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Today's
Lesson: The
e-Bay™ Phishing Message
(Or, how they try to steal your private information
by playing on your need to do what's right!)
More and more scammers
trying
to go "phishing" (fishing - with intent to steal) for your personal
information keep popping up every
single day in your email inbox. You
have to know how
to stay alert to prevent these
would-be thieves from robbing you of your private login information (or
even your identity!) so they can gain access to various sites to which
you subscribe. This sample below is *allegedly from eBay*
(but
really
it isn't and I'll show you the 'signs' and things to look for as I
dissect it for you). TIP:
Don't
EVER click their email links. Reputable firms
like eBay,
and banks and other institutions will NEVER ask you to go and verify
your data. NEVER.
I recently received this
email, and i'm going to first show you how it
comes in to your inbox... trying to look "official" and pretending it's
from a trusted resource we all know: e-Bay. It's DEFINITELY NOT from e-Bay!
First, I show you the way it (the
phishing
email that portends to come from E-Bay) looks when it comes in
and then below it, I'll dissect it to show you the signs to look for,
besides the subject line which triggers suspicion in my brain instantly.
[The subject line said:
TKO
Notice: Urgent
Fraud Investigation]
ALL PHISHERS try to get you to open
the email under some "urgent" sounding plea that makes you think you
will be helping or be helped by the sending party (who usually isn't
who they say they are). Remember
that their ONLY goal is getting into your wallet!!! (The
same goal as spammers!) They don't know the
meaning of
honesty or integrity. Don't buy into their LIES!
[CAUTION:
DO NOT
CLICK THEIR
(realistic-looking)
LINKs BELOW!]
Just observe the
message
below, and note how it "appears" to be
from eBay
and has all
their usual footnotes and everything.... then
read the
header
information, message source and my dissection below it
so that you
are more
aware of what to look for in these type of phishing emails.
<<
Begin
The Original Phishing Email Message I
Actually Received Recently
>>
 ***Urgent Fraud Prevention Group Notice*** |
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| You
have received
this email because we have strong reason to believe that your eBay
account had been recently compromised. In order to prevent any
fraudulent activity from occurring we are required to open an
investigation into this matter. To speed up this process, you are
required to verify your eBay account by following the link below. |
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https://signin.ebay.com/saw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?SignIn&UsingSSL=1
(To complete the
verification
process you must fill in all the required fields)
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| Please
Note: If your account informations are not updated
within the
next 72 hours, then we will assume this account is fraudulent and will
be suspended. We apologize for this inconvenience, but the purpose of
this verification is to ensure that your eBay account has not been
fraudulently used and to combat fraud. |
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| We
appreciate your
support and understanding, as we work together to keep eBay a safe
place to trade. |
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| Thank
you for your
attention on this serious matter. We apologize for any delay in
resolving this situation. |
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| Regards, |
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Morris
Franklin
eBay SafeHarbor
Investigations Team |
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Please do not reply to
this e-mail as this is only a notification. Mail sent to this address
cannot be answered.
eBay treats your personal information with the utmost care, and our
Privacy Policy is designed to protect you and your information.
Copyright © 2004 eBay Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective
owners.
eBay and the eBay logo are trademarks of eBay Inc.
eBay is located at 2145 Hamilton Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125.
<<End
Original Phishing
Message - See Dissection/Explanation Below>>
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PHISHING
MESSAGE SOURCE AND DISSECTION
For Consumer Protection and Education
I
will write my dissection comments in brackets and in this bright purple
color to
delineate them from the actual message header information (which is
often a valuable trace resource, although not so much anymore because
the crooks are getting more and more crooked and often 'fake' the
information in the message headers). You will find the domain
and
the IP address of the sending party in this dark grey area
information. You obtain this usually by right-clicking and
choosing message source or similar commands. You can cut and
paste this entire message source and send it on to uce@ftc.gov as they
are investigating all such emails to try and track down the
perpetrators of this evil.
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The Gray Area below is called the Message Source or Header and for
clarity, I have bolded some of the pertinent data and my
comments
are in purple as well as in the message below the header.
| ***Urgent Fraud Prevention Group Notice*** |
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[NOTE:
I have highlighted the phisher's words in yellow]
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You have
received this email because we have strong reason to believe that your
eBay account had been recently compromised. In order to prevent any
fraudulent activity from occurring we are required to open an
investigation into this matter. To speed up this process, you are
required to verify your eBay account by following the link below.
In
the first
place, eBay
would NOT ever
ask you to
go provide your
information in this or any other fashion. They simply don't
do
it. Neither
does your
bank, or PayPal, or StormPay, or ANY reputable online business dealing
with your money! So, NEVER go to any URL or link
in an
email and provide the asking party with your private information and
passwords (or worse, your social security number and other personally
identifying data). When you do such things, you jeopardize
your
account, you allow the criminal full access to your money, your private
information and possibly even the theft of your identity.
