The information in this tutorial applies not only to eBay and PayPal, but to all other sites with which you do business. These protection practices can be applied to your bank account, your ISP account and virtually any other online account you hold.

Here are some tips on how to protect your account and what to do if you think you may have responded to a Spoof email:

· Verify eBay emails in My Messages. If you get an email that looks like it's from eBay about a problem with your account or requests personal information and it's not in My Messages, it's a fake email. Learn more. (Note: My Messages only applies to eBay emails).

· Scan for Viruses Frequently scan your computer for viruses and make sure your virus software, operating system, and browser patches are up to date.

· Vigilance Is the Best Line of Defense. You should periodically check your account status to see if there is any suspicious activity.

· Change Your Password Frequently. If you think your account security may have been breached, change your account password immediately. Learn How to change your password.

· Make Your Password Unique. To prevent someone accessing multiple accounts, it is effective to have different passwords for each account. Also, a good password will include a combination of letters and numbers - this makes it more difficult for people to guess the password.

· Contact Your Bank and Credit Card Company If you think you entered your personal financial information into a spoof site, contact your bank and credit card company immediately.

Reporting Account Theft
If you feel your account has been compromised, please report it here - http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/isgw-account-theft-reporting.html

Reporting Spoof Emails and Web Sites
By reporting spoof emails and Web sites to eBay and PayPal, you help us protect the rest of the community by warning members and working with the ISPs to get the sites disabled. There are several easy methods to report spoof emails and Web sites.

• Forward eBay spoof emails to spoof@ebay.com and then delete it.
• Forward PayPal spoof emails to spoof@paypal.com and then delete it.
• Use the Account Guard feature of eBay Toolbar to report a suspicious Web site.

More Information
Safe Trading Tips: http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/hub.html
eBay Security Center: http://pages.ebay.com/help/new/account_protection.html
PayPal Security Center: https://www.paypal.com/securityctr