My ID was stolen

I never dreamed that it would happen to me. I spoke with my attorney general yesterday, and he said that it happens to thousands of people a day; I'm talking about identity theft.

The other day I received an email from an upset Ebay seller claiming that I owed them money, and they were going to see that my account was suspended. The email LOOKED legit; it had the Ebay logo all over it.

I knew that I didn't owe anybody money, so, like a dummy, I entered my Ebay password and user name and responded. Something didn't feel right, so after I sent the reply, I went back to the message for another look. There in the "To" field was several other email addresses. I had let my emotions get the better of me initially, and had never noticed the flaw.

I contacted EBAY right away. They investigated and said that the email was a hoax, and to run a spyware scan on my computer right away. I felt better when the scan came up clean.

Later that night I opened my email and was horrified to see that several (14) cell phone cameras had been placed on my EBAY account for sale. They ranged from the starting bid of $100 to a whopping $300. The thief had set the auctions up to end within 24 hours; I guess he thought I wouldn't catch it until it was too late.

After being online with EBAY live help for an hour, they confirmed that my ID had been stolen, and they ended the auctions and credited my account for the funds taken from it. I had to change my password on everything.

I feel so violated and enraged. My attorney general advised there's really nothing I can do; most of these scams originate overseas. I'm not going to say what I would like to do if I caught them; my punishment would have made Al Capone beg for mercy. That's not a nice way to think, but I'm still angry. What angers me even more is that I'm not the only victim. If that creep's scam would have gone through and all the phones sold, innocent bidders would have sent their money and gotten nothing in return.

What does put a smile on my face in knowing the turd who did this can't access the account and knows they've been busted.

I changed all my passwords on all my accounts and updated my anti-spyware and virus detecting systems after all this happened.

Moral of the story: Don't click on anything in a suspicious email. I don't want this to happen to all of you.