Watering Your Garden without Getting Hosed (Or, How to Avoid Scams, Part 3)

In the process of writing parts 1 and 2 of this series I was reminded of the one time I was scammed. I have saved the telling of it for part 3 because, quite frankly, I am a little embarrassed that I fell for this one. The scam in retrospect was very obvious but it came in a way I never expected and it caught me unprepared. Heres how it went.

Beware the Suspicious Email

So there I am, checking my email in the morning like I usually do and I see a rather important message saying: Your Ebay account has been frozen and your immediate attention is required. So I click on it to see what this is all about and up pops a very serious (and convincing) page, which looks like one of Ebays actual pages. The message tells me that I need to log in to my Ebay account and address a problem. This page also has the very familiar username and login boxes Ebay uses so I go ahead and sign in.

I am then taken to another apparent Ebay page which wants me to fill out a form requesting my name, social security number, address, bank account numbers, PIN, everything. I am surprised they didnt ask me what my blood type was. At this point I realize I have been scammed because Ebay never asked me for most of this information and I was certain they never would ask for it in an email. At this point I immediately close the message and run like the wind to Ebay. I have to because these people now have my username and password and I have to change that password before they get into my account. Once there I quickly change my password and give thanks that I realized what was going on and adjusted accordingly although I still felt a bit silly for falling for it in the first place.

Afterward I did a little research and found out that this scam was popular and was actually being run in several variations. All of them required the victim to log in to their account which of course gave these criminals everything they needed to gain access to private and important information. They typically pitched some sort of problem with the victims account which had to be cleared up right away. Sometimes they would use fake Ebay pages and sometimes PayPal. These pages are very convincing and it can be quite difficult to tell them apart.

How do you avoid this type of scam? Dont click on any email of the sort I have just described. If you get an email from someone calling themselves Ebay or PayPal or anyone else you do business with, stating that there is a problem requiring your immediate attention then contact them using your regular portal, not through an email link. Ebay, PayPal and others are very aware that there are scammers out there and they do everything they can to protect their customers but we still have to keep our eyes open for the unexpected.

Getting scammed myself was a good experience for me but I was fortunate not to have suffered any injury beyond a bruise to my pride. It reminded me to always look closer than just the surface when presented with any offer or opportunity (or warning). As long as there are scammers there will be ever more creative ways that they use to try and get our money so be on the lookout.

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