Feeling proud this morning because I foiled an attempt to collect my eBay personal information!
It was a standard e-mail from eBay stating that my account has been suspended due to a non-performance claim. The link to resolve the dispute took me to a eBay sign-in page. I proceeded to sign in. Then, as I was filling out some of the information, my intuition suggested that something was not quite right.
First of all, the link to describe the claim was not functional, so I cannot clearly understand the problem. Then, the page started to request some very sensitive information, including my social security number. That's when I quickly logged into www.ebay.com and found the fraud division to send the e-mail to. I also changed my password to my account.
Sure enough, two minutes later, eBay responded that this e-mail was not from the company. Phew, I was able to escape harm.
Was I lucky? Yes, but it was also many other skills that thwarted the scammers. Keeping up with current events helps because I read about these similar scams all the time. The articles mentioned the direct link to another page and that asking for social security number is always a flag. Just as important is correcting the mistake after the fact. By changing my password right away, I at least prevented the scammers from further access.
Most importantly, it is all about trusting my gut. I tend to trust the good in everyone, so the minute that anything causes my brow to furrow, it's a big warning sign. All right Mr/Ms "ebayonline", you may be clever, but not smart enough this time...
