This scam is a new twist on an old favorite.  SCAMMERS, We know what you're up too!!!

Recently at Emucade we're seeing an increase of "phishing" attempts.  Now these are not a new idea, but it seems the scammers are getting more industrious in their attempts to scam the good folks of EBAY.  This scam actually did fool someone in our office 2X.  So BEWARE.

In a normal "phish" a scammer will try to get you to log into a phony site that looks like a legitimate site.  For example, you'll receive an email saying "your payment for $1000.00 was recieved".  Now if you have not payed for anything recently you'll be FREAKING OUT!!! So you'll log into your account to see what's going on.  Of course you will use the convenient link within the email that was sent to you, and BAM!!! You logged into a bogus site and some losser now has your "username" and "password".  The email looked legit, but in reality it was a bogus email "phishing" attempt, and you took the bait.

That's the old version and it's been around for a while, but here's the new twist and it's sometimes hard to spot.

The scammers are now searching through legitimate seller auctions and store items and setting up their phony email "phishing" with legitimate items from EBAY.  As a seller, you'll certainly be excited about any interest in your items and you will be happy to answer any questions, BUT BE CAREFUL.  The link within the email may look like it was a question sent through EBAY, and the item may be an item your selling, but it reality, the email did not come through EBAY and you'll be logging into a bogus site.  We've had this happen twice in the last month where someone in the office answered a question and did not realize they were giving away our user name and password.

Making things worse, we've seen some "phishing" attempts come from legitimate EBAY accounts.  For example the scammers set up or break into a legit EBAY account, so the user ID is valid and upon some research you'll find that user is active on EBAY but has had no activity for a while.  Often times these accounts are un-used for long periods of time or "abandoned" by the originator so the scammers use the accounts without hassle.

Here are some things we have done to thwart the enemy...

1.  Check feedback and history.  This is a staple of the EBAY community and is much of the reason why EBAY works as well as it does.  If something looks shady, IT PROBABLY IS.  No seller or buyer would go out of their way to deliberately "look" shady.  That does'nt help anyones cause. 

2.  We set up an email account on our domain and use it only for EBAY.  All other email accounts used on our web site or as technical support are different entirely.  This way if a question looks like it's from EBAY and was not sent to our EBAY email we know it's bogus.  This works because we only use the EBAY email for EBAY and never give it out.

3.  We are also in the habit of changing password ona regular basis, and good backups are worth thier weight in gold.  Sometimes the old standards make the most sense.

We're hopeful someday the community will find a way to eliminate these types of scams, but until that happens we all need to be on guard.  Much of what keeps non-EBAYers off EBAY is the fear they will get ripped off.  I know a ton of folks who would love to use online auctioning to find "hard-to-find" goods but just won't do it for fear of getting burned.

Hope this helps!  If it does, Please pass it around.

Emucade Arcade Machines