# Is this a fake ebay email?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-fake-ebay-email/277783>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 2, 2004, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-fake-ebay-email/277783 "2004-12-02T22:27:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-fake-ebay-email/277783/21 "2004-12-04T03:42:11Z")

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Actually I got a Washington Mutual spoof asking me to click on a link and give my information. The link looked just like WaMu’s site, though the URL was some wierd set of letters and percent signs. I put in a fake user name and password, and it _didn’t accept it_.

I don’t know what would have happened if I had put in my real user name.

Either somehow it really had linked me to WaMu’s site but was watching me (is that possible) or it just automatically “rejects” all user names and passwords just to fool those of us who are smart enough to try that tactic.

-FrL-

> [@CLedet](#):
>
> FWIW I read that if you’re not sure if it’s a spoof site enter the wrong password or user name. The spoof site will take it not knowing any better.

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**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-fake-ebay-email/277783/22 "2004-12-07T16:33:04Z")

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> [@GorillaMan](#):
>
> You’re assuming that everybody has fully-patched browsers (ie IE…)

Actually, my advice was referring to email software, not Web browsers. If you’re security-conscious, you won’t be using a Microsoft product to read your email anyway, and if you’re using an email program with the option of displaying your emails using Internet Explorer, you’ll shut off that option.

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