Number 243 - August 2003

They're After Us Still
By Joseph V. Barth April, 2003 issue of the PC Alamode
The Internet is a wonderful place and I do a lot of selling and buying on eBay and I really enjoy the process. Millions of people share that process and therein lies the rub.    They are thieves, crooks, con artists, etc. that attempt to get to your credit card numbers and personal information by spoofing, or pretending to be from a web site you trust.    I recently received an e-mail that looked like it was from eBay informing me that some confusion about my credit card was going to prevent me from selling items. The letter had the famous eBay logo on it and the return address was admin@ebay.com. The message was also marked URGENT!    (I got the eBay logo by cutting and pasting from their Web site which is how the crooks did it also).    I do NOT, will NOT, have NOT, and NEVER WILL send credit card info to a site I do not make contact with first. I also know that no reputable site would ever try and make contact with me and ask for information such as this EVER.    I contacted eBay and they immediately responded with the following information:    Please remember that eBay will never ask you for private information, including credit card information or passwords, in an e-mail. We will never send you to a link outside of eBay for entering	credit card or other private information. If you ever need to give us information, we suggest that you go to the eBay home page and follow the links there to the site map page. By doing it this way, you can be certain that you are giving your information to us and not to a third party.    They also told me that they were going to follow up and try to get to the crooks.    I also contacted the Federal Trade Commission and they have a spot on their home page to file a complaint.    One of our members contacted me and said that they fell for it but did not give any information. However, it appears that some unknown program was downloaded onto her computer and we dont know what that will do/has done to her yet. I advised her to make darn sure her anti-virus program was up-to-date and that she run a full system scan now since that is one way a Trojan Horse can be placed on her system.    Beware the spoofers and their ilk. They mean to harm you so you must be ready for them and be prepared to fight back by contacting the Web site that the spoof was directed at as well as the FTC to get the Feds after them.    Joe Barth is a past treasurer of APCO, retired from the military and is a volunteer with the American Red Cross in disaster services. He and his wife Marion travel a bit and spoil their grandchildren a lot.
Number 243 - August 2003