SOmething strange is afoot on ebay

[Darthdiesel]

I won 6 items on ebay today:

 

Item # Item Title Qty. Price

2569319241 HP DesignJet 350C Ink Cartridge Set - All 4 1 $67.99

3427488822 6 Pack Genuine Canon BCI-21 Color Ink Carts 1 $45.99

3428761181 HP DesignJet 430 Ink Cart Set - All 4 1 $62.00

3435326187 Lot 6 Panasonic KX-P450 Toner UF-750 1 $44.99

3436307513 Ricoh 4080 4081 4150 Toner Kit (2 Carts) 1 $59.99

3438550201 Epson S050002 Toner Cart for Action Laser II 1 $59.99

 

Thing is... I never BID on them!!!

 

EMAILS to the seller:

 

-----Original Message-----

From: darthdiesel@yahoo.com

Sent: Nov 8, 2003 6:20 PM

To: hkabakow@earthlink.net

Subject: Question from eBay Member

--------------------

 

 

To member: iamepsilon

From member: darthdiesel

 

--------------------

 

 

I wanted to let you know something weird is going on - it seems that

someone has my account info and bid or used buy it now for 6 of your

items...I don't have any of those models or use for the inks excpet for the

bci 21 color carts...I don't know what is going on here but I will not

be completing any transactions. I am notifying ebay safeharbor that

foul play is afoot thru no fault of mine. NO one has my password but me

and I was not signed on to ebay to bid at these times indicated. Thanks

for understanding. please go and file the final value credit fees

ASAP...

 

--------------------

 

SELLER'S ANSWER

Date: Sat, 8 Nov 2003 23:03:35 -0800 (GMT-08:00)

From: "Printing Supplies" | Add to Address Book

To: darthdiesel@yahoo.com

Subject: Re: Question from eBay Member

 

Apparetnly your password could have been stolen from the net or perhaps

it was an inside job by an eBay employee or system contractor. If I

file for final value credit, I think it might have negative repercussions

for you. It might be advisable for you to persuade eBay to credit my

account. I have had more than 20 similar incidents in the past two weeks,

all involving 3 or more unrelated items - some as many as 7.

Accordingly, I am out $400 or $500 thus far unless eBay decides to credit my

account. It appears my only choice is to require the bidders to pay the

charges, since ebay has not answered my e-mails. The same individual who

is playing with these various accounts may well have also set up for

eBay to block my incoming e-mails.

 

Great. Hopefully, they will refund my seller fees. That have not, to

now, answered my e-mails requesting fee credits (not "final-value fee

credits", which are not really applicable, but merely a blanket credit to

cover my out-of-pocket costs resulting from the fraudulent activity. I

am continuing to attempt to obtain such a credit, but meanwhile am

looking to the victimized buyers to persuade eBay to refund or to pay my

costs. It seems to me that I am more of a victim in this situation than

even you are.

 

==========================

 

ANYONE else winning printing supplies that you don't own the peripherals for?

[DoubleCovaBrotha]

What would a person hope to accomplish by doing this? And if it is to harm the seller, why would they go through all the trouble of stealing accounts rather than making fake accounts?

 

Some people have nothing better to do with their time.

[deathlok]

The seller is in a tough spot to be sure. Although I don't believe Darth nor anyone else who won items falsely will be paying his fees. It seems E-bay needs to really upgarde their security and fraud reporting/protection.

 

 

[Darthdiesel]

What about the "inside job" thing...that's what scares me...I see how it could hurt the seller by someone popping BINS...look at Rickdogg (speedjunkies) and all his auctions getting BIN'd by a PO'd seller that Rick targeted for fraudulent practices...over $200 in ebay fees that he still got credited against his account and no recompense for his lost listing fees...

