Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Alert: eBay - I will open a dispute and give you negative feedback JQDSRXSQPX

Today I received an email from Leesa which had the subject “I will open a dispute and give you negative feedback”. The body of the message is they’d purchased an item and hadn’t received it.

The reason I thought I’d comment on this email is it is what is called a phishing email which uses social engineering techniques to trick people into clicking on the link. If you click on the link which looks like a link to eBay, you’ll end up on a page which is designed to look like an eBay login page. The page is actually a form created using Adobe Flash.

The social engineering technique is to worry people and trick them into making a mistake. People don’t want to get negative feedback on eBay. I recall one person who was devastated when they received their first negative feedback, so people do take feedback very seriously. The more serious the more easily they could be tricked.

Also this is an example of a site which has been compromised to deliver a scam. The domain was registered in 2002 by a family and their main page has a page for each of the family members. I suspect a person has hacked into their site and planted the malicious code on their site. I’ve written to the owner of the site to let them know.

If you receive an email like this you should delete the email. Don’t click on the link. It is designed to collect your eBay login details. If you have been tricked immediately change your password on your eBay account and anything else which a scammer may use to access your account. For example many sites use hints to help you recover a password. Not sure how eBay security works but you should review any information you’ve provided on your site and perhaps any contact you’ve had with others. I don’t know how the creators of this phishing attempt intend to use an eBay site. You should seek assistance from eBay as to what you should do.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for assistance with your computer.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

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