Some of the phishing methods can get pretty sophisticated. Koby, a middle school instructor, recently fell victim to such a scheme. Koby was using eBay to sell one of his vehicles, and he found a suitable buyer within several days. The buyer paid for the vehicle, and Koby removed its listing from eBay.
He was somewhat puzzled when he logged into his eBay account and was informed he had "one item for sale". He looked at the page, and sure enough, there was the vehicle - the same one he’d just sold - for sale. Then he noticed something wrong - very wrong. The email address that was listed for his contact information was not his. It was very similar, so much so that most people would not ever notice or suspect, but Koby did, and he knew something was just not right.
He emailed the "seller", and offered to buy the vehicle, and made arrangements to send the money to the seller. As it turned out, the "seller" was located in Chicago. Koby gave the FBI the information, and they tracked down the fraudsters. How did the fraudsters gain access to Koby’s account in the first place? A phishing email stating his account had been compromised asked him to click on a URL to go to his eBay account. He clicked, was taken to a page that looked identical to his eBay login page, and typed in his account information. The criminals used that information to log into his legitimate account and change the contact phone number.
He was somewhat puzzled when he logged into his eBay account and was informed he had "one item for sale". He looked at the page, and sure enough, there was the vehicle - the same one he’d just sold - for sale. Then he noticed something wrong - very wrong. The email address that was listed for his contact information was not his. It was very similar, so much so that most people would not ever notice or suspect, but Koby did, and he knew something was just not right.
He emailed the "seller", and offered to buy the vehicle, and made arrangements to send the money to the seller. As it turned out, the "seller" was located in Chicago. Koby gave the FBI the information, and they tracked down the fraudsters. How did the fraudsters gain access to Koby’s account in the first place? A phishing email stating his account had been compromised asked him to click on a URL to go to his eBay account. He clicked, was taken to a page that looked identical to his eBay login page, and typed in his account information. The criminals used that information to log into his legitimate account and change the contact phone number.
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