AAAARGGGH!!!
These spoof emails are driving me insane! I apologize for my ranting behavior but lately these SPOOF EMAILS are getting really tricky to identify from legitimate eBay emails. Not so long ago I can easily detect these in a matter of seconds but nowadays these crooks interlace their emails with their fake sincerity, lies (of course) and top of that they are getting quite handy at counterfeiting the eBay email page.


Spoof emails or phishing (pronounced like fishing - in the literal sense: hook line and sinker) are emails that pretend to be from an individual or company, such as eBay and PayPal for instance, which tries in any way get your personal information such as your name, address, password and your bank or credit card information.


Many ways. Here are examples that I have personally receive lately.

• EXAMPLE 1

In this example I was bidding on this eBay auction #250092610373 which is a Pentium 4 3.8 Ghz CPU. I received this email outside of eBay. Either this crook is pretending to be the actual seller (which he isn't) or another eBay seller having the same type of item. Here this crook obviously got my eBay ID from the item bidder's list. If you actually go on the bidder's list it doesn't show the bidder's eBay name. This is true HOWEVER the hidden bidders list in NOT hidden until the auction gets closer to ending or the list gets long. That is how this crook got my eBay ID and was able to find my email address. I cannot stress how important it is that on HIGHLY WANTED ITEMS such as this particular CPU for instance that the eBay seller uses the PRIVATE LISTING option when creating their auction. This prevents ANYBODY outside from the seller who is bidding on the auction.
Also note the last part of the email says that this is "strictly according to eBay's rules and policy...". Don't believe that for one bit! Contacting any eBayer's outside of eBay for a transaction does not adhere to eBay's rules. That is the info I got from eBay's Live Help.
I was curious however and I did reply to this email. Here is the response I got:



Here this should bring up a red flag in your head. WARNING! WARNING! DANGER! DANGER!
If anybody knows anything about this particular CPU, the price is too good to be true. And if it's too good to be true....
Why doesn't the "seller" set up a private eBay auction?
There is no reason for the "seller" to need all this private information UNTIL after the auction.  Also most eBayers use Paypal and all pertinent information that is required to ship items are listed there.Other note: I'm not worried about showing the person's email address. I still get the same emails with the same name but different numbers at the end asking for the same question.

•  EXAMPLE 2

Another email I received pretending to be the ACTUAL SELLER this time. Obviously I bidded on this item. You guessed it - another CPU. You know why I know it isn't the seller? I contacted the REAL seller via eBay and already said he didn't email and top of that it was already shipped to the winning bidder.
Again...WARNING! WARNING! DANGER! DANGER!
Why didn't the "seller" contact me via eBay? If this was the actual "seller" he is going outside of eBay's rules and regulation.
Just for fun, I replied saying that I am interested. Here is that response:



Again, I already contacted the real seller of this auction and has confirmed he has not sent me this email. Obviously from reading this email, this crook will do anything to get your vital information out of you.

•  EXAMPLE 3

Now this CROOK has CAJUNAS. I probably didn't get the spelling right but you get the drift. This is the one of the most advanced eBay spoof emails I have seen lately. They got the actual eBay logo, pictures and for pete's sake the actual ebay seller's id!!! But there are some problems with it. Always be aware of spoof emails. If you are the detective what would you do? Study the picture below and lets figure it out together:



FIRST AND FOREMOST, CHECK YOUR ACTUAL eBay's INBOX TO VERIFY THAT WAS ACTUALLY FROM eBay!!! Looking at my inbox now and nope...no such email sent from this seller at all. THIS EMAIL IS BOGUS. The next step is to FORWARD that email to  eBay. I did so and eBay did confirm that this indeed was a fake eBay email. DO NOT CLICK ON ANY LINKS WHATSOEVER TO THAT EMAIL. YOU WILL BE ASKING YOURSELF FOR SOME TROUBLE!



Just for kicks, let's verify if that person is actually a seller. Go to Advanced Search on your eBay page which is usually located on the upper right hand corner and go to "Find Contact Information". Enter the person's email address:




What came up...


At least this person signed on eBay! But again fishy with Zero Feedback.
 Going back to the original email. Notice the dash lines under the solid blue link? That gave me a hint right away something was not right.Last but not least, if you ever look at an original eBay email, most of the information are in different places. I didn't notice it at first but I had to bring up one of mine and compare the two. Go look at your own eBay emails and compare it to the one above in Example 3. There are subtle differences are there?
So how do we prevent getting Spoof Emails?
As for eBay, just follow the rules. Try never to contact eBayers outside of eBay. Most of my contacts have been through eBay ONLY. I always verify that email was sent by checking my eBay Inbox. Although anybody can get your email address if they want to, but as a preventive measure, don't post your email address on your eBay About Me page or your auctions. I've seen people post their phone numbers which amazes me. That's just asking for trouble. And if you do get a spoof eBay email, please send them to eBay.

A tutorial from eBay: eBay Spoof Tutorial