ibeachalot's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LONG entry about my weekend from HELL! I hope I can get through this entry. It's been a grueling couple of days, both in the events that have occured and the way I feel physically. Between them both... I'm spent. First, the ebay situation. Here are the details: Saturday morning, I checked my e-mail. There were two, one from ebay and one from Paypal. The one from ebay said they had received my request for a change of e-mail address and that all my correspondence from ebay or business related to ebay would now go to my "new" address. Trouble is.. I hadn't put in for such a request. In the e-mail, they mentioned that the request had come from the following IP host: _ _ _ ._ _ ._ _ or whatever the hell it was. It was not my IP host. The next e-mail was from Paypal. It said that they were unable to place Paypal logos on my current auctions, because the password given didn't match the one they had on file for me. See... Paypal automatically inserts logos into all my auctions alerting my buyers that I accept Paypal. Trouble is... I don't have any auctions running currently. Both of these events lead me to believe that someone has tried to obtain my ebay user ID. I went to my auctions page, the page that lists all the auctions I have running. There were two. Both were for large lots of Nokia phones, fifteen phones in each lots. It was listed in European currency for $1,500 which equates to about $1,650 in US dollars. I thought... I'll just cancel these auctions! That'll teach this asshole. Trouble is... he changed my password. I couldn't log in to ebay anywhere to do anything. When I clicked on the "revise item" link within the auction listing, it took me to a log~in page in Swedish!! On the auction, it said this thief is from California, which makes me wonder if this is more than just a coincidence. I contacted ebay and expressed my concerns. Then, I immediately contacted my bank and told them what was happening. I also called my local sheriff's department and filed a report. The deputy taking my statement was as dumb as a brick in the ways of the computer. He didn't know an e-mail address from an IP address. If anything gets resolved on that aspect of this case, it'll be a miracle. I spent the entire morning between the computer, the phone and the bank. We had to go and close our bank account. Being a seller on ebay, I have to list my banking information, account numbers and debit card number. I had to close or cancel everything and reopen a new account. I can't tell you what a pain in the ass this all is. I had so many things that were debited directly out of that account every month and now I have to change it all. We're leaving Saturday morning to go out of state and now I get to go without a debit card, since our new ones won't arrive for seven working days. I guess this means I'll be taking along way more cash than I would like to take. Gee... should I be advertising that? WRITER WILL BE CARRYING AN ASSPOT FULL OF CASH!!!! CASH MONEY!! READY TO BE STOLEN!! FREE MONEY!! At this point, why the hell not advertise. This is all my fault. I can't be entirely sure, but I think this all occured when I filled out a survey supposedly sent by ebay. Someone I knew on the Flea Market board had this very same thing happen and she warned everyone. She said if an e-mail claiming to be from ebay comes to you, don't give sensitive information. So what do I do? I fill out a "survey" that asked me for me password in order to enter! Am I fucking insane? I am guessing this is how this theif obtained my password, although I can't be sure. If you do ebay business and you ever receive anything from them asking for any info at all, DON'T reply, but also DON'T DELETE IT!! Forward it to ebay's customer service e-mail address so they can investigate and prevent this from happening to others! This all may sound petty to some, but I can't tell you how upsetting it was to me. Not to mention having to hear Kevin piss and moan all day about what "could have happened". (HINT: a recent financial occurance in our lives.) Later in the day, I received an e-mail from ebay telling me the matter was resolved. They cancelled the fraudulent auctions, credited my debit card the listing fees and changed my e-mail address back to the one I use. Ahhhhh..... sigh of relief, you ask? I say neigh neigh. It isn't over yet. I won an auction this morning and haven't received any notice concerning it. I had written to the seller prior to the auction closing and explained what had been happening. I didn't hear from her. The auction closed this morning at 11:30am and I still haven't heard anything from her regarding payment arrangements. I never got a notice from ebay about the auction closing either. I suspect all correspondence continues to be sent to the thief's e-mail address. I went to the auction listing and tried to use the checkout feature to pay for the item. I logged in using my e-mail address. I was told my e-mail address didn't match the one ebay has on file for me. For shits and giggles, I entered the thief's e-mail address... It went right through. Son of a bitch!!! So much for "resolved"! I tried to go through Paypal directly. It took alot of time and trouble, but I finally got through and was able to get to the "send payment" option. I get all the info filled out and was ready to send. Trouble is... this seller is unable to receive Paypal payments!! UUUUGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sure this new problem is unrelated to the identity theft, but it's just another in a long line of things to piss me fucking off. Despite my knowledge that it was a childish and immature thing to do, I wrote to the thief who wants to be me. I informed him that I hope he had a fun ride trying to ruin my good name, but that ebay, law enforcement officials and I are all hot on his trail. I'd like a crack at this guy myself. I'd tear him limb from limb for all the shit he put me through this weekend and heaven knows how long to come. I had more I wanted to talk about but this is getting long and I am lightheaded, dizzy and atrophy is setting in. If I live, I'll write more tomorrow. Linda, the real stlmcgwirefan on ebay and don't you forget it! 10:10 p.m. - 2003-03-30 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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