Hi All

Just wanted to make sure you are sure your passwords are secure enough as just the other day sitting and got 2 requests to change Ebay password which I hadn't, with in 30 secs i had just bought a load of bitcoins. I contacted Ebay straight away and to be fair they locked my account straight away, at this point got a text from bank re possible fraud on my account so spoke to them and they are investigating the transactions also. after going back to Ebay they agree they were fraudulent straight away and issued the refund back through PayPal. I then noticed the emails regarding password change and the you have won emails all being deleted then realised it was my email that someone was in so changed password on that. I now use Ebay and PayPals 2 step authentication which if you don't know about it requires them sending a text to you after you enter your password with a pin number which you then enter to access your Ebay/PayPal account and without this you cannot buy anything, also make sure your Ebay account isn't linked to your PayPal account and also make sure your Ebay account doesn't remember your Payment details. I'm not out any thing due to the quick acting of Ebay and my bank so please just be aware and update passwords ever so often.

If you apply to a new account for anything, particularly if you don't know much about the site or seller, whatever you are registering details with NEVER use the same password as is on your email a/c.

Theoretically, if the site is legit they shouldn't be able to see your password, it should be encrypted, hence why if you ask to change a password proper respectable sites will always send a link to your email for you to do so, they can't or shouldn't have access to your password. However, if it's a dodgy site & they can see what password you've entered then, if that is the same password you use for your email (you'd be amazed how many people do this!), BOOM, they have access to your email a/c - once in there they just look at your timezone & start messing with it whilst you are happily asleep, by the time you get up in the morning they can have changed all your passwords on ebay, paypal, possibly bank a/c etc etc

I know personally of at least one person who has done exactly the above & got caught that way!

There was a thing on TV the other day - someone got hold of a woman's telephone number, worked out who the provider was, and requested a new SIM card from that provider. Her original card was de-activated as part of that process.

Once they'd got that SIM they were able to bypass the 2-stage authentication as they were the ones who got the authentication codes. By this process they managed to empty her accounts, until the woman noticed what was going on.

Sneaky...