EBay Fraud!! Please Help!!

[bengalbelle]

I need advice from experienced EBayers.

I received an email from EBay today stating I'm the high bidder on an item I didn't bid on. My husband was able to sign on with my password, but when I tried to sign on again with my password, it wouldn't let me. I changed my password and sent an email to the seller to let him know I did not make the bid. He's in the UK so may not get the email for a while.
I also sent an email to EBay to let them know.
Can anyone tell me what else I need to do?

 

[CheapMom]

send a copy of that email immediately to spoof@ebay.com

you changed you password so this con artist can't get into your account- that is good. Make sure there is no strange activity in your account by going into MY ebay- make sure you aren't selling or bidding on anything that YOU didn't bid/list.

 

[CheapMom]

also whenever signing in or changing password- do it by typing www.ebay.com into your browser. Never sign in or change password... through a link from an email.

 

[bengalbelle]

send a copy of that email immediately to spoof@ebay.com

you changed you password so this con artist can't get into your account- that is good. Make sure there is no strange activity in your account by going into MY ebay- make sure you aren't selling or bidding on anything that YOU didn't bid/list.

Thank you. I forwarded the email. Do you know if there's any chance he got my cc# before I changed my password? I had to put the full cc# in to change my password (did this after actually typing www.ebay.com, not through the link). I'm wondering if I should kill that CC#.

ETA: I didn't give my CC# at EBay, I had to do that when I went to PayPal to change my password there. I did it by going directly to paypal.com, so I didn't follow a link. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[akrake]

why would you have to put an cc# in the change a password? i've never done this!
amie

 

[bengalbelle]

why would you have to put an cc# in the change a password? i've never done this!
amie

I was just coming back to edit that. I went to my PayPal account to change the password and it showed me the last digits and I had to put the whole number in to change my password. I just got confused when I typed this because I've done so much in the past few minutes. It was PayPal where I put in the CC# and not EBay. At EBay I clicked on the link stating I forgot my password and then followed the link when I received the email. I'm going to edit my previous statement now.

 

[bengalbelle]

send a copy of that email immediately to spoof@ebay.com

you changed you password so this con artist can't get into your account- that is good. Make sure there is no strange activity in your account by going into MY ebay- make sure you aren't selling or bidding on anything that YOU didn't bid/list.

I did send it to the email address and they said it was not legit. Hopefully because all passwords have been changed I'm ok. I don't do much on EBay, so thank you for letting me know to do that.

 

[robinb]

I did send it to the email address and they said it was not legit. Hopefully because all passwords have been changed I'm ok. I don't do much on EBay, so thank you for letting me know to do that.

I'm sorry you got spoofed . I would recommend that you use different passwords for eBay, PayPal and your primary eMail account. If your eBay password was used anywhere else, then change it ASAP since the spoofer now has it and your eMail address and will be sure to use the combination everywhere s/he can.

 

[seashoreCM]

Simply tell the seller in an email:

That you did not bid on the item
That someone stole your password and bid on the item
That you are not going to buy the item
That he may re-list the item right away.

And of course do not send any payment.

At some point you may get some emails from the seller and or from eBay regarding "mutual agreement to cancel the transaction". Please say OK to that.

Do not telephone anyone regarding this matter.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[bengalbelle]

Thanks everyone!

I've done all I've been advised to do, so now I'm just waiting to hear back from EBay and the seller. Thank you for all of the advice. I appreciate it.

 

[robinb]

So ... the sale was "legit" on your eBay ID, but you didn't place the bid? Hmmm ....

 

[seashoreCM]

One other possibility -- The email notifying you as winning bidder could have spam referring to an imaginary auction of an imaginary item. Just to get you to click on the blue link in the email (never do that and type in your password) and then your password will go to the supposed seller of the item.

To verify that, go to eBay normally (not by clicking the link in the email message), You can search for the item by its ID no. without signing in.

 

[ceecee]

That's exactly what I was thinking. I believe I got something similar, but all emails like that I get, I just forward to ebay. It was probably not a legit. auction. It's good to change your password every now and then anyway.

