Odd Ebay/PayPal Emails I have been getting...

[Homer]

Well, this has been bugging me for a few days. My Gmail inbox has been getting some "scammail" as I call it regarding Ebay and PayPal. A few things to note;

 

1. I browse Ebay, but don't have an account there and if I want something on Ebay, I ask my parents that have an account that ISN'T registered on my account.

2. I don't have a PayPal account.

3. Neither of those are on my email address.

 

So, how come, how, and why am I getting these emails?

Damned Scammers and lowlifes with their "1337" ness...

[Martyn]

It's called Phishing, a clever way to get hold of gullible people's details.

They can spoof email addresses, and even spoof sites, to make them look exactly the same and even have the correct domain name.

 

Basically the companies are saying that they will never send emails like this, so if you get them, it's dodgy, so ignore it.

 

http://www.antiphishing.org/

[Sir Clinksalot]

Go to Ebay, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click on security center.

 

I doubt there's really anything Ebay can do, as these guys are usually pretty dang crafty, but at least you can pretend that the forces of good triumphed over the forces of asshat hackers.

[DenDen]

Martyn pretty much explained it to a T. Phishers send these emails to randomly generated email addresses. (Just as many spammers do.) Larger email providers are always easy targets. (AOL, GMAIL, Hotmail, etc...)

 

As I've been telling my computer-using friends for years...

 

1)Anything sold via email is a scam.

2)NOBODY legitimate asks for ANY information about you, or any financially linked accounts of any kind, via an email message.

3)You will NOT make any money from businesses/transaction posted in an email message!

4)If you don't scan ALL EMAILS & FILE ATTATCHMENTS, you deserve the virus, Spyware, or Phish. Or better yet, sell the computer and get yourself WebTV (MSNTV).

 

DenDen "doesn't use GMail because if the privacy concerns".