I do read a lot here about the various scams and spoofs that go around. I probably would have passed off on this if it were one of the more obvious spoofs that I have seen in the past. I felt it was especially important with this one because of how closely the language seemed to come to some official replies that I have received in the past from eBay. It seems that some of the scammers out there are getting pretty sophisticated in their attempts to mimic eBay and other online services and their correspondance. This one seemed to have it all.

The authentic one that I got in October read,

CPA NOTICE: eBay Registration Suspension

The spoof read,

TKO NOTICE: eBay Registration Suspension

My official October suspension notice started,

In an effort to protect your eBay account security, we have suspended your account until such time that it can be safely restored to you. We have taken this action because your password may have been compromised. ...

Regards,

SafeHarbor Department
eBay Inc.

The Spoof read,

Due to recent activity, including possible unauthorized listings placed on your account, we will suspend any activity on your account in order to allow us to investigate this matter further. If you believe that this action may have been taken in error, or, if you feel that your account may have been tampered with, please respond to this message so that we can provide additional information and work with you to resolve this issue....

Regards,

SafeHarbor Department,
eBay Inc.

Both emails were addressed FROM: "suspension@ebay.com" and looking at them side by side are written in the same font style etc.

I got specific email replies from ebay during my October difficulties mentioning 72 hours and not to respond till after that or it would delay their ability to help me. The spoof today said almost the exact same language.

I was nearly fooled by this as it looked so real. I was very angry at eBay and was getting ready to stop using the service and contact my regular dealers and tell them that I could not do business with them through eBay anymore since I would refuse to restore my account.

Then, after reading the email more closely I noticed the mention of listings on my account. Since I am not a seller that raised a red flag. Then there was a typo "Emailingus" which seemed too careless for an official mailing from eBay. Then, after reading the security site at eBay where they mentioned official links that would be eBay I positioned the cursor over the link, DO NOT CLICK, JUST POSITION THE CURSOR OVER THE LINK, and I saw that the link read "atlastelecom". That clinched it that this was not authentic. Check your links before you click on them.

Anyways, with all that is going around these days I thought it would be helpful to pass on these observations so others don't fall for them. Like I said, I came very close to clicking the link and responding because of the appearances of the mail.