Warning to all PayPal/Ebay users: there have been quite a few bogus emails floating around claiming to be from PayPal and Ebay that look incredibly authentic. If you get Anything from PayPal or Ebay admin talking about “your account will be deactivated” or “your email address has been changed” or any other administrative stuff, immediately forward it to: spoof@ebay.com.

Alexander McCabe’s post describes a recent bogus email, Best Ebay Spoof Yet, that he received on his blog, Flaunt it.

PayPal’s help section (using “spoof email?” as search term) says:

What should I do if I receive a fake email?
If you think you have received a fraudulent email, forward the entire email to spoof (at) paypal (dot) com and then delete it from your email account.

If you already replied to a fake email with your personal information, please Contact Us right away. You may also want to contact your financial institution to alert them of possible suspicious activity.

If you have any doubt at all about the authenticity of an email from them, forward it to spoof (at) paypal (dot) com and they’ll let you know if it was for real.

And while we are talking about protecting your identity, here’s a quick reminder to shred documents/mail that contain your personal information, especially all those unsolicited credit card offers!