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Hello all,
I just recieved an email supposedly from ebay, opened it, and it looked all offical and stuff, including the link...HOWEVER, the link takes you to a NON SECURE site which sports the ebay logo and proceeds to ask you to enter all kinds of information, ie SSN, Credit card #'s, and, get this, ATM Pin #'s...obviously this is a scam and IS NOT from Ebay! In fact, the link is not a link at all, the entire message is a .gif picture that is linked to the bogus "form"...I promptly forwarded the email to ebay (spoof@ebay.com).
I know all ya'll are smart and would recognize it for what it is, but I no sooner logged out of my email, and 'lo and behold, there is a story on the msn home page about this very scam...the guy sends like 1,000 of these out and gets up to 200 replies!
i recently heard another story from autotrader and other car sale sites that people are contacting the seller pretending like they want to buy the car. they then send a fake cashiers check to the seller and then cancel the check once they get the car. i heard the scam is mostly coming from africa so once the car gets shipped over seas its nearly impossible to get it back.
I would suggest to everyone that when someone asks you for your SSN, you ask them why they need it. My identity was stolen when I donated blood. It took many, many hours of phone calls to get everything all straightened out. I wouln't wish that on anyone.
I just had an email from ebay wantimg me to verify all my secure info last week. I thought it sounded fishy so I just sent it to the trash. I didn't actually open it but on my e-mail I get to see the heading before I can delete it.
The only time I give my SS# is when the situation deals with anything involving taxes, interest or Government But Sometimes doctors , hospitals drivers license, giving blood, insist in the number so I scramble a couple digits and they don't know the difference and are happy...They want a number, I give them one...It averts a lot of stress that way...
Jerrybo66, that is a good idea. I don't like giving mine out either. I still have one of my original SS cards from 1968 and it says in red letters " Not for identification purposes " I had a situation lately where I was opening a new checking account and they actually wanted to see my SS card. I told the lady that it was only made of paper and it had been gone for 25 years. I finally weaseled my way through the ordeal by showing her a pay stub and I asked her what was up with that? Her reply made sense though. She said that identity theft is becomeing a bigger problem all the time.
yeah, i read an article about that. They get your name and password and then use your account to scam people. They sell whatever to them, take their money but never ship anything. So it's your good name that's in trouble.
What's more scary is one time i got a email like that from paypal supposidly...
It just basically said to type in my account name and number or else my account will be closed. I didnt recognize it as a scam, but i didnt do it just because i didnt really care if they close it or what, i never use it.
Later i realized it was a scam, and it was pretty scarey. they could of gotten access to my bank account number and credit card...
Originally posted by Jerrybo66 ...... But Sometimes doctors , hospitals drivers license, giving blood, insist in the number so I .....
scrambling a few digits is a good idea, but the red cross doesn't NEED your ssn. Like I said earlier, my identity was stolen when I did give blood...in fact, the identity of about 7 other people who donated at the same blood drive that I did had their identities stolen as well. I've come to realize that my ssn is more valuable then money and should be protected as such. If someone asks for it, ask them why they need it. If you don't like their answer, don't give it to them.
I recently got a new credit card with a low credit line for Web purchases. I was later told by Visa that wasn't necessary because Web purchases were insured.. Anyway, it is a Visa , "Fusion" , "smart card" and they give a PIN with it.. I understand not all companies are signed up with their program but the ones that are, no PIN , the machine refuses the card...I'm not sure how it all works because I haven't used the card yet but it seems like a good idea.. Hopefully the number would be viewed as **** by anyone other than the machine ... That part seems a little spooky but I guess Visa has it worked out ...