Ebay ID Data Mining - This is Getting Scary

Coinosaurus

I made a large purchase on ebay yesterday, a proof gold coin.

Some third party managed to connect this to my work phone number and called me up this morning.

I didn't stay on the line long enough to find out if they were fishing for personal info or trying to sell me something else. The caller had a foreign accent, I suspect the former case.

Either way scary.

My ebay ID will change asap. Screw the feedback rating, I'm ready to start over.

Ahrensdad

Um, wow. That is scary. Does anyone know more about this? Have you contacted EBay?

guitarwes

You think this was just a coincidence or is your work phone dedicated to your ebay account?

MsMorrisine

describe phone call

steveben

there's hardly anonymity anymore. one thing that helps is to choose user names that bring up lots of stuff on searches that have nothing to do with you. that way, it's hard to find what's you and what's not.

two big holes i can think of when it comes to coins and security are ebay and photos. lots of cameras embed the location where the photo was taken. when you sell on ebay, you give away your address. scary stuff

19Lyds

<< <i>I made a large purchase on ebay yesterday, a proof gold coin.

Some third party managed to connect this to my work phone number and called me up this morning.

I didn't stay on the line long enough to find out if they were fishing for personal info or trying to sell me something else. The caller had a foreign accent, I suspect the former case.

Either way scary.

My ebay ID will change asap. Screw the feedback rating, I'm ready to start over. >>

Changing your eBay name will not affect your feedback. Everything stays the same except for your ebay name.

SeattleSlammer

It's the price of living and doing business in the 21st century. Changing your id won't solve your concern.

georgiacop50

How do you know it was ebay?

Maybe the seller provided your contact info to a Telemarketer?

TwoSides2aCoin

When I do not want to hear them on the phone, it's simple enough to say "good bye" in English. If they don't understand, they definitely know what a dial tone sounds like. That's the next thing they hear.

eBay is not the culprit.

Coinosaurus

I meant creating an entirely new ebay identity, new email address and everything. Start from zero with no feedback. Not make changes to current profile, but start all over w/new account.

All I heard on the call was a foreign accent and enough details that they knew what I bought yesterday. That was the end of the call.

TwoSides2aCoin

Yikes, in that case, I'd feel targeted, too.

JamesMurray

I was getting those kinds of calls , it was driving us bananas as the lady friend has her own mind and would hang up on them whereas curiosity got me to call Ebay security center and i spoke to a very nice young lady who guarenteed me that Ebay would never cold call , if they call there will be a message in your ebay messages to confirm its really them doing the calling.If theres no message in your folder , its not ebay calling , thats what i was assured and she seemed to know what she was talking about and told me it happens a lot and they are aware of it.

notwilight

<< <i>I meant creating an entirely new ebay identity, new email address and everything. Start from zero with no feedback. Not make changes to current profile, but start all over w/new account. All I heard on the call was a foreign accent and enough details that they knew what I bought yesterday. That was the end of the call. >>



How do you know they weren't associated with the seller? The seller has your info and they may have shared it. Nothing to do with ebay. --jerry

OPA

Your thread does not compute......Is your work phone # part of the phone numbers that you supplied to eBay? If not, call the number back & find out who's calling. ( I trust your POE phone's have caller ID )

SkyMan

In the USA there are plenty of people that have foreign accents.

bestclser1

<< <i>In the USA there are plenty of people that have foreign accents. >>

True story.

streeter

Or...
the stalker could have just looked at seller feedback left or given for that auction and found you.

I have wondered when I get whopped on a purchase...I want to know who is in the market...so I look at the original sellers most recent feedback given to find the name of whomever outbid me. I was outbid probably 10-20 times many years ago and I wanted to know. Found the buyer, looked at how much he was flipping for on his website and wised up to what it would take to outbid him.

It's just amateur data mining at best and might even happen again when you outbid a curious person. Let it pass.

Coinosaurus

<< <i>In the USA there are plenty of people that have foreign accents. >>



Most of the coin dealers in the US in this market range are old white guys without accents. The caller was female and had an accent.

Is it possible the caller was the seller? Yes. Tell you what, give me some odds, and I'll do more research on the subject

oreville

I am now getting 4 calls daily asking me to sign my business electrical account to their company.

How did they find out my address and phone number?

Ebay was not involved here.

streeter

<< <i>I am now getting 4 calls daily asking me to sign my business electrical account to their company.

How did they find out my address and phone number?

Ebay was not involved here. >>



Someone has found your name and phone # and sold your info. Might be you made an inquiry? Probably you did make an inquiry of someone somewhere and now you are fair game. Ever donate $100 to charity? Your name and amount of your donation gets sold to whomever will buy it.

Probably boiler room sales tactics. One person fails and they hand your name to the next cubicle dweller who 'represents a different company'.

When you are shopping for a 'checkout system and credit card processing company' for your website...they do this. A lot of companies just pay sales organizations to generate business.