Who am I ? (or, an on-line identity theft)

I've spent the better part of the day trying to find out how my eBay ID was stolen, and to change it back. After a very late, and then sleepless, night, I continued my quest to restore my good eBay name. After all... I'd had the name for seven years, with a perfect eBay rating. Of course the concern was also wondering what else might have been taken.

I did manage to convince the eBay chat person that I was indeed the owner of the account, and the ID name was changed back to me, and a new password sent my way. I had to go back in and change the name of the owner of the account, and I see that the thief won two auctions for playstation equipment in Great Britain. I still have to try to deal with not paying for those auctions and retain my good rating.

FORTUNATELY, while eBay accounts are invariably linked to PayPal, I kept different email addresses and passwords for my eBay and PayPal accounts. Otherwise, I am certain that my PayPal account would have been used to pay for the $600 worth of merchandise.

Now, while you might think that tracking the thief is easy because there was a name and address listed as the account owner, I hesitate to think that it is an actual person and/or the actual thief. Further research on my part finds that the request to change the information came from an IP address located in Beirut!

It's been a real pain in the ass to go through and change as many passwords as I can think of changing, and to change them to something completely new and different than I have ever used. Again, I am keeping eBay and PayPal separate.

Moral of this blog... change your passwords! Regularly.