Phishing—e-mail and Web-based efforts by online scammers to hijack personal information from unsuspecting users has been an ongoing problem for a long time now. A growing number of eBay members, are receiving highly official looking e-mails, purportedly from eBay's accounts management department, asking for credit card information, a social security number, and more.

The trick message arrives with a very official looking header featuring eBay's logo. It was signed "Thank you, Accounts Management." The text read: "Dear eBay Member, We at eBay are sorry to inform you that we are having problems with the billing information of your account. We would appreciate it if you would visit our website, eBay Billing Center, and fill out the proper information that we are needing to keep you as an eBay member." The "eBay Billing Center" referenced was a link to a Web page asking for a credit card number, a social security number, and more. The message also contained an "ebay.com" suffix, just as a real message from an eBay employee might.

As is often true in spoof messages and phishing efforts, the trick e-mail contained telltale signs that it did not come from eBay. The subject line of the message read "eBay Member Billing Information Uptade" with the word "update" misspelled. The text string "fill out the proper information that we are needing" also had suspicious syntax.

These e-mails, commonly referred to as "spoof" messages, are sent in an attempt to collect sensitive personal information from recipients who reply to the message or click on a link to a Web page requesting this information. The e-mail you reported did not originate from, nor is it endorsed by, eBay. We are very concerned about this problem and are working diligently to address the situation. We have investigated the source of this e-mail and have taken appropriate action."

The message from eBay's Trust and Safety Department also warns against supplying personal information in any e-mail and says that eBay will never ask, via e-mail, for information such as a credit card number or an e-mail password. It says that users who are suspicious of any message appearing to come from eBay should not click on any links supplied within the e-mail.

This latest ruse falls in line with growing amounts of data showing that online identity theft is an out-of-control problem. According to a recent FTC survey, 35.3 million Americans have been victims of identity theft in the last five years, and a whopping 16.9 million people joined this unfortunate list in just the last 12 months.

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