There is one simple way to avoid becoming a victim of fraudulent email; that is to simply not respond to any email that appears to be less than legitimate. Some are more obvious than others, and in some cases, just opening up an email could cause exposure to viruses or worms. One good safety precaution is to view the source of the email before opening it. Position your cursor over the email subject in your inbox, and right click. Select “View Message Source” from the drop-down menu. A new window should open up showing the source code for the email. Check the “sent” by address. If it is legitimately from PayPal, or eBay, this actual path will indicate this.
If you are reading a suspicious email and are asked to click on a link, you can actually check the validity of the link by checking the properties. Position your cursor over the link and right click. Find the menu item “Properties,” and select. A separate window will open and the actual address to which the link is directing will be displayed. If it is legit, go for it. If not, close the email and delete it.
Taking Action
Most legitimate businesses want to know when fraudulent emails are being circulated using their name. If you receive such an email, notify the business through their site. Sometimes they will ask for the header information, and you can provide that by viewing the message source as described in the previous section.
If you think you have been a victim of such a scam, you do have recourse. The first thing you need to do is to go to the site and change your password. If someone is trying to access your account, they will be using your old password, and will not be able to get in. Then, check your account to make sure that no suspicious activity has taken place. If this is an eBay scam, once you have changed your password, check your seller’s page to make sure nothing is listed that is not yours. If something does show up that you aren’t aware of, kill the listing and contact eBay customer support immediately. Normally, they will credit back the listing fees in cases like these.