In my inbox today:
Hello: We are offering an email database which allows to contact eBay members (both sellers and shoppers). These are individuals that buy and sell items on the eBay auction. Please notice that 90% of eBay customers are also customers of PayPal. This database will be perfect for selling your products/services, because we are providing you unique prospects who purchase and sell more than anybody else! The data contains 408,000 records, which include personal email addresses only. The records cover ALL categories listed on eBay The database will be delivered to you in any format of your choice (Excel, ASCII, CSV, etc.).By default it is provided in a 4.4MB TXT file. The data was collected in the period of last 2 months and will be updated quarterly. The price we are asking is $360. To place the order please fill out the form: http://www.???????.com/ebay_info.php To contact me please email to info@??????.com (THIS EMAIL ONLY! DO NOT 'REPLY'). Please notice that we also maintain a list of eGold sellers. Best, Alex
I blocked out the addresses as I don't feel the need to give them any free publicity.
At first one might think that this is just a scam itself (that the email addresses aren't really from ebay users, but just a generic list of email addresses). However, given that I've recieved a substantial number of scam/phish emails directed at my ebay-only email address, I would have to say that someone out there has gotten my ebay address onto one of those lists.
The note about many of them also likely being paypal users is again a clear invitation to phishers ("hey, if you want to phish paypal -- where the money is -- here's a good list to start with...").
There's just something wrong about them being able to sell lists like this... But I don't think it's illegal... Although, it is likely a violation of eBay terms of service.
Tags : identity / identity theft / phishing / ebay / paypal
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