Two Simple Ways to Avoid Spoof Email on eBay

I recently joined the rank of millions on ebay. As excited as I could be I signed up with no concern at all and absolutely no knowledge of spoof mail. The Stone Age girl lost in the high tech world of "lose-your-identity-quick." All was going well until last week. I received an email with the subject really want to by your item. The page appeared just as any ebay message does with the usual graphics and even a link to reply through ebay.

Mistake number one, I clicked on the link eager to sell the item. Never click on a link from your personal website. What this did was take me to a sign in page. Mistake number two, I signed in. This simple seemingly legit event gave the crooks my password and access to my ebay account. The link never let me actually reply. It only told me the page had expired.

Within a couple of hours I had a listing on my account for some fictitious car and the starting bid was a penny. Totally aware that this meant trouble I contacted ebay. Through painful hours of changing passwords and security question I finally did get it all straightened out.

Luckily, I was not out any money because everything was caught in time to do anything and it was reported immediately. The wonderful representative at ebay gave me these two ways to protect yourself from this happening to you. Remember these scam artist are very clever and coming up with new ways to cheat you everyday. You may think it won't happen to you. I did too. Even so you should take whatever precautions you can. Ebay is linked to pay pal and quite possibly you bank account and once they have your password they have access to it all.

First thing you can do is download the ebay toolbar. It is located at the bottom of the ebay homepage. All you do is click on the link and follow your computer prompts. This toolbar protects you will on ebay as well allows you access to your account while surfing the web. When you download this toolbar spoof emails are singled out and you are warned. Ebay also becomes aware that this has occurred. It is the heads up you need.

Next thing to remember is to never answer any messages from ebay on you personal email account. ALWAYS go to the site. There is special protection through the messages on the ebay website that your personal account does not have. If you do not see a message that was suppose to be there according to you email it's a spoof. The ebay representative also urges anyone to remember when he or she answers a message from ebay to pay attention.

If the message asks you to sign on again, don't. Once you are signed into ebay, you're there. That is a sign of a spoof.Also, ebay will never ask you for any personal information and above all report anything that does not belong in your account. In my case reported the situation saved me money and possibly my identity. So please be careful and remember there is always someone out there looking for the easy account. Protect yourself and keep your accounts safe.