[delekkerste]

Did you happen to respond to a fake eBay message recently? I got one this morning that looked completely professional...logos, proper wording, even the return e-mail address said "aw-confirm@ebay.com". I forgot exactly what the message said, but it laid out a semi-plausible case for why they needed to confirm my username & password and even had a very official-looking input box on the form (think it linked to a page that looked just like eBay). This fake was so official-looking that I could easily see a lot of people getting fooled by it, even those who are usually on their guard against blatant scams. Unfortunately, I deleted the message already.

 

Gene

[Phantom-migration]

Did you happen to respond to a fake eBay message recently?

That's what I was thinking and it's weird that it's happened to this particular seller numerous times. Darth, are there any more details you can provide as as to how you think your account might have been hijacked?

[Darthdiesel]

I replied KNOWING it was a fake, with a barrage`of obsceneties as the password and ID darthWEASEL. I respond to ALL eBay msgs in a similar fashion. But this did come to mind

[Darthdiesel]

Did you happen to respond to a fake eBay message recently?

That's what I was thinking and it's weird that it's happened to this particular seller numerous times. Darth, are there any more details you can provide as as to how you think your account might have been hijacked?

not a clue how they figured it out, and Iwas pm'ing with mephisto44 that itwas not an easy PW to figure out. I checked and only ebay was messed with. I guess ebay can check the ip address whence the hijack bids originated and match it up with the origins of other fake bidders for that seller

[whomerjay]

Interesting. I lost this auction (I love unopened stuff):

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2200476852&category=32748&rd=1

 

but next AM dealer ( tdcomixncardz)

emails me (Q to ebayer, not official second chance offer) and says winner tells him "someone else bid" on the auction, not him, so he's offering it to me. I emailed him back asking if he'll take paypal, give me the price I would have paid if competing only with 3rd bidder, and to confirm quality of product.

 

Perhaps this is similar to your case. HOWEVER

 

Late that AM "bossking" emails me and tells me he has the same item and can offer it to me much cheaper. Tells me essentially tdcomixncardz is jerk (feedbacks suggest they seem to have a history) and I should buy from him.

 

I have emailed the original winner of the multipack asking what's up. NO reply.

I have not received a reply from tdcomixncardz.

 

BTW, tdcomixncardz is the guy posting the CGG books (the 9.4 XMen94 just went for>1700 in a PRIVATE AUCTION) and ther multi-pack with XMen94.

 

I don't know how much of this is bogus, and it seems some serious shilling is going on here.

 

Some very bizarre things going on. My sensors tell me AVOID. Does anyone know anything about these auctions or about tdcomixncardz? Looking at his feedback he looks honest to me, but his recent auctions are structured suspiciously.

 

BTW I get those scams asking for ebay security/CC info every other week. I think ebay does a good job of alerting everyone THEY WILL NEVER ASK FOR SUCH INFO IN AN EMAIL.

 

 

[Darthdiesel]

I wouldn't touch any high dollar transactions with a suspect seller (not justthis particular one, but any seller that I have no history with) until I establish a history with lower prrice items. but in your case I notice the same things. You are a victim of possible shilling and spam. You are smart to price it as if the top two other bidders are out of the loop because that would remove most effects of any shilling.

 

My advice would be to wait for another 9.4x-men 94...there are as many of this book in hi grade out there as hulk 181. personally I have no love for x-men 94 (as much as I would for gs x-men 1) but your sensors are on the right track...

[supapimp]

my eBay page shows no bids or items watching, but if i go to search and type in my user ID, it pulls the up?

[Smokinghawk]

my eBay page shows no bids or items watching, but if i go to search and type in my user ID, it pulls the up?

 

Weird...If I look up "Smokinghawk" (my retired account), there are current bids (also for printer cartridges!). Hey, at least the feedback is all positive. But since I formerly used Smokinghawk as my Ebay name, if I switch my name to something else (which I've done), is Smokinghawk now "public domain" for someone else to snatch?

 

 

[mrwoogieman]

I replied KNOWING it was a fake, with a barrage`of obsceneties as the password and ID darthWEASEL. I respond to ALL eBay msgs in a similar fashion. But this did come to mind

 

I've heard that even a joke response email by you can 'open the door' somehow to prying eyes. Perhaps your reply email left you open to some sort of keystroke watch program where everything you type including passwords, credit card info, etc., is logged and available to the culprit. Not sure if running a virus scan will help or not but it couldn't hurt. Also maybe try cleaning out the cookies that've accumulated on your hard drive. I'll have to see if I can find exactly how those keyboard ghost programs are done.

[Aman619]

thats what I was going to suggest. By replying, you may have also sent them your entire list of cookies, containing ALL info you about ALL have accounts and passwords stored to make surfing your favorite sites easier.

 

Its not a good idea to fight these spammers and scammers by replying AT ALL!!

[Aces]

I won 6 items on ebay today:

 

Item # Item Title Qty. Price

2569319241 HP DesignJet 350C Ink Cartridge Set - All 4 1 $67.99

3427488822 6 Pack Genuine Canon BCI-21 Color Ink Carts 1 $45.99

3428761181 HP DesignJet 430 Ink Cart Set - All 4 1 $62.00

3435326187 Lot 6 Panasonic KX-P450 Toner UF-750 1 $44.99

3436307513 Ricoh 4080 4081 4150 Toner Kit (2 Carts) 1 $59.99

3438550201 Epson S050002 Toner Cart for Action Laser II 1 $59.99

 

Thing is... I never BID on them!!!

 

 

That really sucks Darth.

 

I've been off-line for over a week.

I'm glad no one hacked into my eBay account.

They could have bought the moon an I wouldn't have known.

[Darthdiesel]

I replied KNOWING it was a fake, with a barrage`of obsceneties as the password and ID darthWEASEL. I respond to ALL eBay msgs in a similar fashion. But this did come to mind

 

I've heard that even a joke response email by you can 'open the door' somehow to prying eyes. Perhaps your reply email left you open to some sort of keystroke watch program where everything you type including passwords, credit card info, etc., is logged and available to the culprit. Not sure if running a virus scan will help or not but it couldn't hurt. Also maybe try cleaning out the cookies that've accumulated on your hard drive. I'll have to see if I can find exactly how those keyboard ghost programs are done.

 

 

Excellent info, woogster! I'll make sure I don't do that again. It was childish but cathartic at the time. Letting a barrage of obscenities flow takes a native New Yorker like me to his "happy place"

 

I'm concerned now with all you guys turning up printer products bids.. wjhat the is this BS all aabout Please report it to ebay under "account theft" and let them know something is awry ... you know I could use some color/photo inks on the cheap with all of Logan's pics we are taking and printing as gifts for the family but they had to pick other pmodels that I don't use

 

ran Ad-aware and the norton antivirus...maybe now that I got a wireless hook up and a router, it is possible I am leaving my self open by not doing more than the default security setup... I need some techies to talk me thru this one. superb suggestions from this thread...

[dadaist]

Hey Carl

 

The little that I have been able to ascertain about your situation is that you likely are a victim of a browser hijacking. With the explosion of online management of everything from banking through to grocery shopping, the added convenience of most commercially available web browsers, and their built-in ability to "manage" your credentials/passwords present a variety of pitfalls.

 

Unfortunately, there is very little an anti-virus software or firewalls (both hardware/software) can do to protect you against a browser hijacking. eBay is just one of the examples of how a browser hijacking could present some undesirable onsequences, however this is not a problem that is specific with eBay per se.

 

If you are using a Linksys Wireless router/hub, then feel free to contact me (email/PM). I can make some suggestions on how to secure your bandwidth with WEP, 128 bit encryption, but unfortunately, you will need to do some research on "browser hijacking" to get around your specific problem, and protect you from this ever happening again.

 

In the interim, I will forward any information I can dig-up on this phenomemon and post it here for all to read. Although most commercial browsers use encryption to hide that information from a potential breach, I would strongly suggest that you stop using whatever browser you are using as those credentials have been compromised.

 

Which means, if you were using MS IE, stop using it, and install Netscape until you get this problem sorted out. Stop using the browser you were using up until this problem started. Nothing against IE or Netscape, but its likely that your credentials have been compromised through a hijacking of some sort. Moving forward, do not allow your browser to capture any passwords/credentials (this usually happens when you visit a login screen -- you will be prompted, asking whether you would like the browser to manage your info). Do not allow a browser to manage any passwords for you EVER. Laziness is what hijackers thrive on.

 

Finally, (and I don't want to uneccessarily set-off any alarm bells, but....) it woudn't be a bad idea to reset your passwords for any accounts being managed by your browsers auto-login as well.

 

I'll keep you posted.

[Darthdiesel]

Thank JOseph...look at this travesty p.iss-poor repoly from ebay:

 

Hello,

 

Thank you for writing eBay with your concerns about your account.

 

Since bids were placed on your account that you did not authorize,

please take the steps outlined in this email.

 

1. First, retract any active bids by following the instructions listed

below:

 

- Click "Site Map" on the Navigation Bar located at the top of most

eBay

pages.

- When the eBay Site Map opens, click "Retract My Bid" located under

"Services."

- Enter information to retract the bid(s).

 

2. If any of the listings have ended, you will be unable to retract the

bids. In this situation, I suggest that you send a quick email to the

seller, briefly explaining what happened. Please be aware that the

seller has the option of filing a Non-Paying Bidder Alert and leaving

feedback for any items where you were the winning buyer. By

communicating openly with the seller you may be able to avoid any

negative consequences.

 

3. Change your password by following the directions below. This will

help to protect your account and prevent this from happening again. To

change your password:

 

- Click on the site map link (located at the top of any eBay page)

- Scroll under the "Services" section

- Click on the "I forgot my password" link located in the middle

column.

 

After entering your User ID on this page, you will be prompted to

answer

at least one of a number of questions related to your account. Once you

have answered at least one of the questions provided, an email will be

sent with instructions to allow you to complete your password change.

 

Let me suggest a few ways this may have occurred:

 

As a safety measure, we advise members to click "Sign Out" in the upper

right corner of the screen after using eBay and to close all browser

windows prior to leaving the computer. When the "Sign Out" button is

not

clicked and browser windows are left open, the next person who uses

that

computer may be able to access the previous user's eBay account. If you

used your computer in a library, school, or another public place, this

may explain how the bids were placed. If the "Sign Out" button is not

clicked and browser windows are left open, other members of your

household may also be able to access your account.

 

It is also possible that another party could have found your password

or

guessed your password after repeated attempts. Please remember, as a

safety precaution, to keep your password in a safe place and to never

give your password to another person. It is also a good idea to change

your password every 30-60 days.

 

When selecting a password, it should not be related to something

someone

else could guess. Examples of passwords that may be guessed include

your

birthday, telephone number, or the name of a child or pet. The best

passwords are those that use a random combination of letters and

numbers. In order to ensure that your password is secure, it is

important to use different passwords for the various online accounts

you

use (email, PayPal, etc). More information about selecting a password

can be found on the User Account Protection page at:

 

http://www.pages.ebay.com/help/new/account_protection.html

 

We have received reports from some eBay members who have received

requests for User IDs and passwords. These unsolicited messages may

appear to have been sent from eBay Support, but in fact are not. eBay

will never ask for sensitive information of this nature via email.

 

Finally, there are a number of computer viruses in circulation that log

and record keystrokes. It's recommended that computer users keep their

virus alert software up-to-date, and check their system often for

problems. A firewall for high-speed Internet users is also highly

recommended.

 

We hope this information is helpful and that your eBay transactions are

safe and enjoyable.

