A phishing scam is when someone tries to take advantage of someone on the internet. These scams are not new and have been going on since the early days of the internet.

One of the earliest forms of this type of scam was on AOL back in 1994-1995, where the scam artist used the services instant message to scam people.

They instant message people and tell them they were from aol corporate. They would say there was a problem with their account and that they needed their password in order to process the complaint.

The person about to be duped would then type in their password. After they did they may or may not have been told their account would be taken care of.

A few hours later the person with AOL would try to log onto their account and couldn’t because they got an error message stating they couldn’t log on because their account was in use.

These scams usually arrive via email but can also be found on the web. What happens is someone receives an email stating something about an account; someone is in dying need of money or a question from an eBay seller.

You have to be careful of any email you receive that asks for your information in any shape or form.

A legitimate company will never ask for your personal information via email or instant message.

These messages can seem to arrive from any company. What the scam artist does is they either scan the web and harvest email addresses or they buy an email address list.

They then send out a mass email to everyone on the list.

In that email may be information that seems to come from pay pal. What the thief is hoping for is someone on that list is vulnerable and has a pay pal account.

Many people are still getting on the internet for the first time even today. They really don’t know any better and fall for these phishing scams all the time.

You must remember to ask yourself some questions before you respond to any email. Ask yourself some of the questions below if you get a suspicious email.

Why is this company contacting me?
Why do they need my information?

Remember, if you receive an email and are unsure about what to do always call the company first. Never Never just blindly send back your information.

Email programs and even companies like Yahoo and creating better programs to catch would be scam artist. Anti virus software is not even loaded with phishing filters for when you surf the internet.

A phishing scam can affect anyone. Remember to be on the look out.

Note: Below you will find an actual email we received here from a eBay scammer. The links have been disabled. This is to educate you about what to look out for. As you can see this email is poorly written and formatted. This should be your first clue as to the legitimacy of this email.

As you will also see they try their best to make it look like it is coming from ebay directly. Look at how the include what looks like an eBay email address at the top.

Subject:	Question about Item -- Respond Now
From:	"eBay" <aw-confirm@eBay.com>
Date:	Thu, January 4, 2007 3:08 pm
Priority:	Normal
Options:	View Full Header \| View Printable Version \| Download this as a file

Question for item #109910753540

.SectionTitle {font-size: small; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight:bold }

.SmallTitle {font-size: x-small; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight:bold }

.SectionBody {font-size: x-small; font-family: arial, sans-serif}

.DetailTable, .DetailTable th {font-size: 10 pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;

font-weight:normal }

.Title {font-size: medium; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif}

.BodyFont {font-size: 10 pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight:normal}

.BodyFontStrong {font-size: 10 pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight:bold}

.SmallBody {font-size: xx-small; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight:normal;

margin-top: 8 px;

margin-bottom: 6 px}

.Separator { COLOR: #CCCCCC; height: 1px}

.HighlightedSeparator { COLOR: #9999cc; height: 1px}

.FooterSeparator { COLOR: #CCCCCC; height: 1px}

.Footer, .Footer p {font-size: xx-small; font-family:arial, sans-serif;

color:#666666; margin-top: 2 px;

margin-bottom: 8 px}

.SmallPara, .SmallParap {margin-top: 8 px; margin-bottom: 6 px}

.ItemTitle {font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight:bold }

.sectiontitle{font-size:small;font-weight:bold;}

.pagetitle {font-size:medium;font-weight:bold;}

eBay

sent this message to from stocklotsuk.

This message originated from eBay. Learn

more.

Question about Item -- Respond No

eBay sent this message on behalf of an eBay member through My Messages. Responses

sent using email will go to the

eBay member directly and will include your email address.

?Question from stocklotsuk

stocklotsuk(

152)

Positive feedback:100%

Member since:Mar-03-00

Location:FL, United

States

Registered on:www.ebay.com

Item

Number (109910753540)

This message was sent while the listing was

active.

stocklotsuk is a potential buyer.

Please

add me to your pre-approved

list. I am interested in

the buy it now option.Is

this price right or is this

a misprint?

Thanks

Steff

Respond to this question

Responses in My Messages will not include your email

address.

Thank you,

eBay

Details

for item number:?109910753540

Item

URL:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie

wItem&item=109910753540&sspagename=ADME:B:AAQ:US:

End

date:

Saturday,

Sep 27, 2006?07:36:23 P

Marketplace Safety Tip

Always remember to complete your transactions on eBay - it's the safer way to trade

Is this message an offer to buy your item directly through email without winning the

item on eBay? If so, please

help make the eBay marketplace safer by reporting it to us. These "outside of eBay"

transactions may be unsafe and are against eBay policy. Learn more about trading

safely.

Is this email inappropriate? Does it violate eBay policy? Help protect the

Community by reporting it.

See our Privacy Policy and User Agreement if you have questions about eBay's

communication policies.

User Agreement: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/user-agreement.ht

Designated trademarks and brands are the property

of their respective owners.

eBay and the eBay logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of eBay, Inc.

eBay

is located at 2145 Hamilton Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125.

Back home from phishing scam

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