 

[robinb]

One other possibility -- The email notifying you as winning bidder could have spam referring to an imaginary auction of an imaginary item. Just to get you to click on the blue link in the email (never do that and type in your password) and then your password will go to the supposed seller of the item.

That's what it sounded like to be to begin with. That the eBay sale was false. Now I'm confused. The OP should go to your eBay account and look under your myEbay section. That should list all the legitimate sales.

 

[fspbt2]

Seashore is absolutely right. I experienced the same problem & decided to check out the auction item for myself. I went directly to www.ebay.com & looked up the item & found it didn't really exist. There are lots of these fraudulent ebay imposter e-mails that prompt you to click their link & input personal information. NEVER NEVER DO IT!!!!

 

[bengalbelle]

The sale is legit as far as I can tell. When all of this happened earlier, I went to www.ebay.com and put in the item number (in search) that was in the email. It pulled up the same auction that was in the email link. That's why I said the auction was legit. It doesn't end for 2 days, so I was never the winning bidder, only the high bidder.

I sent that email to spoof@ebay and a few hours later I received an email from EBay stating the original email I received was not from them.

I received 3 more emails from EBay late last night. One said they were suspending my username while they investigate the fraud so no more bids can be placed. It also instructed me to go to live help.

The second email said they retracted my "bid". If I follow the link from the EBay email, the auction is still going. If it's not legit, I'm assuming they will figure it out.

The third email was basically the same as the first stating they want me to use live help after I've changed my email password.

I can't go into My EBay to look at "legit" auctions, I guess because they have suspended my username. I'm not presently bidding on anything, just watching one item. Earlier today, though, this auction was showing up in "Items I'm Winning".

For the record, I never put in my password through the link.

 

[bengalbelle]

So ... the sale was "legit" on your eBay ID, but you didn't place the bid? Hmmm ....

Right.

 

[seashoreCM]

Oh, now you say the auction has not ended yet. That changes ev-ry-thing, the whole argument is different.

You could have quietly retracted the bid yourself and changed your password.

It would not have been necessary or desirable to contact the seller (unless he contacts you first).

Also, you (and everybody reading this) should have your computer checked for spyware if not already. This checking does require a computer geek and perhaps some software you buy. Some spyware (spywares?) records all the keystrokes you type and ships them off to some perpetrator who can get all of your passwords and password changes.

 

[bengalbelle]

Oh, now you say the auction has not ended yet. That changes ev-ry-thing, the whole argument is different.

You could have quietly retracted the bid yourself and changed your password.

It would not have been necessary or desirable to contact the seller (unless he contacts you first).

Also, you (and everybody reading this) should have your computer checked for spyware if not already. This checking does require a computer geek and perhaps some software you buy. Some spyware (spywares?) records all the keystrokes you type and ships them off to some perpetrator who can get all of your passwords and password changes.

I NEVER said I won the item, I said I received an email stating I was the high bidder on an item I didn't bid on. I'm sorry that wasn't clear.
I was trying to get this resolved before I did win it or another item.

I started to retract my bid myself, but it gave very specific circumstances under which you can retract your bid. Fraud wasn't one of them so I assumed EBay wanted to handle it. They did and retracted the bid for me.

We do have spy detection software and 2 firewalls. My DH is a computer geek. His office supports hospitals and healthcare organizations all over the US. He gave me the example the other day where they were trying to get a password for some software they owned and used the computer to try every combination of letters, numbers and symbols for the 5 character password. It ran 9 million combinations per second and took 12 minutes to find the password. He said it would be easy for any hacker who has the equipment to find a password in a short amount of time. So although the spy detection software and firewalls are good, they can't prevent everything. My username was out there on EBay for anyone to see, so he could have found the password that way.

 

[robinb]

What I find odd about this is spoofers usually get eBay passwords to sell items they don't have using your good feedback as a cover. Look! BengalBelle has a 100% feedback and she's selling a $1000 computer. I bet she's OK.

Perhaps this was a little fishing expedition to see if you were paying attention.

FWIW, I think you did the right thing by getting eBay involved. I would have done the same thing.