eBay hoax/scam....

April 28, 2004

Aware of the fact that many of the squaders frequently use eBay, so watch out for this scam. As usual, if it's too good to be true, it usually is.

New Hoax: 'Donate $1 and pay no more eBay fees for 2004'

By Ina Steiner

AuctionBytes.com

April 28, 2004

The email starts out, "You have been selected by eBay for our special

program regarding the war in IRAQ. Through this, eBay Inc. and

associates with the help of the US Government, tries to bring hope in

the hearts of the IRAQ people by asking members to make a $1 donation

that will go into the IRAQ reconstruction funds."

If you've gotten an email like this, beware. It is a hoax. eBay is not

offering users a chance to make a donation in exchange for free usage

of its site, despite the email's urging: "Just click the following

link to donate only $1 for an entire year of fee-free eBay!"

This is just one of many hoax emails making the rounds, promising

rewards or warning users they will be suspended if they don't reply to

the emails immediately to update their account information.

eBay and its subsidiary PayPal are frequent targets of hoax emails

that target their users. Other targets have included financial

institutions, government agencies and other ecommerce sites. The

senders of these hoax emails, also known as phishing emails, attempt

to trick recipients into revealing personal information that will be

used by the scammers to commit identity theft.

Experts advise recipients to never click on a link in an email to

sign-in to a site. Legitimate companies will never ask for personal or

financial information in an email. More information is available at

the AuctionBytes Fraud Resource Center and on eBay's site.

Chadd · April 28, 2004

Still can't figure out how to post a link huh?

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