A while back, I received a fradulent e-mail which asked for personal
information from a source claiming to be E-Bay. I realized midway
through filling out the information that something didn't seem
right... and I believe I only put in my name, and possibly some other
information.. I don't remember exactly how much I filled out, but I am
absolutely certain that it was less than 1 or 2 pieces of
information... no super-sensitive information though, like credit card
or social security numbers. I'm not sure if I submitted the
information, but I must have... please read on.

It's been a few months now and everytime I search my full name on
Google, I get results back which take on the following format:

(Please note that this is just an example... I have changed some words
and their order. Take note of the capitalized portions)


eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles ...
... clemente "MY NAME" kenwood eleven forty sarasota germany soccer
field carmenita 4dben 103.7fm kz parts plsock answers eight vbs0418
question za.phate boxchildren hengaband ...
www."SOMETHING"auctions.com/10165765/ - Similar pages 


It started out as 1 result, then a few more, now they number more than
10... each result is a different "name"auctions.com/"numbers" but they
all link to what appears to be an E-Bay search page with none of the
words present. I tried highlighting the page for hidden text, but no
such luck. When the link is clicked from the Google search page, the
URL changes from what is listed to "search-desc.ebay.com." In the
process of reaching that final url, it seems to transition/be
redirected from some website with the URL "adfarm.mediaplex.com". This
occurs extermely rapidly. Each search result contains a different
combination of random words in conjunction with my full name.

The fact that these pages are at the top of the search results gives
me reason to believe that they are extremely popular sites which many
individuals may be accessing.

So here are my questions:

1) What exactly is going on?

2) Since I didn't include much information in my initial submission of
the fraudulent form, should I be worried about the rapid dissemination
of my name online (and maybe other basic information that I can't
currently find)?

3) Should I have reason to worry about what is occuring? 

4) Is there anything I can do to stop Google, or other search engines
from displaying this information?

Thank you very much

---

Clarification of Question by dafrogg-ga on 21 Nov 2005 15:14 PST

A few clarifications:

- Question #3 can be diregarded
- My name is extremely distinct, so this is not a chance occurence.
- the part where I wrote "name" in "name"auctions.com/"numbers"
(paragraph 5) refers not to my name, but random words, like swiss,
union, nazareth etc.

Since google and other search engines not only spider and collect info
from any pages they can find, they will continue to find your
information.  You have no control over this.  The pages will continue
to appear as long as the sites are live and even after they die off,
they will continue to remain in cached files for awhile after.

The only name you are empowered to remove from Google is yours that
has been indexed from information services, like the phone company. 
You might want to do that anyway at
://www.google.com/help/pbremoval.html.

Since you were scammed, these pages will probably go down over time
and your pages may mostly disappear.  Be happy you caught on and
didn't post your SSN!  I'm sorry this happened to you.

Thanks for the information. My apologies if my message was too long or
convoluted... I was just trying to be specific.

The search results are beginning to diminish after hitting an all-time
high... so it should only be a matter of time until they're all gone.

Thank you for the extra removal link too... that is very helpful!