Ebay identity Stolen No Response

[finally]

Hi

 

Am new so hi to all. On Sunday 22 October I logged on to my computer to find 78 invoices from Ebay, someone had stolen my Ebay account and ordered over £9000 worth of products. I was really distressed and rang the police who told me Ebay had to contact them. I emailed Ebay and got no reply.

 

As I began investigating what was happening I discovered that they also had access to my email account and were sending emails from my screen name to the seller. I emailed Ebay again and received no reply. I then began to email the sellers telling them what had happened. I received emails telling me the goods would be shipped to: the name and address were there. The sellers had received an email from Paypal telling them they had been paid. I was by now frantically emailing Ebay and contacted each seller seperately to tell them not to send the goods.

 

I took two days off from work and emailed each seller telling them to not send the goods, the Paypal email was false and to report the matter to Ebay and the police. Some people could not believe it and were actually emailing me back telling me they had been paid. Some were sympathetic but could not believe Ebay were not doing anything about it. Some had left really nasty feedback so underneath the feedback I explained what had happened and advised everyone not to send the goods.

 

On 25 October after three days of emailing Ebay and receiving no reply my account was suspended and I have still not had a reply to any of my emails. Had I not gone to the extreme lengths I did a lot of sellers would have lost a lot of money. I have done everything possible to help all 78 sellers and protect them from losing money.

 

I had to do what Ebay should have done to protect the sellers they have done nothing and have not even bothered to reply to me. This shows the site is practically operating on its own as Ebay are not intervening when something goes wrong.

 

I am still suspended from Ebay the crook got away with it when I had a name and address and Ebay have still not replied to me. I was really stressed and some of the nasty emails I go from sellers was unbelievable when I was helping them.

 

Is there anyone else I can report them to. Thanks please help.

[poppynurse]

I've just had a similar experience and found ebay really helpful - I went to their help page and typed account theft and followed the instructions - they responded within 24hrs, removed all the listings and credited the listings fees - perhaps I was just lucky?

[finally]

Hi Popynurse I have done exactly what you ahve done and no response

[buzby]

How are you 'Emailing' eBay? They close an account virtually instantly - providing of course you can log into your account and go to the Security Centre to advise of a problem. Select the appropriate drop down boxes and bingo.

 

As to how you managed to get your account hacked - did you ever fill in an email request either for your 'reconfirmation' of details, or to become a Powerseller?

[finally]

Hi Buzby

 

I emailed them through their help pages in their Security centre. It took 3 days for them to close my account and they have still done nothing.

 

I don't know how I got hacked I always ignore emails from them that has a link.

 

Do you know of anyone higher I can report them to. Someone suggested Watchdog as I have kept all the emails and screendumps etc.

[buzby]

Well, in this big world corporate ineptitude isn't a crime - and as it's their ball (and playpark) they can do what they want. As for 'reporting' them - as you were not directly affected by any loss (make sure your eBay account has the selling charges credited!), the issue will be viewed in the same way as Chip & PIN - if someone accesses your account, it must have been your fault as you disclosed it, therefore they could - if push came to shove - say that they may have been tardy in closing the account, you should have been more careful with your ID! (I'm not saying you were, but it's always an argument they can use against you.).

 

The best thing is create a new and more complex password, and try not to forget it yourself!

[finally]

True thanks for that Buzby was just so angry I guess but your right its their ball and playpark. I'll just have to get over it.

[Movingon]

Hold on a second... if EBay are continuing to allow access to this account by the thief; or they are continuing to deny access to the legitimate account owner, are they not "processing personal data" in a way which contravenes the Data Protection Act? Does anyone have any thoughts on this angle? They have a legal duty to process personal data accurately, lawfully and something else I can't remember (help me out here guys). It appears to me they are failing on some of these duties....

[buzby]

I'd be interested in this too - did the [EDIT] change passwords to block the OP from accessing his account (as a good warning something was up) or was it kept unchanged in an effort to keep the usefulness of the account going for a longer period? As for eBay's culpability I think it would be hard to make that stick, as they could successfully argue that the access to the account was in itself fraudulent, and they acted when it was 'brought to their attendtion' (however slow that was!).

[finally]

The password was left unchanged until I changed it as soon as I realised what was going on. The thing is it was a Saturday night when I logged on and realised what was going on, now I normally only log on during the week and if i hadn't have done all of these people would have sent the goods and been out of pocket. Seems to me Ebay didn't act for so long they did nothing to protect me or the sellers. I thought they would have a duty of care or something. Just don't seem right :-|

[buzby]

But just winning an auction doesn;t mean the goods are shipped - they have to be paid for! Was your Paypal account compromised too? Also, was your account being used to buy, or sell? It's usually this latter variant that causes big problems. Someone buying from your account - even if using fake CC details won't have too much of an impact on you.

[finally]

He was buying from my account (mostly mobile phones) and sending them a fake paypal email telling them the money was in the account. Like I said he was giving a name and address of where to send the goods. I was getting emails from people saying but you've paid me through Paypal why do you now not want me to send the goods.

[buzby]

Oh dear.... you would think anyone would check their PayPal statement to make sure the funds actually existed in their account!