This morning’s Junk E-Mail was an email ‘from’ ebay about “billing address verification.” The email claims my account has been locked temporarily because “eBay safeguard your account when there is a possibility that someone other than you is logging on. You may be getting this message because you are logging on from a different location or device.” The email then requests you follow a link to complete the verification process.
In my early morning stupor I almost beleived the email – realising just as I was clicking the link (force quit immediately killed safari). I’ve sent the email to ebay for verification (spoof@ebay.co.uk) but looking more closely I notice that the ‘Getting Started’ link redirects to http:// web.fpks.org/VideoTapeDir/index3.php and the email starts Dear Valued Customer. Also, genuine emails from ebay should appear in the Messages section of your ebay account itself – needless to say this one didn’t.
My alarm bells are ringing so I hope this post acts as a warning to anyone else who may have received a similar email. Here’s a screenie of the email I received (yours may look different):
January 5th, 2008 at 11:52 am
hey,
wow i had the same thing as you just an hour later than you posted!
Do you reckon its a virus or just a video?
also, did you force quit safari or did the link do that to you?
thanks
ps i have a blogger thingy but i dont ever use it!
January 5th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
I got the same e-mail (at 4:06 AM EST). Except for it was all raw text. So instead of getting a link that says “Get Started” leading to the suspicious “web.fpks.org” it was html that plainly displayed the link. I said to myself there is absolutely no way I’m clicking that link… *delete*
January 5th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Also, I’m not a regular to this blog, I found it by doing a search of the suspicious web site to see if anything came up. Seeing as my previous posting time registered as 3:27 PM I am assuming that this is a UK site as EST is 5 hours behind GMT.
January 6th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Hi Zack,
I clicked the link but I realised as the page was loading (the uni has slashed our internet speed) that it might be dodgy so force-quit Safari myself. I didn’t see any video but if you did I’d recommend checking your computer for spyware (definately if your using a PC). I havent had a response from eBay yet but several people have had similar emails supposedly from banks so I’m guessing this is some kind of spyware.
Andre your powers of deduction are correct, I am based in the UK, however I’m a night owl so my posts can be put up any time.
Thanks to both of you for having a gander at my blog!