A novel phishing scam against eBay is spreading which attempts to take advantage on people's good natures.

Emails have been sent out widely claiming to be from a wheelchair-bound 89 year old called Greta. She claims to be having problems finding a particular auction and asks for help.

If the reader clicks on the link enclosed in the email they are directed to a bogus eBay site and asked to log on via a 'respond now' button. Once they do their user name and password are stolen by the hacker, who can then use them to set up fraudulent deals with the online auction house.

"This phishing attack is targeting Good Samaritans, who will think they are helping an elderly lady with her online auction," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

"There seems to be no depths to which phishers, virus writers and criminal hackers are not prepared to stoop to steal money from innocent people."

As public awareness of their methods spreads phishers are resorting to ever more elaborate tactics in an attempt to catch out people. Last week Polish scammers tried to trick people into faxing their accounts details to a third party.