Just received an email spam purporting to be from eBay. It's obviously not from eBay or I wouldn't be blogging about it!
Anyway, the email looks exactly like your typical "Question from eBay Member" emails. In fact, it sports the same exact subject line. The body of the message looks nearly identical to the legitimate eBay question from member email. The body of the message says, "eBay sent this message on behalf of an eBay member via My Messages. Responses sent using email will go to the eBay member directly and will include your email address. Click the Respond Now button below to send your response via My Messages (your email address will not be included)."
It is followed by the message from the "supposed" eBay buyer - "Hello , I have bid on your item , can you please contact me and tell me how much is shipping to zip code 92110 ? Thank you very much for your response" (ZIP code is very close to the famous 90210 zipcode - lazy scammer bastards!) Anyway, the email looks legit enough that if you have a current eBay auction going, you may be tempted to click. Social engineering at its best. I didn't check out the site since with the latest Firefox vulnerability and IE flaws, I'm not taking any chances. The domain of the scammer is higaweb.com in case someone else gets the same scam email. While email scams are nothing new, I will have to say that most email scams have broken English, poor graphics, and are poorly designed. This email looked EXACTLY like eBay's "Question from Member" email, which indicates much more sophistication on the part of the scammer. Or perhaps the scammers are finally honing their craft? Either way, it's a scary thought.
Although, I will say there was broken English within the supposed eBay buyer's message, i.e. "Hello, I have bid on your item" as opposed to "Hello, I have a bid on your item." But I know when I put auctions online I get questions that often have broken English that are legitimate questions. So perhaps they used broken English for the seller, but nice professional English + graphics for the eBay portion of the email to make it seem more legitimate. Using broken English to make it seem legit? There is definitely some irony here.
Anyway, click the image above for a full-size screenshot of the email I received.
New eBay scam
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I got an e-mail like that, but it was a general question, not from a "bidder." I knew it was fake, because there was no reason to just e-mail me and ask me about eBay. I don't even know if that's possible.
But actually, "I have bid on your item" is correct: http://m-w.com/dictionary/bid. Either that or bidden, and it's a past tense verb. There were other mistakes, though, like those spaces.
English is fun!
You're right. I realized after I blogged it that "bid" could be used as a verb, but when reading it, I must have been biased by the fact that I knew it was a scam probably written by someone with poor English. So I read it as the noun form and not the verb form. I think they got lucky and actually meant the noun form but it just so happens to be grammatically correct as the verb form!
I recieved 2 emails just like that on the same day. I knew it was fake, since it appears as a message from me to me. Also the message wasn't in My Ebay "My Messages". I didn't click on any links or replied. The day after, Ebay suspended my account, couldn't log in. I've no idea how they suspected my account as suspicious. I talked with live help, they re-enabled it and asked me to forward the spoof emails to spoof@ebay.com.
Hi gang, I was also scammed out of over $800.00 on an eBay computer transaction. I realize this isn't much in comparison to others but it is enough to really piss me off. This has been a great learning experience for me as well. Since that time I have posted a web site listing the pitfalls of the eBay scams along with a list the I update almost daily of around 300 email addresses used by these idiots. This is a very informative site and I have even added a page with scammer’s jokes to add a little levity and therapy for the ones who might appreciate that kind of humor. For the spam-a-phobics, I do not sell anything nor do I solicit funds for site upkeep. It is one of my small missions from God to try to help as many people as possible not to fall prey to these lowlifes. Thanks for the read. In case the form doesn't work properly here is my site info: http://www.freespaces.com/scamfinders/index.htm
I got an email similar to yours, a big phishing scheme. A few days went by and I got another one, then a couple of weeks later another. I deleted each one and didn't think another thing of it.
About a week later, I get another ebay notice that says my account has been terminated. Thinking this was another phishing scheme, I also deleted it and didn't think anything more about it...until I tried to log into my ebay account. It really WAS terminated! I emailed, called and faxed for about 2 weeks to ebay and safeharbor to no avail. I looked and looked for someone to help me, then I saw a blog mentioning how ebay suspendeda whole lot of accounts at the turn of the new year due to their new security system in place. That was an eye opener.
At any rate, I'm now back up and running after following the information that site gave. If you haven't heard about ebay's new "lockdown" policies, you should give it a read.
Cheers!
Another scammer is on the loose...
Just want to share with you my experience with one of my buyers in ebay.
I posted an article at www.bitsmagazine.com entitled My Ebay Buyer is a Scammer
Ebaying is fun but non-paying bidders are nuisance, so be warned.
Real time log ef current ebay auctions identified or suspected as scams:
http://www.companyexposed.com
I alos have an example of very clever/scary! phishing scam to illustrate how eBay scammers inject html code into existing auction to make eBay users think they need to login again while on eBay pages.
How can I be sure if I have been scammed? I sold an item on ebay the winning bidder paid for the item. That same day I checked my bank account and over 1,000 was charged on stuff I didnt purchase. The zip code of the buyer is 90254, is this a new scam or how can I tell if it is a scam.
i hate scams!
Thanks for warning to watch out for the new scams. Although I must also point out that "I have bid on your item" is the correct way of stating this in current usage. Although "I have placed a bid on your item" is probably the technically correct, formal way of stating it, as with many other changes to the language, the new way of "I have bid" is correct (in this instance using bid as a verb rather than a noun) whereas "I have a bid" is completely wrong. You should say either "I have placed a bid" or "I have bid" but not "I have a bid".
you are right man! i agree you. i get always emails from ebay..