Securing your account and reporting account theft

If you've given confidential information through a spoof website, or think someone has tried to get into your eBay account, don't worry - there are a number of things you can do to protect yourself.

First of all, if there's anyone who uses your account with your permission, check to make sure it wasn't them who made the changes.

You'll then need to change the password on your personal email account. If someone has unauthorised access to your email account, they may be able to get into your eBay account. Make sure the password on your email account is different from the password you use on eBay. We've put together some tips on creating a secure password to help prevent anyone using your account without your permission.

The next thing to do is sign in to your eBay account.

If you can't sign in

Contact eBay straight away. Make sure you've changed your email password so that your email account is secured.

We'll look into your eBay account and if it has been compromised, we'll work with you to make it secure again. We'll ask you to change your password - not give us your password - and if necessary, put your account on hold until we're able to make it secure.

If you can sign in

Start working through these steps to secure your account.

1. Change your password. You can do this in My eBay. Make sure your password is something new and unique, using both letters and numbers.

2. Change the secret question and answer on your eBay account. If you don't have a secret question, you can create one now. Read tips on choosing an effective secret question.

3. Check the contact information you registered on your eBay account and change anything that isn't right. If someone got into your account they may have changed your contact information.

4. Check on My eBay for any active bids or listings that you didn't make. If you do find any, you may be able to retract the bids and end the listings. If you see any unauthorised fees on your selling account, get in touch with eBay to request a credit.

5. Protect your identity. Sensitive information you give eBay such as credit card and bank account information is stored on a secure server and can't be accessed through your eBay account. Even so, you'll need to take steps to protect your identity if you gave this sort of information to a spoof website or replied to a spoof email.

6. Learn how to protect your account in future.

• Guard against spoof: The most common way for an eBay account to be compromised is by spoof emails, which ask for members' passwords and other sensitive information. Often the email asks you to click on a link in the email and sign in to a fake website. If you do receive any suspicious emails claiming to be from eBay, please send them on to us at spoof@ebay.co.uk or spoof@ebay.ie.

• Choose secure passwords: Using letters and numbers makes it harder for others to guess your password. Always use different passwords for your online accounts.

• Use virus and spyware protection: Spyware is software that's downloaded onto your computer without your knowledge to collect personal information and record your behaviour on the internet. A virus could also allow someone else access to personal data on your computer.

You'll find all of this and more in the Account Protection Tutorial and the other online security information we've put together on the eBay Safety Centre.

More help: Getting in touch with eBay

Send us an email to:

• Report that you're having trouble signing into your account

• Get more help once you have signed in

So that we can help you quicker, it would be useful if you could tell us

• Your name, address and eBay user ID

• The item numbers of any unauthorised transactions

• A brief summary of the situation