I’ve been seeing an increasing trend in a phishing technique used to trick you into giving your eBay login account information.

The email comes disguised as a “Question from eBay Member”. eBay allows bidders and sellers to communicate somewhat anonymously by offering this tool for legitimate use. The spoofers are creating a lookalike email to the ones created using the legitimate mail. Often they say something like “I’m still waiting the package to arrive What happened? Please mail me ASAP or I will report you to ebay.” or simply “What happened with that item?. Please respond I’m desperate!”

Basically, they are just trying to get you to use the “Respond Now” button in their email which takes you to what looks like an ebay login page but is a forgery of ebay on the senders own server (in a country like Taiwan). Instead of logging you into ebay, they are just collecting your ebay user account and password if you type them in on this forged page.

The phishers send this to any email address they have in their spam database, they are not necessarily the address someone has used for ebay (that makes it easy to spot). They may send it to people who never use eBay. The point is, if they spread a wide enough net, they will get it sent to someone who DOES sell on eBay and who would WANT to respond to someone who is threatening to report them as a ‘bad seller’.

Always check the true domain name of any links or buttons in an email message (if you hold your cursor over a link in Outlook, it will often pop up the URL destination.) Or better yet– create and use your own bookmarks for online services you use– whether its eBay, Paypal, your credit card company, etc. Then if you receive a message that appears to be from a company you have dealings with, just don’t use the link in the email. Go out to your browser and use your OWN bookmark to access the login page, etc. Any notices or messages that were legitimately sent to you by the company should be available within your account.

Well today is the day I select two winners (randomly) from the list of clients that have either written testimonials or referred other people to me for services in the last year.

Both Winners will receive a month-long Google Adwords campaign for free! This is over a $300 value which includes both a substantial ad budget and my time and expertise to set up a specialized ad campaign to reach the winners’ targeted markets.

And the winners are:

Thanks to all our YNot Web clients for making the last year a success!

Fair Oaks, CA.  February 2, 2006 — YNot Web held its annual Customer Appreciation Raffle today.  Two month-long Google Adwords campaigns were the prizes.  Raffle contestants consisted of past YNot Web web design or maintenance clients.

Clients were automatically entered into the random drawing if they sent a new referral or prospect who contacted YNot Web or they provided a written testimonial within the past year.  There were nearly 30 entrants into the contest, which YNot Web holds annually to show appreciation to its past clients for their continued support and patronage.

This year’s prize of a Google Adwords campaign for each of two winners is valued at over $300.  YNot Web researches target markets, keywords, and client services to set up an effective traffic stream to the winning clients web site.  YNot Web also funds the month-long pay per click advertising campaign, with no costs going to the client.

The winners of the 2006 YNot Web Customer Appreciation Raffle are Dan Root of Technify in Rancho Cordova, CA and Wendy Schwingel of Propel Resources in Phoenix, AZ.  Kammy Burleson of YNot Web sent personal congratulation letters to the winning clients and posted the winners on the YNot Web website.

About YNot Web:
YNot Web is a Fair Oaks, CA based web design and development firm that provides SEO and SEM services, such as Google Adwords PPC campaign implementation and management.

For more information, contact:

Kammy Burleson, owner
YNot Web
916-225-5266
http://www.ynotweb.com

Well, I met the minimum spend requirement to take the Google Adwords Professional exam so I decided to get ready to take it as soon as I can fit it in my schedule.   I feel pretty confident in my knowledge of the actual workings of Adwords, but I will need to study some special case scenarios that I wouldn’t normally come across (like what the payment terms are if you’re in another country) and need to review some Google policies and such. 

My biggest challenge is finding time in between my client projects to have a clear head, no interuptions, etc.