Guest Author - Kristen Baker
As I checked one of my private emails I saw an email that said it was From: aw-confirm@ebay.com. Now this would not really be that odd except for the fact that email was sent to an email address that does not have an eBay account tied to it. The subject of the email was “FPA NOTICE: eBay Registration Suspension - Section 9”. HUH? How can an account be suspended when it didn’t even exist? Now I, like millions of others, have an eBay account but again the email address did not match my registered account.
This, my friends, is a SCAM. What they want you to do is to click on the link in the email and enter in personal information like your eBay username and password and a credit card number. Now I have to give creator of this scam credit because it does truly look like the real eBay website, but do not be fooled as eBay would never send you an email telling you that you had to click on the link to resolve the issue at hand.
Below is the email that I received I have edited the links in the email so that no one accidently clicks on them:
From: aw-confirm@ebay.com
Subject: FPA NOTICE: eBay Registration Suspension - Section 9
Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2006 19:00:23 +0300
eBay sent this message to your registered email address.
Your registered name is included to show this message originated from eBay.
FPA NOTICE: eBay Registration Suspension - User Agreement - Abusing eBay
Dear eBay Community Member,
We regret to inform you that your eBay account has been suspended due to concerns we have for the safety and integrity of the eBay community.
"Abusing eBay" of the eBay User Agreement states, in part:
"...we may limit, suspend, or terminate our service and user accounts, prohibit access to our website, remove hosted content, and take technical and legal steps to keep users off the Site if we think that they are creating problems, possible legal liabilities, or acting inconsistently with the letter or spirit of our policies."
Due to the suspension of this account, please be advised you are prohibited from using eBay in any way. This includes the registering of a new account. To confirm that you are the righfull owner of the account please confirm your identity by signing in and resolving this dispute at:
//signin.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?SignIn&CaseIDDisupte#
Please note that any seller fees due to eBay will immediately become due and payable. eBay will charge any amounts you have not previously disputed to the billing method currently on file. Confirm your identity at the following link we provided signing in and resolving this dispute:
Regards,
Safeharbor Department
eBay, Inc.
Learn how you can protect yourself from spoof (fake) emails at:
http://pages.ebaycom/education//spooftutorial VERY nice touch!!!!
This administrative email was sent to you from eBay. Your account is registered on www.ebay.com. As outlined in our User Agreement, eBay will periodically send you information about site changes and enhancements. If you would like to receive this email in text format, change your notification preferences.
See our Privacy Policy and User Agreement if you have questions about eBay's communication policies.
Privacy Policy: http://pages.ebay.com//help//policies//privacy.policy.html
User Agreement: http://pages.ebay.com//help//policies//user-agreement.html
Copyright © 2006 eBay, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners.
eBay and the eBay logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of eBay, Inc.
eBay is located at 2145 Hamilton Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125.
Now let’s dissect the email:
1. “eBay sent this message to your registered email address.” Nope this email is NOT registered with eBay
2. “Your registered name is included to show this message originated from eBay.” Ummm, I do not see any registered name in this email unless it is eBay Community Member
3. In attempt to make the email appear authentic they include links at the bottom and I find it quite funny that the first one they list says, “Learn how you can protect yourself from spoof (fake) emails at: http://pages.ebay.com/education/spooftutorial” What can say but that is a really nice touch!
4. The email also does not tell me what I did exactly to "Abuse eBay".
I hate to break it to the sender of this email but I am not buying what you are selling!