Again,
NEVER click an emailed URL requesting private login information,
ESPECIALLY if you did not request this email!!!
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Just to prove what I'm saying...
HOVER your
mouse over the link below that the phisher provided in his evil attempt
to steal your information and look in the lower part of your browser to
note that the true URL does NOT match what is typed here below:
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https://signin.ebay.com/saw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?SignIn&UsingSSL=1
(To complete
the
verification
process you must fill in all the required fields)
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As
you could readily see, this is
the site
where they are REALLY sending you (I broke it into two lines):
http://www.2ms.co.kr/technote/board/.cgi-bin/eBaySuspension/signin.ebay.com/aw-cgi/secure/eBayISAPI.dll
SignIn-ssPageName-hhsin.php?MfcISAPICommand=SignInFPP&UsingSSL=1&email=
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About what you discovered? A
completely different link... NOT EBAY.... but a mock-up site by the
crooks that
APPEARS to be officially eBay but really leads you right into the evil
spider's web...
where unsuspecting folks just trustingly provide their information and
the thieves
laugh their butts off as they merrily go straight into your account
using the information you just provided them with, and take you for all
you've got!
Then, notice below, how they "threaten" you with account closure [note
the poor English, as well - yet another clue to illegal email] because
they know that accusing you of possible fraudulent account or of not
following their instructions will
make you feel anxious and make you feel compelled to go right away and
give them exactly what they want. Again...
REPUTABLE BUSINESSES DO NOT & WILL NOT EVER ASK YOU TO GO AND
DO
THIS TYPE OF ACTION!!!!
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| Please Note: If
your account informations
are not updated within the next 72 hours, then we will assume this
account is fraudulent and will be suspended. We apologize for this
inconvenience, but the purpose of this verification is to ensure that
your eBay account has not been fraudulently used and to combat fraud. |
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Now notice below, how they
try to
'befriend
you' with their false concern and imply their trustworthiness
while also enlisting your aid in helping keep eBay safe....
gads!
These people should be totally ashamed of themselves.... they are the
prime reason no place is totally safe unless you are always on guard
for this kind of criminal solicitation of your private data.
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| We appreciate
your support and understanding, as we work together to keep eBay a safe
place to trade. |
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| Thank you for
your attention on this serious matter. We apologize for any delay in
resolving this situation. |
| |
| Regards, |
| |
Morris Franklin
eBay SafeHarbor
Investigations
Team |
| |
|
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Please do not
reply to
this e-mail as this is only a notification. Mail sent to this address
cannot be answered.
eBay treats
your
personal information with the utmost care, and our
Privacy Policy is designed to protect you and your information.
Copyright
© 2004
eBay Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Designated
trademarks
and brands are the property of their respective
owners.
eBay and the
eBay logo
are trademarks of eBay Inc.
eBay is
located at 2145
Hamilton Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125.
And,
finally, as you can see just above, anyone can copy the
address
and footnotes from real eBay emails and paste them into their phishing
and scamming messages to make them look "official" even when they
definitely are NOT. I'm sure you also noticed that they used
eBay's little logo from the eBay website and are probably in copyright
violation by so doing, but what does a thief care anyway, when they
have the ultimate goal of robbing you of your money, your identity,
your time, your energy and anything else they can bilk you out of if you let
them.
That
is why it is so VITAL that everyone learns about this kind of email
scamming and phishing before it's too late! New
computer
users are especially vulnerable, as they are unaware of the evil beings
that lurk online just waiting for their prey....and just as unfortunate
and cruel as the 3-D-world beasts that would intend to harm
others. They are extremely sick folks who need psychiatric
help
and incarceration! Protect yourself in every way you can -
with
self-education, and then doing your part to educate others.
Together, we can eradicate the ignorance that begets this type of evil
crimes in the first place.
They
play on
your trust, your vulnerability, your desire to help them, and your need
to have access to your accounts, regardless of what type
account.
These scams and phishing emails are all over the net, with banks, with
eBay, with PayPal, and all the similar business entities that deal with
your money. All of these businesses are perfectly safe IF you
don't fall victim to the evildoers who set up these scam emails and try
to get you to divulge personal information to them.
I
hope that
this has helped someone, even in small ways, and that you will pass
this page to your newbie friends or relatives that it might also
provide help and prevent the theft of their data or their money and
identity.
To your online safety & enjoyment,
Donna Maher
Consumer Advocate & Infopreneur
If you have comments or questions about this website, please feel free
to email me anytime:
moreinfo [[[@]]] donnamaher.com or try
this:
and
I will
respond to all legitimate emails within 24-48 hours. Spam
will
simply be forwarded to the US Government, as they enjoy it so much more
than I ever could.
Stay Alert
To
Scammers, Phishers & Spammers! Protect Your Identity!
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