Under Attack

Posted By: Charles Rush Date: 11/11/03 00:28 GMT

Just a note to let most everyone know why alot of eBayers have private auctions.

{Just a note here, I have chosen to split up Charles' thoughts in to roughly paragraph sized chunks... Since Charles posted in a "stream of thought" manner, I'm guessing as to where the paragraphs belong. If this seems a little disjointed, it's my fault.}

Thank you in advance, Charles, for taking the time! I, and I am sure many others who will read this thread, appreciate your effort.

For the last month I have been under attack from the frauds/crooks/bad guys who steal eBay account and email address.

Genuinely sorry to hear you've suffered through this.

On Friday they (the bad guys) finally changed my email address and eBay account and started listing items that I don't have for sale. They also changed my email address on the eBay auctions. Of course eBay was taking the weekend off so I had to fight them single handed. I final regained control of my account and email address and stopped all the fake/fraudulent auctions.

It sounds like a minor miracle that you were able to wrestle control of your account back! I hope no one else who's a regular is forced by circumstances to seek out your new found and from the sounds of it hard fought expertise on the subject.

This morning I finally receive a email from eBay stating they had frozen my account. Of course this came after I had already won the battle against the crooks/frauds/bad guys, so I had to start all over again with new passwords.

I hate it when the fellows who are supposed to be the good guys are more of a hindrance than a help...

Also these individual were able to go into my computer and disable the computer so that when I went to the eBay site to change my passwords it froze up. Ebay informed me that whoever is doing this can go into your computer with a program that will give them your passwork and also disable certain program in your computer.

Charles, would you feel comfortable sharing which Operating System you're running (Windows xxxx/Linux [flavor/version]/Mac OS #.#.#/etc.)? It would help people using that platform (or similar ones) to be especially diligent in watching for issues.

Anyway my computer was able to correct and purge itself of this alien program.

Would you feel comfortable sharing how you were able to detect, correct and eject the offending application?

You may ask yourself why did they pick on me. I have managed to attain over 1500 positive feedbacks on eBay with no negatives or neturals. I am also a power seller. The crooks/bad guys sent out many email stating this fact trying to sell the Rolexs they had listed on my eBay auction site to anyone who made an inquiry or bid.

It's difficult enough to maintain a clean record with people not responding to emails, not caring (or knowing) enough to click on the right button for feedback among other things, but then to have someone hijack your good name...

After I regained control of my eBay identity, email address and auction site, I was able to inform anyone who sent email to me that it was a fraudulent listing and what the crooks/bad guys had done. I have listed a couple of watch since this happened and these auctions are the type where the bidders identity is keep secret. I have done this so that they will not receive fraudulent emails from the crooks once the auction ends.

That's good to hear.

I used to be wary of the auctions where the bidder identity was keep secret but not anymore.

I was very wary at first, but I participated in a couple and they went pretty much like I would have expected, so I'm not as concerned by them as I once was. The risk of some Shill bumping up the bid is more likely with a private auction, and the very nature of the auction makes it difficult to detect. So one still has to be wary when participating in them.

As I stated earlier I have been under attack for a month and the bad guys were finally able to gain control on Friday after Ebay took the weekend off. I would suggest that everyone who sells on eBay change their password at least once a month.

That (unfortunately) is very sound advise. I wish it wasn't necessary.

I though I would also mention that eBay had informed all Power Seller that they would have a 24 hours telephone access to eBay for any problems. Evidently eBay has changed this program because there was only a recorded message concerning fraudulent takeover of members accounts. This must be a major problem with eBay.

I would jump on eBay a little bit on this one, it doesn't sound right that they promise 24 hour phone access than walk away for the weekend.

A word to the wise, be careful and don't trust anyone who offers to sell outside of eBay unless you know them. And then make sure that it is them and not someone impersonating them. Charles

When I think of some of the deals/risks I've taken in the past... As Kenny Rogers once sang, "You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em"... ...But it's sounding like it's a better idea to stand pat or opt out of a deal than to ask for a couple of fresh cards. Sounds like there are more and more Joker's in the deck nowadays.

Again, sorry if this was a bit disjointed...

Thank you for taking the time Charles. I hope the coming months are smoother than the last one has been for you

-- Chuck