Forum Moderators: phranque
I received an email stating that I have signed up to this site, when I didn't, and the profile has some false information in it that tells me whoever signed me up got the info from elance (or it's someone who knows where I live). I don't provide accurate info in many places so it's easy to spot where my info is being revealed. I haven't used elance besides signing up a long while back but they were apparently hacked recently. I was wondering if anyone else was signed up by a 3rd party too?
Also the email says you need to click a link to finish the signup but in fact you are already finished being signed up. Likewise the site leads you to believe you need to choose which type of account you want (and enter more data) but are already a full member and don't need to.
Mine was one of the profiles ripped in the breach, and have taken appropriate action to plug up any possibility of theft. They didn't sign you up. They hacked E.L., took all their provider data, and cloned the site, posting the accounts as if we had signed up. E.L. is proactively pursuing the thieves via international law, etc., but it's difficult at best.
But the b******ds got my email address, for sure.
The email itself contains a .pdf file and simply says the details are reported in the .pdf file. I reported it as spam and 20 minutes later got a spam email from the same sender with a title claiming to offer the latest in spyware protection.
I'm taking the time to mention this here because
- the quality of the approach is above average in appearance, typo free etc.
- In my case the data being used to identify me isn't accurate and was only used on elance.
- I thought others may be experiencing the same.
I have not received these emails (YET!), but I have heard many grumblings for other E.L. providers about this. You might see if your account is active, log in, get to their "Water Cooler" area (sort of like a message board . . . but not) and raise the point there, although it's been heavily discussed.
After the security breach, OSR's site was taken down. They came back up a few days later on a different host. It's one of those . . . thousands of providers' profiles were posted on OSR and they claim complete innocence, it's all E.L.'s fault. Which, in a way, it is, but just because you find a wallet on the sidewalk doesn't mean you take it.
