Scambusters, Preventing Internet Scams & Phishing Attempts

This blog is dedicated to help preventing internet fraud and internet scams. Scambusters was a radio show I started in Albany Oregon, but due to defaulted payment by the radio station we took the show offline. Regardless of this issue we still wish to help prevent internet fraud and save people from internet loss. I have been interviewed and featured in various publications such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times & Daily News, The London Times & AARP Newsletters. Please watch this blog for latest tips and tricks and scams to avoid.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Fake eBay Invoice with Trojan Virus attached / Keystroke Logger

Fairly new email circulating with an attached trojan virus. Some actually come in garbled as the email was incorrectly configured when mailed. Regardless there are some obvious clues before even opening the email.

  • eBay would never say in the subject of the email "you owe us" the "amount" or "please pay your fees" it is just rude on the surface and would never be sent from a company in that format.
  • It starts off with "Dear eBay Seller" and not your user ID and email as registered with eBay. All official eBay emails will have your registered information as they actually know who you are.
  • Email comes from eBay International AG, who is that?
  • The whole message just reads wrong, so that should be the first sign it is a scam, but the attachment is the dead giveaway, and the most trouble.
If you ever get any emails from eBay or PayPal or anyone for that matter that you believe is a fake, please do not click on any links or open any attachments. In a clean browser window go directly to the site you are concerned about and log in from there. If there is an issue you will find out that way, not from some rogue email.

------------
eBay Invoice, you owe us $2250.67, please pay your fees!

Dear eBay Seller,

We have not yet received the payment for your eBay fees.

The total amount in listing fees that you have to pay is $2250.67.

As this is an over average not paid invoice we have attached and sent it directly to you by email so you can take it to your bank and have the money wired directly to our account or you can pay the invoice online on our website.

Invoice Date: November 11, 2009

Amount Due: $2250.67

You can review your current invoice details by downloading the attached invoice.

The eBay Invoice attached to this email contains all the details on how you managed to owe us such a large amount.

ATTENTION: If your payment is overdue and you do complete the payment in the next 5 working days we will suspend your eBay account. When your account is suspended, we notify you by email and tell you the reason. The same message appears in the Messages section of My eBay.

REMEMBER: We do not ask for your credit card details or password into an email. Be cautious of emails that ask you to submit personal information such as your credit card number or your eBay password. Some members have reported attempts to gain access to their personal information through email solicitations that are made to appear as having come from eBay. These solicitations will often contain links to Web pages that will request that you sign-in and submit information. At eBay, we identify these as 'spoofed' emails or Websites. Remember, eBay employees will never ask you for your password.

Regards,
eBay International AG

No comments: