Is this eBay fraud alert email a scam?

[CostaRicaBill]

My mother, who does not have an account on eBay or know anyone who does, just received the official looking email below about someone opening a possible fraudulent account with her information. Does this look legit and should she be concerned about someone have her information, or could it be a scam? She hasn't clicked on the link they provided.




eBay Safeharbor Department Notice

Fraud Alert ID : *********


Dear eBay member,

You have received this email because you or someone else had used your identity to make false purchases on eBay. For security reasons, we are required to open an investigation on this matter. We treat online fraud seriously and all cases which cannot be resolved between eBay and the other involved party are forwarded for further investigations to the proper authorities. To speed up this process, you are required to verify your personal information against the eBay account registration data we have on file by following the link below.

https://secure.ebay.com/eBayISAPl***** (only partial link)

Please save this fraud alert id for your reference.

When submitting sensitive information via the website, your information is protected both online and off-line. When our registration/order form asks users to enter sensitive information (such as credit card number and/or social security number), that information is encrypted and is protected with the best encryption software in the industry - SSL.

Please Note - If your account informations are not updated within the next 72 hours, we will assume this account is fraudulent and it will be suspended. We apologize for this inconvenience, but the purpose of this verification is to ensure that your eBay account has not been fraudulently used and to combat fraud.

We apreciate your support and understanding, as we work together to keep eBay a safe place to trade.

Thank you for your patience in this matter.

Regards, Safeharbor Department (Trust and Safety Department)
eBay Inc.

Please do not reply to this e-mail as this is only a notification mail sent to this address and can not be replied to.

Copyright 2005 eBay Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners.
eBay and the eBay logo are trademarks of eBay Inc. which is located on Hamilton Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125

[Freakin]

Call ebay about it if you're really unsure, or just reply to that email. 99% of the time it's a phishing scam, otherwise it wouldn't say "Do not reply to this email blah blah blah"... They've gotten pretty sophisticated, so it can be hard to tell sometimes. Even visiting the link does not always show you, because they can do funny stuff with the address bar. If she does not use ebay and has never created an account, then forward it to their security department because it is an obvious scam.

Freakin

[nolanfan34]

[ QUOTE ]
My mother, who does not have an account on eBay or know anyone who does

[/ QUOTE ]

I stopped reading there, if she doesn't have an account, how could eBay possibly get her e-mail?

These e-mails are frauds.

I will say, don't ignore the eBay ones that ask you to pay your invoice, those are real, as I found out when I had $4 in fees I hadn't paid that I forgot about and they locked my account.

[Shoe]

Probably a scam..... but you could have her go to www.ebay.com (type it in don't click on the link), find their phone number and call them, or forward the email to their customer support and ask if it is for real.

It is probably someone trying to steal ebay user names/passwords. Whatever you do, never click on the link in emails like this, alwasy go directly to the site yourself.

[wonderwes]

I have seen that email before. If you read the email the url points to a ebay page, but when you copy the link location you realize it takes you to a different website. The email looks almost like the real deal. Many people will think it is from ebay from the spoof email headers. It is total spam mail. Ebay will never ask for your personal info from email.

[CostaRicaBill]

Thanks guys, it sure does look real, I can see how lots of people would fall for it.

[eastbay]

The best way to get a quick read on these phishing emails is to hover your mouse over the link supplied.

If it shows (in the status bar) as a numerical IP and not the known URL of the site it purports to be, just flush it.

If it resolves to a URL that looks legit, that doesn't mean it is. But if it resolves to something that looks bogus, it almost certainly is.

eastbay

[Wahoo91]

Good luck "calling" eBay they have no customer service phone capabilities last time I checked...

Just email.

[GrannyMae]

Dear eBay member,

authentic emails ALWAYS have your real name. never call you member.

forward that entire email to spoof@ebay.com

they will shut them down

[mosta]

whenever an email is trying to tell you you need to do something with your ebay account, never click a link in the email. don't even reply to the email. instead, go to ebay by typing it in yourself, and log into My Account. Whatever you need to know will be in there, and you can email them from there, if you need.

This is true for any online account. Bank, poker, amazon, etc etc. never click. log yourself in directly. and for god's sake don't reply email any information, at all, ever.