Phishers Target Music Lovers on EBay

Phishers are making eBay their frequent targets for a new scam. They are using the site to fool visitors , mostly musicians .The site offers bidding to sell old music gear says Christopher Laird Simmons, the founder of Neotrope, a provider of communications solution.

The scam uses an interesting way to trick the user. It targets the second highest bidder in an auction of music gear. He would be sent an e-mail, which pretends to come from eBay with fake legal notices, messages and item number. The e-mail makes a 'second chance' offer, and the text are same as legitimate 'second chance' offers originally produced by eBay. Clearly, 'second chance' offer relates to offering the item to the second highest bidder in case the highest bidder did not buy the item or there is a duplicate product for sale.

As protection from such scam, the victim is recommended to check his/ her 'My eBay' account on receipt of 'second chance' e-mail. He/ she should also check for the same message on the site and avoid clicking the links given in the e-mail, however legitimate it appears.

The process further includes a free e-mail 'service provider' for the phishing e-mail, which asks the victim to buy the item by dispatching money through PayPal. The e-mail also provides a link to take to a website that has an interface similar to eBay's actual login page. Opening this link could result in the person revealing his/ her username and password to the phisher.

To quickly determine the legitimacy of e-mail one can check the headers of e-mail in systems like Outlook. It shows the server and IP address of the e-mail source that confirms whether or the e-mail was coming from eBay.

EBay has responded to this scam by talking about defense against fake e-mails and websites. In a statement published on their website, eBay said it is important to learn to spot these fake items. EBay gives tutorial on its website on the subject of scams. It also welcomes reports of such e-mails along with the IP address identified in the phishing mails.

Related article: Phishers Expand Their Sphere of Attacks

» SPAMfighter News - 9/16/2006