eBay Phishing Bug Allows Phishing Using Real eBay Web Addresses   - 2,150 Views,

eBay is working frantically to fix a bug in their software which allows phishers to do their phishing dirty work using real eBay URLs in their phishing efforts. eBay is calling the phish-friendly problem a “software bug” which can be used to create a genuine eBay link which in turn redirects and takes the user to the phisher’s site - which looks exactly like a legitimate eBay page - where they can steal eBay account information, credit card information, and all sorts of other personal information.

While eBay’s users, and consumers in general, have become more careful about clicking on links which show up uninvited in email, this particular phishing bug is insidious because the link in the phishing email is a genuine eBay link, and the user is never aware that they have gone through the genuine eBay link to the phisher’s look-alike site.

An eBay spokesperson, Hani Durzy, explained that users have become “more aware of phishing, but the bad guys have become much better at it, so it’s not going to go away overnight. The key for us is really about educating Internet users to protect themselves in the same ways they do offline.”

So, what can you do about it? What if you get email from eBay asking you to go to their site - how can you be sure it’s legitimate, and will take you to the real eBay site?

Aunty recommends that if you get an email purporting to be from eBay, and you aren’t sure whether it’s real or not, rather than clicking on the link in the email (don’t do that!), just go to eBay directly, typing eBay’s address in your browser, and log in to your account. If there is really some action which eBay needs you to take, you’ll get a message from eBay about it when you log in to your account.