# Warning: phishers harvesting email addresses from TUG



## isisdave (Feb 15, 2006)

Last week I posted a for-rent classified on TUG, using a newly-created email address. It's the only place this particular address has been posted.

Today I received a phishing e-mail addressed to that address. It _says _ it's a question from an eBay member, but the text suggests that it's actually from eBay itself, seeking confirmation that I and a seller mutually cancelled a sale.  Of course, I never heard of the item or seller, so I'm supposed to click on "Respond Now" which takes me to a very good replica of the eBay logon screen, which solicits my username and password.  Only the URL is proxy.tmettec.com

Don't bite on this one.


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## Keitht (Feb 16, 2006)

I received a similar e-mail yesterday claiming to come from Ebay.  It informed me that a purchaser had been unable to send payment to my Paypal account and asked me to confirm the details.
This seemed a little odd to me as I have purchased a number of items off Ebay but never sold anything.
On the general subject of phishing, I have had a similar experience to that described by the OP.  I set up an e-mail address specifically for the reviews that I manage.  Within about 48 hours I was receiving spam on that address.  I'n not blaming TUG for that, but it does show how efficient the phishing engines are.


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## Cotswolder (Feb 16, 2006)

I have had two of these e-mails suposedly from EBay stating that someone is online and can pay straight away for something I have on offer.

Only thing is, I don't sell anything on EBay. Obviously trying to get a resonse for PayPal details


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Feb 16, 2006)

I typically receive 5 to 10 of these per day on my Yahoo account.  Yahoo very efficiently routs most them to my buld mail folder.  Those that Yahoo doesn't catch get routed to my Trash folder by the additional filtering rules I've set up.


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## BocaBum99 (Feb 16, 2006)

I wonder if TUG changed the rule so that you could only look at ads if you were a TUG member if that would change things.

I won't be posting any more ads onto TUG since when I did, all I get is continuing SPAM from European Lottery Scams and Nigerian money lauderers looking to scam me.  If I knew that was going to happen, I would have donated my timeshare week to the first one who posted.  I would pay that much to stop the spam.


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## CaliDave (Feb 16, 2006)

Same thing happened to me right after I put up a Tug ad. That is why we need to go to a contact system more like Redweek or My resort network, but Bill appears to have no interest in doing that.


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## Keitht (Feb 16, 2006)

BocaBum99 said:
			
		

> I wonder if TUG changed the rule so that you could only look at ads if you were a TUG member if that would change things.



As I have never posted an ad on TUG they are obviously not just targetting that area.  The address for me is the one used only for receipt of reviews and associated e-mail.


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## isisdave (Feb 17, 2006)

*More good news*

It keeps getting better.  A gent with a Yahoo UK address (but who can barely write English and seems to have an ISP in the Czech Republic) wants to buy the property I have "for sale".

After my last TUG ad, I apparently got on a list of "people who own timeshares, and might like to sell them, buy more, rent a few, or otherwise dabble in property, including list real estate and (I'm not kidding here) need to clean carpets."

What's odd is how they come in waves.  Some Monday mornings, there'll be six of them, sometimes duplicates.  This fades over the next couple of weeks, and then there's a new surge as the newest bunch of sucker lists go out.

I still think this could easily be controlled if ISP's would charge one penny for an outgoing email, and send the money to charity.  Or to that nice lady in Nigeria.


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## JudyS (Feb 17, 2006)

I am getting several phishing emails each day, alleging to be from Paypal or eBay.  These phishing emails are being sent to an address that I've used only here on TUG, for posting ads. 

I agree that we need some sort of contact system, rather than putting our emails out in the open.


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