ right before the first forward slash (/).
If you have any doubts at all, ignore the email. You can always go straight to the eBay website and login. If ebay wants to verify your information, they will ask you upon signin. Finally, if you do get a fake email, forward it to spoof@ebay.com
Another way to check whether the site you’re visiting is truly run by eBay is to download the eBay toolbar, www.ebay.com/ebay_toolbar. In addition to letting you easily search and track auctions, the toolbar has an “Account Guard” feature that warns you when you’re on a potentially fraudulent site. It also lets you report the site to eBay with a click.
