Thanks to Darren Bolton for this email
Imagine Melissa Perenson's surprise when a Good Samaritan suggested by e-mail last week that she withdraw her recent eBay bid for a notebook because the seller appeared fraudulent. She hadn't placed a bid on the site since before Christmas.
Turns out somebody commandeered her eBay identity and went on to win two separate bids for $1400 notebooks from a seller claiming to be in Romania. No money or products changed hands (it turns out the seller's contact information was hijacked, too.) But the situation rattled the tech-savvy PC World associate editor.
"A week later, I'm still a little unnerved. When it happens to you, you wonder what else did they get?" she says. "What allowed this to happen, and what else is in jeopardy?"
The company is currently investigating a handful of such incidents, he says. Ebay was unable to accommodate PCWorld.com's request to speak with other victims.
It's difficult to understand how Perenson's eBay ID was used. Little was gained by a con artist participating as a buyer in that particular fraudulent auction, Pursglove says.
News source: PCWorld
