jggimi
27th May 2003, 20:56
Recieved a fascinating little e-mail today. Was from "aw-confirm@ebay.com" requesting, "for security reasons," my eBay userid and password.
Looking through the e-mail headers, I noted that the source was actually by "USER5" at an IP address. The IP address is managed by RIPE in the Netherlands, and it pointed to an internet cafe in Greece.
If I'd have been ignorant, and actually responded by filling out the html form, I'd have sent my userid/password info to a server who's DNS is registered by MelbourneIT in Australia, but is physically located on a server managed by Yahoo in California, and "owned" by someone in Menominee Falls, Wisconsin.
I have a feeling that there's less than a 50% chance that the source of the fraud was the website "owner" in Wisconsin. I passed the info on to eBay, in the hopes that they will investigate.
My guess is that I'm only one of hundreds of thousands, even millions, who've received the e-mail.... and that somewhere, now, there is a file containing a very large list of gullible eBay users, and their passwords.
Looking through the e-mail headers, I noted that the source was actually by "USER5" at an IP address. The IP address is managed by RIPE in the Netherlands, and it pointed to an internet cafe in Greece.
If I'd have been ignorant, and actually responded by filling out the html form, I'd have sent my userid/password info to a server who's DNS is registered by MelbourneIT in Australia, but is physically located on a server managed by Yahoo in California, and "owned" by someone in Menominee Falls, Wisconsin.
I have a feeling that there's less than a 50% chance that the source of the fraud was the website "owner" in Wisconsin. I passed the info on to eBay, in the hopes that they will investigate.
My guess is that I'm only one of hundreds of thousands, even millions, who've received the e-mail.... and that somewhere, now, there is a file containing a very large list of gullible eBay users, and their passwords.