 

 

Regards,

 

Justin

Fraud Prevention Group

----------------------------------------------

eBay

Your Personal Trading Community

 

[dadaist]

Thank JOseph...look at this travesty p.iss-poor repoly from ebay:

 

 

Not good.

 

I also noticed that a link in my reply to your post was edited?

 

Hmmmm.... Is it possible that someone hijacked my account???

 

I could have sworn I included a link for browser hijacking in my reply...

 

Anyway, I just edited it and included a link on the phenomenon.

 

On a sidenote, it does bother me tremendously that eBay, with its goliath-like position in the technology marketplace has not invested some serious time and effort in authoring/developing digital signatures with all its emails.

 

This is not to be confused with someone writing out their handwritten signature and outputting it electronically; rather, the kind of electronic verification that a great many software/hardware vendors are developing these days to authorize their wares. If you are using MS XP, you will notice that anytime you install a hardware device, or update a driver, there is a digital signature which Microsoft verifies as being legitimately developed by the software/hardware vendor. You can continue to install the application even if it is not authentic, but at least you have that option, and are making an informed decision.

 

Being that eBay is such a big player in the tech market, as well as a proud new father of one of the fastest growing online merchants in PayPal, IMO, it is unacceptable that they have not employed enough time and resources to authenticate their emails with some form of digital verification system. eBay is well aware of the high incidence of spoof emails that are coming from people posing as eBay's/PayPals finest... yet nothing is being done about it.

 

The technology is there. All it would take is some time, money, and development ingenuity. Its already being done with things like installation drivers, and software applications on your pc.... this ought to be a no-brainer for a giant like eBay to devise and develop.

 

A visual icon at the top corner (where they usually lambast with their bloddy logo) that says -- this is coming from eBay. Something whereby an email manager can verify as coming from a legitimate source. If the digital signature does not somehow correspond with a legitimate eBay address, or point you to your account when it is clicked (after all, they are taking a considerable amount of time and effort to personalize each email with Dear darthdiesel...), then at least you know its a phony.

 

Its scary how much time and effort is going into these spoof emails... and it will be a matter of time before someone really masters this thieving art and places this circumstance of fraud on a grander scale.

 

Quite frankly, their reactive solutions to dealing with situations like yours Carl is just pathetic, and doesn't, IMO, bode well with a company that is as financially capable as eBay is to remedy this problem.

[davidking623]

Interesting. I lost this auction (I love unopened stuff):

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2200476852&category=32748&rd=1

 

but next AM dealer ( tdcomixncardz)

emails me (Q to ebayer, not official second chance offer) and says winner tells him "someone else bid" on the auction, not him, so he's offering it to me. I emailed him back asking if he'll take paypal, give me the price I would have paid if competing only with 3rd bidder, and to confirm quality of product.

 

Perhaps this is similar to your case. HOWEVER

 

Late that AM "bossking" emails me and tells me he has the same item and can offer it to me much cheaper. Tells me essentially tdcomixncardz is jerk (feedbacks suggest they seem to have a history) and I should buy from him.

 

I have emailed the original winner of the multipack asking what's up. NO reply.

I have not received a reply from tdcomixncardz.

 

BTW, tdcomixncardz is the guy posting the CGG books (the 9.4 XMen94 just went for>1700 in a PRIVATE AUCTION) and ther multi-pack with XMen94.

 

I don't know how much of this is bogus, and it seems some serious shilling is going on here.

 

Some very bizarre things going on. My sensors tell me AVOID. Does anyone know anything about these auctions or about tdcomixncardz? Looking at his feedback he looks honest to me, but his recent auctions are structured suspiciously.

 

BTW I get those scams asking for ebay security/CC info every other week. I think ebay does a good job of alerting everyone THEY WILL NEVER ASK FOR SUCH INFO IN AN EMAIL.

 

 

This Tdcomixncards is a schiller trust me I know he is I have dealt with him and he is very shoddy at best.I am not going into the specifics other than I have dealt with him off line as seen in real person at the Portland show.

 

Davidking623