Newcomers at this game can easily fall prey to the online thieves.  Often you will receive emails from eBay and or Pay Pal containing pertinent information regarding your accounts.  Clicking on these emails from you personal email box can sometimes lead you into a trap.  Note...this is not referring to your Messages box on eBay, but your hotmail, yahoo, etc etc email account.

For instance, I have routinely received emails supposedly from Pay Pal that tell me a certain person has purchased a stereo system or video gear using my Pay Pal account.  This particular email looks exactly like the ones that I normally will get from Pay Pal, and at first I was shocked and alarmed that someone was using my account without my permission.

Based upon this initial reaction, I could very easily have clicked on the link that was provided within the body of the email that stipulated if I had disagreements with this transaction, I should click on this link!  How nice of them to provide this link and make it easy for me to report to Pay Pal that this was a bogus transaction.

Hang on, I thought.  Let me just double check this situation and see if it is showing in my eBay message box.  Sure enough...it was NOT there.  I never did click on that link that was provided in the email that arrived in my personal mailbox, but based upon stories from other unfortunate souls that did, it would have asked for my user ID and my password.  This information would then have provided the thief with open access to my Pay Pal account.

At that time, I only had around $400 in my account, but that is a lot of money to lose needlessly because of a careless, unguarded moment.  When I first received the email, the charge that had been applied (supposedly) to my Pay Pal account, exceeded the balance that I knew I had in my Pay Pal account.  But if you are someone that has a large amount of money in your account there, you could easily fall for this ploy.

I reported this situation to Pay Pal, but have continued to receive similar emails periodically with the same person's name as the chargee.  My understanding is that that person most likely isn't even involved in the transaction at all, but they too are being used by the hidden thief.

eBay has many safeguards and guidelines for us to follow to avoid such situations.  It's always best to remember two simple things:

1.  Check your eBay message box before responding to any security type emails.  If the same email is not there like the one you have received in your personal mail box, it could be a scam.  Report it.

2. Look for the https in the address bar at the top of your web page and for a small lock style icon on the lower right tool bar area.  These are indications that you are on a secured website.  The 's' at the end of the http stands for secured.

Changing your password monthly is always a good idea as well.  Take whatever reasonable precautions that you can to safeguard your security information, and if you have any further questions contact eBay live help or security center ASAP.