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Email Fraud

Email Fraud
by Juan Ruiz

Today, I received an email from "eBay Inc." The subject line was, "eBay -- confirm your details to avoid service cancellation". The email contained a long letter with a genuine looking logo appearing at the top to let me know that this message came from eBay. The message however was not text. It was a picture of an official looking letter.

See for yourself:
Upon hovering my mouse over the letter, I discovered that my pointer became a hand. This visual means that a person can click on a link on the Internet. Because I was looking at this email from my Yahoo web mail and my status bar was visible, I could see that this link which claimed to be take me to https: // singin.ebay.com / eBayISAPI.dll ? Signin & sid= verify&co_partnered=2&siteid=0 ) was actually taking me to a different site -- http: // 61.106.48.4 /?/ e3b/ . Even if you do not understand what all those codes and symbols mean, you could easily be made to believe that this is a real email from a reputable company.

You see the word "eBay" enough times in the link and you start to believe in it. This message is FAKE. This is what is labeled as PHISHING. Phishing consists of dishonest persons (phishers) casting a hook and waiting patiently for an unsuspecting victim to bite. Don't fall into their trap.

Here's how to protect yourself:

  • NEVER RESPOND to messages like these.
  • Do not give anyone your username or password via an email or form if they are asking you to verify information unless YOU started the conversation with the real party.
  • REAL institutions will ever ask you to verify anything. This is different when you are applying for an account or have applied for an account that YOU started.
  • DO NOT reply to suspicious emails. If you have any doubt, have someone help you determine if it is real.

What I received above is a real example of phishing. For a more detailed explanation, read my article "Phishing - Another Threat of the Internet"

 -Juan-