The Wrath of Ebay: Visions of Corporate Hell

For a reason which they refuse to disclose, eBay decided recently to suspend my account.

I don't know why -- maybe it's their idea of a lengthy April Fool's joke. It's definitely a catch-22 -- and one of those little things that eat your time and incite rage for no good reason. It brought to mind a numbing future of irresolvable circular aggravation -- the way corporations crush humanity without purpose. Ok, perhaps that's a bit over the top. You decide.

I have never sold anything on the site -- and only bought one or two items there, ever. They decided I had a user ID which I never created and therefore would not allow me to respond on the site because I didn't know the password to the account I never had.

My actual account was suspended because it was linked to the fake account -- or at least, this is why I presume it was, since I can't access it.

Every email to them was met with increasingly bizarre replies. At one point, they asked me to fax my credit card information [*not* my actual credit card number, they told me to black this out-- this is one of the many ways I know it was not a phishing scam], a copy of a utility bill and a copy of a photo ID to them -- which I did. They told me not to write back for at least 48 hours or this would "delay" their reply. When I wrote back long after the allotted time, they couldn't find the fax and because I didn't know the fake User ID, I couldn't send a new one.

Finally, I got a phone call. It was from a number linked to Ebay corporate headquarters-- I checked (sign number 2 that this was not phishing). This person confirmed I was who I claimed to be and said he would pass the information along to the other department. I gave him my real account info.

Then, I received this lovely email from the Orwellian "Trust and Safety" Department:

Our decision to leave your account suspended indefinitely stands. We
are unable to provide you further explanation beyond what has been
provided in our previous emails. If you no longer have a copy of this
email, or did not receive it, we recommend that you check the message
center in your "My eBay" pages. Any further appeals received may no
longer receive responses.

I tried to call the guy who had called me-- but the phone number dead-ends in a machine that tells you to email. I tried emailing -- but received the same response, this time signed by someone called "Greedo." And of course, now they have my billing information, etc. and my real account info -- so setting up a different account would likely be impossible.

Welcome to a world where you can never talk to a real human, cannot get the name of a supervisor, are barred from even talking on the phone for a crime the company won't even explain!

Have a nice day!

[Update Number two: My experience was *definitely not* phishing or a scam-- all my contacts were with the real eBay phone number and the real eBay email addresses and the real eBay fax number. I replied directly on the site at certain points-- and I went directly to ebay.com to do so.I checked all this before I replied to it because I am very aware of such scams].

[Additional update: I have been told that some of the replies I received were actually from ebay's automated "bots"-- so I didn't just feel like I was talking to evil robots, I *was* talking to evil robots! However, I have also been contacted by a kind human so I think this may finally be sorted out-- I will update when I know more]

Comments

[lecllc1157]

"At one point, they asked me to fax my credit card information ... which I did."

This is a case of buyer beware.

Report the fraudulent activity to your local Police, & file a fraud alert with Experian, asking them to notify all of the credit reporting agencies.

I just went through this when fraudulent charges passed through my Visa Check Card into my checking account. In the end, only 4 charges actually went through, but there were $205.00 in Fees that had to be refunded by my bank.

Both the bank and the Police Department are investigating the source of the breach. The bank said that it could take up to 96 days for all of the charges that they temporarily refunded, to actually clear, after I complete paperwork.

One of the charges was by something called PayPal Rapidshare.

This is a one time use account that PayPal allows to be set up. This is some kind of new service that PayPal is now offering, but there is absolutely no trackability on this kind of account, as it is not a verified account.

In my case, the hit was for Euro conversion charges.

The fortunate part was that my real PayPal account had been idle for almost 2 months when this event occurred, and this charge did not flow through my real PayPal account.

PayPal did issue a refund to my checking account.

Be proactive in your protection of your identity, and your credit rating!

[ShawnMichel]

Corporatism and fascism are closely linked.

It's time to burn both down to the ground--using any means necessary.

[racom]

HuffPost's Pick

I get these bogus e-bay and paypal 'threats to cancel' emails all the time. E-bay has a fraud e-mail address, I forward the e-mail to them and they take care of the problem. Best policy to follow, never respond to these e-mail baits, never open any e-mail attachment from an unknown sender, never divulge any confidential information unless you initiate the communication.

[JScott]

I got a similar one with my ISP supposedly they emailed me that my account had been stopped
and I had to disclose similar info. regarding 'straightening out' the account to continue service.
I complained on the ISP website with no response other than an auto reply. I didn't dislose the info. per the warning email fortunately as I could check the records of my debit card tranactions online.
So I didn't get scammed didn't lose ISP access. And learned to just delete delete delete suspicious email. But would you believe I STILL get those emails about the large fortunes of high ranking gov't officials of African countries who want to offload it if I put up a substantial deposit-I reply 'you are so stupid to think that by now no one has heard of this scam why do you continue?

