I got this nifty e mail this morning....looks real, but have been assure it's not!
They say that my account will be placed on a restricted status. But...what a deal they have for me, they say that if I complete their credit card verification, they will lift my restriction.
To even make things easier for me, they even put in a link, but of course it's a dead link, gee, what a suprise!
I was curious, obviously I would never give them the information!
Just a great way to start off a weekend. How many others got this?
[ November 15, 2003, 07:48 AM: Message edited by: Michael Berry ]
Posted by Terry Baird (Member # 3495) on :
I've gotten it twice this week.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
I get something to that effect about once a week. There's 1001 ways to get ripped off over the internet if yer not careful, Mike.
Posted by Howard Keiper (Member # 1250) on :
Mike..
I've been dealing with the situation for months now. I first got a notification that I owed e-bay $5.oo for "account verification". The notice said, "don't reply to this as there will be no response". OK, so I didn't reply, and I didn't pay either. Well, now I understand that I owe $5.85, and it must be getting real serious, because they've promised to take legal action or turn the affair over to a collection agency. You know, that notice also said not to reply as no one would respond.
I have tried every damn link on the e-bay site(s) in a futile attempt to explain to someone why I will not pay $5.00, or $5.85, or any other amount for a "verification" I know nothing about.
And yes, I'm barred from using e-bay for the duration. I think when someone says, "pay me such and such or else, and I don't have to tell you why", It's extortion...or fraud...or somethimg. It's unethical, at least.
hk
Posted by Steve Purcell (Member # 1140) on :
Be wary of paypal & ebay security.
A close friend recently returned from a thru hike on the A.T. to find that close to five grand had been ripped from his checking account.
Three transactions a day, every day, until it was gone.
All on ebay.
Posted by Bob Rochon (Member # 30) on :
Yup I got one too, sent hem a real nice return e-mail and it was rejected, how nice, guess I dont need to use paypal do I?
actually I went to paypal site and my account was fine. That is why I use an accoutn with a zero balance untill I buy something then I deposit money and send.
They cant drain what aint there.
Posted by Peter Manzolillo (Member # 1062) on :
I ditched Paypal a while back, got to be too much of a headache.
Some of these scams are amazing. I've gotten emails pretending to be from my service provider (Earthlink), my bank, etc., and they're all looking for account numbers, passwords, credit card numbers, etc!
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
Yep, I opened up a new checking account (helps to have a bank with free checking) solely for use with PayPal/eBay and leave it empty, just for that very reason.
I can guarantee you they aren't going to persue legal action over $5.85.. A collections agency will tell them to get screwed, they'd only get what, like 58 cents of it? HAHA!
By the way, there IS a $5 charge for verification. They give you the choice when you sign up and it IS stated if you do not wish to provide bank account and credit card info for verification, they can still verify you but there's a $5 charge. You obviously opted out of providing bank account and credit card info.
Posted by Rick Beisiegel (Member # 3723) on :
Hawaii Doug warned us last week. Too bad that somthing so conveinent gets misused.
Posted by Howard Keiper (Member # 1250) on :
Mike.. Yeah, I know I'm safe from the sheriff, but still, I'd like to continue to use e-bay. I used Paypall for years with my credit card with no trouble whatsoever. What gripes me is that there is no recourse...no way to communicate to either e-bay 0r Paypal to explain why I don't think I should pay. hk
Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
if your ebay account actually is suspended, then it is the real ebay asking for the money... send then a check, whats $5 for the deals you can get on ebay?
Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
another thought for you Howard, I remember thinking it was pretty hard to find contact info for ebay, but then I found the link to "Report Fraud" I sent a copy of my email to them & heard back the same day that it was in fact fraud. You could write them through that address, & tell them you suspect fraud, or at least want to verify authenticity of the $5 demands, & at the same time you could ask your other questions (why do I owe... or can I pay the $5 without giving out credit card info for your own security)
Posted by Jed Pedersen (Member # 2344) on :
By Robert Lemos CNET News.com November 14, 2003, 12:05 PM PT
A computer virus that camouflages itself as a message from PayPal has started spreading among home users, antivirus companies said on Friday.
The program is a variant of the Mimail virus, which has previously spread by appearing to be a security advisory from Microsoft. The latest version of the program is attached to an e-mail forged to look as though it came from PayPal, an online payment service bought by eBay last year. Running the program infects the victim's computer and asks the PC user for credit card information, which the virus then sends to the attacker.
"It is a new trend among virus authors to get deeper into criminal acts and attempt to generate revenue," said Craig Schmugar, virus research engineer for security company Network Associates.
Get Up to Speed on... Enterprise security Get the latest headlines and company-specific news in our expanded GUTS section.
Another virus, Sobig, is believed by many researchers to have been spread by a group that sells a list of the machines the program compromises to spammers. The latest variant of Mimail takes a more direct approach to illicitly obtaining funds.
The virus appears as an attachment--"www.paypal.com.scr"--to an e-mail that purports to be from PayPal.
"PayPal would like to inform you about some important information regarding your PayPal account," the message reads. "This account, which is associated with the email address will be expiring within five business days. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause, but this is occurring because all of our customers are required to update their account settings with their personal information. We are taking these actions because we are implementing a new security policy on our website to insure everyone's absolute privacy."
When a person opens the e-mail attachment, a window appears bearing the PayPal logo and asking for credit card information. The virus stores any information provided by the victim in a file called "ppinfo.sys" and the file is sent to four e-mail addresses stored in the program.
Antivirus companies are in the process of blocking access to the e-mail boxes.
The virus also searches through the Internet browser files cached on a victim's computer and grabs e-mail addresses from the sources found there. It will then send itself as an attachment to the original e-mail to every address found.
Companies tend to respond to such virus threats very quickly, and many block e-mail attachments as a matter of policy, so it's mainly home users that have to worry, said Vincent Weafer, senior director for incident response at security software company Symantec.
"We see a lot of corporate submissions in the very beginning and then it moves almost exclusively to those from home users," he said.
The companies recommended that PC users update their virus definitions.
