John, So far I've been just a passive reader of the correspondence on AMREV-HESSIANS (my Hessian ancestor was Carl Vrede/Wrede, aka Charles Frady). But I wanted to comment on something I'm a little more knowledgeable about than Hessian genealogy. The email you received, appearing to be from eBay, is a type of email scam called "<http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spam/phishing.mspx>Phishing"... You get an authentic looking email from a bank or eBay, for example, with very authentic graphics and logos and they tell you your account information needs to be updated or verified. No bank or company holding your confidential account information will ever ask you to send them your account, credit card, or social security information by email. I receive emails like this constantly, from banks and companies I don't even hold accounts with. Simplest thing to do is never respond to them or any other type of spam as this just verifies that your email address is a working address. And, try avoid using Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express as your email application, instead use an alternative with strong spam filtering built in, such as <http://www.eudora.com/email/>Eudora or <http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/>Thunderbird , both available for free. Charles Frady At 10:00 AM 11/20/04, you said: >Hello Hessians; > >I did have a very disturbing experience with eBay - >beginning of the week I got a message apparently from >the eBay organization, accusing me that I have violated the >sales condition, etc., and that my account would be suspended. >That I would not be allowed to make any transaction, unless >I first filled out a lenghty form giving all my financial details, like >card numbers, passwords, etc. bank accounts, and when I >read that, I stopped and started to think. Why the heck would >they want this information, they have it already, been with eBay >for several years, have 349 positive feedbacks. > >So I just mailed them back that I see no reason for their action, >no reason for them to close my account, and I want an explanation. > >Took 3 days to get an answer, and I was told that this e-mail did not >come from them, that it was fraudulent and someone was trying to >get at my financial data. That eBay would never ask for passwords, >card numbers, or other financial data, because they have that data >on file and can get it without using passwords. They told me never >to answer such requests, they called it a 'spoofed' message. >So far so good - > >During all this time there was no action on my site - on one book >I had 3 bids, highest bid $15.50, nothing changed there at all, >although 5 other bidders have it on the watchlist, another book, no >bids as yet, but five bidders on the watch list. No action on the >other two. I just wonder what is going on, who is fooling who. >By the way, the one GUIDE I am offering is my last one, no more >after this. Perhaps no more else after this experience. There are >people out there trying to get into your accounts. Ye gotta watch! >John Merz - the-hessian > > >==== AMREV-HESSIANS Mailing List ==== >6000 Hessian soldiers remained in North America after the Peace in 1783, >the majority settled in the Eastern United States and Canada. >A quick check http://archiver.rootsweb.com/AMREV-HESSIANS-L