America's Concerns

Security Problem at Ebay-a Scam?

Heads up!  Be advised, a word of caution!

Last week I received an email from Ebay informing me they had experienced a security problem (unspecified) and that I should change my password and open the attachment that was included with the email for instructions on how to go about doing this. I couldn't open up the attachment and shortly after that, all hell broke loose inside my PC so I got out my recovery disc and totally reformatted everything.

Then, a couple of days ago my ISP anti-virus service quarantined another email from Ebay with the same exact subject title as the first email that had caused all the problems.  Today I received the following email (see below), and I immediately called my credit card company and bank to see if there was any recent activity shown on my account because I have not used my credit card or Ebay recently. They informed me there was no recent activity shown on my account.

Be that as it may, I'm extremely suspicious of all this with all the reports of escalating Internet fraud and recent reports that Ebay, who now also owns PayPal, are openly assisting the Feds and turning over Ebay member account information as requested by anyone faxing Ebay on official looking department letterhead.

I expressed my concerns regarding a possible Internet scam to my bank and credit card company and asked them to pass a word of caution along to others.  I also emailed Ebay from the address listed on their website but so far have received no response.  I don't know what more to do at this point.

Editor's note: It seems clear that to arbitrarily change a password because someone tells you to other than your isp is unwise.