Phishers set hidden traps on eBay
Published April 1st, 2006
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Click on an eBay auction listing, and you could get an unwanted result: a fake eBay login page, created by scammers looking to pilfer your username and password.
With about 181 million users worldwide, eBay is arguably the world’s most popular online marketplace. As such, the San Jose, Calif., company, with its online payment unit PayPal, is among the biggest targets for online scammers–including phishers.
Phishing scams use forged Web sites that look like legitimate sites in an attempt to dupe Internet users into giving up sensitive data, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details. Cybercrooks typically use spam e-mail to lure people to their Web traps. But on eBay, they also take advantage of the auction listings on the site itself.
Some of the scams run on the auction Web site are almost invisible to the untrained eye. eBay lets sellers customize their auction pages using Web programming techniques and automated tools. However, attackers are abusing this freedom to build auction pages that include a rigged listing. When potential customers click on the link, it sends them to a phishing site.
eBay is aware of such abuse of its service for trickery by cybercrooks, Catherine England, an eBay spokeswoman, said Friday.
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