[Sundialsvc4]

My friend, I agree with the consensus that you have been quite-publicly scammed. There is no bona-fide reason for anyone to ask you to send "credit-card information, account information, and a photo-ID," for the quite-simple reason that they never knew what you looked like in the first place and would have no need to know.

Communications can be intercepted. For instance, if your router has "plug 'n play" enabled (as most do), it can be remotely re-programmed to divert traffic ... that you send to a legitimate IP-address! ... somewhere else. It's the ultimate "man in the middle attack," and it works even if you attach a password to your router. So, someone could have been eavesdropping on you the entire time, even though at no point were you aware that you were not communicating directly to eBay.

I would -start- by calling the FBI. And I would do it within the next five minutes!

[zenith15]

Maia, hon, I do think you have been scammed. I really cannot see ebay asking you to send them credit card/bank info and copies of your DL. I have received similar things, allegedly from ebay, claiming my account has been suspended when I too had done nothing on ebay for over a year--I just ignored it. I have since used the account and it was just fine. I have also gotten similar email "alerts" from alleged banks, saying my account had been suspended and they were banks I did not even have an account WITH! And never had! These scammers will try anything. Ebay IS notoriously hard to get hold of, but in this case it sounds like a scam. Please keep a close watch on your bank accounts for awhile.

[cognate]

Evidently e-bay thinks your old account was compromised. Someone got unauthorized access to your password and userid. You should have let the cancellations stand and opened a new account, with your real name, address, etc and banking info.

Scammers (phishers) will frequently send email pretending to be the merchant and asking you to click onto their website and re-enter all your acct info, i.e., the credit card or bank account. That's how they steal your identity.

Maybe you should have your credit card canceled as well, and reissued. Then open a new account with e-bay.

[evalsinca]

"I have never sold anything on the site -- and only bought one or two items there, ever. They decided I had a user ID which I never created and therefore would not allow me to respond on the site because I didn't know the password to the account I never had."

So how did you actually buy things on eBay (even if occasionally)? You MUST have an account in order to purchase anything on eBay.
And if you don't remember your used id or password, their sign-in page helps you recover them.
So am confused as to the problem you actually had.
Nevertheless, your larger point is still appropriate: That large corporations do their best to eliminate all human contact, and even then, to train them in robotic responses which are more calculated to shed heat than light.
Good luck!

[dexxjones]

hire a lawyer and go at them. i am having a similar problem with citibank.

[pirea]

Two times I wanted to buy a laptop from ebay and I did not received the item after I payed. The first time I was lucky I recovered my payment, but the second time I could not recover $2000. The item was insured up to $2000 dolars through Paypal but they did not want to pay the insurance (all the procedures were in term and correct). After a long fight with paypal and ebay, I gave up and I took the loss, but I went on ebay forum and I started to tell my story. After a while I was banned from the forum by their moderation team.
I did not use a bad vocabulary, I just related the story, but they do not want to spread the bad news about their business. I told them that they have a Middle Age Model of business and to move their company in Somalia or China where is more suitable to their policy

[chouwalker]

You faxed your credit card information, billing information and a copy of a photo ID to them??? I would not have done that!

Are you sure you're not the victim of a phishing scam? How did you access the ebay website? Did you type "ebay.com" into your browswer address bar (good idea), or click a link in the e-mail notifying you of the account problem (really, really bad idea)?

If you e-mail me your bank account information and social security number, I can check and make sure you're not an a victim of identity theft (just kidding).

Just create a new ebay user ID if you want to use ebay. If you've only done a few transactions with the old userid then there's no loss in starting over.

Good luck!

[BillZBubb]

This smells fishy to me. Have you been scammed? Are you absolutely certain you were dealing with EBay? I've had my problems with them, but always got them resolved. Please tell me you didn't send your vital information to someone without being positive it was really EBay.

Check your credit card activity NOW!

[CitizenE]

All of this might have been a spoof designed by someone to access your financial info. It happens.

[Maia Szalavitz - Huffpost Blogger]

Nope, it was the real ebay: their real customer service number, their real emails...

[StephenSmoliar]

I have to agree with chouwalker. Phishers are getting better and better at "looking real." Also, I am pretty sure that eBay has a privacy statement (like Amazon), which makes it clear that they do not request sensitive personal information, particularly when it is sent through a common carrier medium, such as fax or electronic mail.

I got something like this once with regard to my Amazon account. I did not touch any of the links in it. Instead, I went to the Amazon Web site. The FAQ at the Customer Service site told me all about how I was being phished and whom I should notify about it.

Yes, I, too, was frustrated about not being able to hold a personal conversation with anyone in this matter; but how would I know to trust the voice at the other end?

[JoDeeVa]

It's surprising how "real" scammers and phishers can appear to be. The e-mail, signed with "Greedo" seems to me to be a bit too snarky, kind of a "wink of the eye" joke or just plain old "in your face" fraud. You should keep an eye on your financial accounts, etc. and try to open a new ebay account and see what happens. Good luck, Maia!