Is This Ebay Sweepstakes Gift Card Prize Notification Real or Is It a Scam ?

[flipper2flipper]

Last week, I got an e-mail today from:

eBay <noreply@prizelogic.com>

E-Mail Title: Congratulations! Here's your eBay Gift Card. 

Telling me that I won a $50 eBay Gift Card in the eBay Clean for Green Sweepstakes.

I remember entering a few eBay contests, but I do not remember the names of them.

I have to click on a link in order to get the redemption code ..... the link to get the redemption code is to:

ht.......tps://www........vcdelivery.com/certificate___________and then another 100 or so characters after that.

Every other link in the message ..... including all of the links to different departments at eBay ..... goes to:

ht__tps://plm2e.com_______and then another 100 or so characters after that.

tyler@ebay

brian.t@ebay

trinton@ebay

Can any of you tell me if that is a legitimate e-mail ?

I forwarded the message to spoof@ebay ...... 5 times ! ...... but I have not received a reply.

I also forwarded the message to Prizelogic who, on their web site, shows some eBay sweepstakes ..... but no reply from them either.

I would think that if I really won a prize in an eBay Sweepstakes that I entered ..... that eBay would send me the message through the eBay Message System ...... and I would think that the redemption code would be in that same message from eBay.

If Prizelogic administered the Clean for Green Sweepstakes ..... then why is the link for the redemption code NOT going to the Prizelogic web site ..... instead of the link going to vcdelivery web site ?

And why are all of the links to eBay going to that plm2e web site ?

I could really use the $50 .... but all of those links are WAY to suspicious for me to click on them.

[emerald40]

Did it get posted to ebay email or was it through your personal email.

I never trust or even open the latter.

[flipper2flipper]

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@emerald40 wrote:

Did it get posted to ebay email or was it through your personal email.

I never trust or even open the latter.

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It only went to my personal e-mail

[emerald40]

As someone who has been hacked 5 times on ebay, I now go by - if it is not on ebay email, then it is immediately deleted.

[ohnojoey]

I think putting the name "ebay" in front of an email address not from ebay is indicative of a fraud.

"The easiest way to identify whether an email is really from us is to check your eBay Messages. If we sent the message, a copy of it will appear there, too."

https://www.ebay.com/help/account/protecting-account/recognising-spoof-emails?id=4195

[flipper2flipper]

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@ohnojoey wrote:

I think putting the name "ebay" in front of an email address not from ebay is indicative of a fraud.

"The easiest way to identify whether an email is really from us is to check your eBay Messages. If we sent the message, a copy of it will appear there, too."

https://www.ebay.com/help/account/protecting-account/recognising-spoof-emails?id=4195

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Well, I followed the instructions on that page .... and I forwarded the message to spoof@ebay.com ....... 5 times ! .... and have still not received either a reply or an acknowledgement that they received the message.

[missjen831]

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@flipper2flipper wrote:

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@ohnojoey wrote:

I think putting the name "ebay" in front of an email address not from ebay is indicative of a fraud.

"The easiest way to identify whether an email is really from us is to check your eBay Messages. If we sent the message, a copy of it will appear there, too."

https://www.ebay.com/help/account/protecting-account/recognising-spoof-emails?id=4195

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Well, I followed the instructions on that page .... and I forwarded the message to spoof@ebay.com ....... 5 times ! .... and have still not received either a reply or an acknowledgement that they received the message.

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Prizelogic handles the game promotions for ebay so it might be legit. And I dont think ebay replies when you use the spoof email?

[emerald40]

You won't receive any type of acknowledgment.

If enough people forward them, then they try and get them shut down.

[ohnojoey]

You would think ebay would give you a confirmation but they may not respond to submissions like phishing emails.

I am sure one of the people you called to the boards will clear it up. I am just going by what ebay says they do as far as their email address.

If it's legit, it's sloppy. You are basically giving a lot of data to a third party.

[margth26]

Prizelogic is who eBay uses to fulfill the various contest that they run. The biggest issue I've seen is actually getting the codes they give you to work

[flipper2flipper]

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@margth26 wrote:
Prizelogic is who eBay uses to fulfill the various contest that they run. The biggest issue I've seen is actually getting the codes they give you to work

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But Prizelogic is NOT fulfilling the contest ..... they are administering the contest.

Some web site called VCDELIVERY is "alledgedly" doing the fulfillment of the prizes ..... as evidenced by the link the VCDELIVERY to GET the redemption code.

I would think that if I really won a prize in an eBay Sweepstakes that I entered ..... that eBay would send me the message through the eBay Message System ...... and I would think that the redemption code would be in that same message from eBay.

If Prizelogic administered the Clean for Green Sweepstakes ..... then why is the link for the redemption code NOT going to the Prizelogic web site ..... instead of the link going to vcdelivery web site ?

And why are all of the links to eBay going to that plm2e web site ?

[berserkerplanet]

>>And why are all of the links to eBay going to that plm2e web site ?

plm2e appears to be a marketing company, and it's typical idiocy to have all links for email blasts or promotions run through the email marketing company and then redirect to the actual site (for tracking reasons mostly.)

Very difficult to determine legitimacy on something like this unless an insider (eBay, plm2e.com, etc employee) who knows the architecture of the campaign (which is unlikely - eBay or anyone you will reach at eBay probably has no clue what the marketers are doing).

The other possibility would be that it is a scam, and the blackhats made a mistake that can be picked out of the email message headers.

If you want to forward a dump of the entire RAW email message including headers to me via PM I can take a look.

[a_c_green]

VCDelivery seems to have ties to Best Buy gift cards as well. The company itself may be legitimate, but the bigger question is whether the email you received is actually from them. The usual rule of thumb is that the prize is probably a scam if you don't remember even entering the contest. You'd think that eBay would have at least sent you a heads-up message to your account in advance, telling you that the card is on the way.

[flipper2flipper]

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@berserkerplanet wrote:
>>And why are all of the links to eBay going to that plm2e web site ?

plm2e appears to be a marketing company, and it's typical idiocy to have all links for email blasts or promotions run through the email marketing company and then redirect to the actual site (for tracking reasons mostly.)

Very difficult to determine legitimacy on something like this unless an insider (eBay, plm2e.com, etc employee) who knows the architecture of the campaign (which is unlikely - eBay or anyone you will reach at eBay probably has no clue what the marketers are doing).

The other possibility would be that it is a scam, and the blackhats made a mistake that can be picked out of the email message headers.

If you want to forward a dump of the entire RAW email message including headers to me via PM I can take a look.

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Thank You for trying to help me with this.

I just sent to you via the Private Message Thing what I "think" you asked me to.

I am not very good with computer-eeze terminology, so if you need anything else, I will try to find it and then send it to you.

Thank You Again !

flipper

[yuncreations]

fake. look at the email domain. if it was legit, it would come from ebay. Just ignore and delete.