eBay® phishing is a type of Internet scam that involves trying to obtain the login information of an eBay® account. With eBay® phishing, scam artists use fraudulent e-mails and websites that appear to be associated with eBay®. Once the login information for the account is obtained, the scam artist can use it to sell fraudulent goods. In order to avoid such scams, there are a number of steps that eBay® users can take, including dealing only directly with the website and ignoring emails that ask for login information.
This is one of the most common online scams in the world. The purpose of this scam is to be able to log in to eBay® as someone else. The scam artist wants to get access to an eBay® account that has great feedback. With access to this type of account, the scam artist can sell anything he wants and eBay® buyers will believe it is a legitimate product. Many times, the buyers will send the money to the fraudulent seller and no product will ever be sent.
The unsuspecting owner of the compromised account may not know what is going on until negative feedback is received from the buyers. Many times, the individual who is taken advantage of will try to contact eBay® to fix the problem. At that point, the damage has been done and it could have lasting effects on the individual who is taken advantage of.
Most eBay® phishing scams are initiated with an e-mail. This occurs when an individual receives an e-mail from who he or she believes to be eBay®. The e-mail says something like the customer needs to verify his or her account and a link is provided. Once the individual clicks on the link, he or she is prompted to enter the eBay® username. Once the username is entered in, the scam artist has everything that is needed to take advantage of the user.
eBay® phishing is a scam that can cause some serious problems for users. In order to make sure this is not a problem, individuals should take a number of steps to protect themselves. For example, anytime an e-mail is received from eBay®, the individual should not follow any links within the e-mail. Instead, he or she should open up a new browser window and visit the eBay® website to address the issue. If an e-mail asks for login information, it should be ignored and deleted.