Fraudsters target eBay again

Online auction website eBay has been targeted again, this time by credit card scams involving a shadow site operating from Lithuania.

It is the third time such a scam has been used by identity thieves.

The fraudulent site not only asked for users' eBay identification, password and email address, but also credit card, bank account, driver's licence and social security number.

The site followed a similar scam being run by fraudsters using the site name ebayupdates.com, which was shut down last week.

According to the BBC another shadow site, reportedly hosted by the Tripod internet service provider in the US, has been taken down after attempting an email scam.

The eBay users targeted in all the scams received an email that claimed there were problems with their email account. They were asked to verify their accounts by re-inputting their details.

They were given a site address to hand in their details, which looked similar to an eBay administration page.

A eBay spokesman confirmed that it had received complaints about the sites.

He said the solicitations often contained links to web pages that request users to sign in and submit information.

He reiterated that eBay never asks users for their password.