Tuesday, January 30, 2007

How Ebay Sellers Fix Auctions

This from the Times Online:

CUSTOMERS of the internet auction site eBay are being defrauded by unscrupulous dealers who secretly bid up the price of items on sale to boost profits. An investigation by The Sunday Times has indicated that the practice of artificially driving up prices — known as shill bidding — is widespread across the site.

Last week one of the UK’s biggest eBay sellers admitted in a taped conversation with an undercover reporter that he was prepared to use business associates to bid on his goods for him.

Our inquiries found evidence that a number of businesses — ranging from overseas property agencies to car dealerships — have placed bids on their own items using fake identities.


The cases raise questions about whether eBay, the world’s biggest auction site, is doing enough to protect consumers.


Full Story Here

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Spam is Back and Worse than Ever

Friday, January 19 at 05:00 am CT by Bob Sullivan

If you feel like your inbox is suddenly overrun with spam again, you are right.

Not long ago, there seemed hope that spam had passed its prime. Just last December, the Federal Trade Commission published an optimistic state-of-spam report, citing research indicating spam had leveled off or even dropped during the previous year.

Instead, it now appears spammers had simply gone back to the drawing board. There's more spam now than ever before. In fact, there's twice as much spam now as opposed to this time last year.

Go here to read an excellent post on this subject

Friday, January 19, 2007

Phishers Luring Victims with False Claims of Ebay Closure

Sophos is warning computer users of a new phishing scam that tries to steal usernames and passwords from eBay users by claiming the giant auction website will close for business on February 17th.

The emails state that eBay has decided to shut down its business at the end of February, and request that recipients vote on whether they agree with the decision. According to the message, 50 percent of eBay members are required to disagree in order to keep the site open. However, clicking on either of the voting links takes the recipient to a phishing website which poses as eBay, and is designed to steal information from users

The email reads:

'Dear eBay Community: We have decided to close eBay on 27 February 2007 due to the repeatedly abuses on our company. We ask your opinion on this matter and we want to know if you agree with us or disagree .Below you can make your choice. If you want eBay to stay open click YES otherwise click NO .Your opinion is very important to us. If 50% of the eBay members vote positive eBay stays open otherwise it will be closed. Regards, eBay Team'


Link to original Sophos article

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Cyberdefenders Latest Phishing Scam Alerts

LOS ANGELES, CA (PRWEB) January 12, 2007 --

CyberDefender™ Corporation, the security developer with the Internet's most advanced early detection technology and Internet security tools, has released its latest Phishing Scam Alert, a report highlighting recent phishing and email scams that are plaguing Internet users and exposing them to Internet identity theft.

CyberDefender™ Corporation, the security developer with the Internet's most advanced early detection technology and Internet security tools, has released its latest Phishing Scam Alert, a report highlighting recent phishing and email scams that are plaguing Internet users and exposing them to Internet identity theft. Top risks include new active PayPal, eBay and egg.com phishing scams targeting Internet users. CyberDefender Threat Level: Active Scam Target pages: www.paypal.com Scam URL: http://202.29.138.73:84/www.pa. . . Date Discovered: 01/09/07 13:04:30 CyberDefender Threat Level: Active Scam Target pages: www.egg.com Scam URL: http://www.evsolution.ro/_host. . . Date Discovered: 01/08/07 21:40:00 CyberDefender Threat Level: Active Scam Target pages: www.ebay.com Scam URL: http://singin-account-verify.f. . . CyberDefender classifies emerging phishing scams as active or inactive, providing users with a real-time Internet security tool for phishing protection.


Complete article here

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Denver Schools Find Missing Computers on Ebay

By Monte Whaley
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Created: 01/10/2007

Two suspects in a school-computer burglary ring figured they had the perfect place to fence their ill-gotten goods, authorities say: the online auction house, eBay.

Unfortunately for the arrested teenagers, school officials had the same idea.

Acting on a hunch, Poudre School District security personnel checked eBay on Jan. 4, after the latest in a string of break-ins at schools in Larimer County.

"They were sitting around thinking, 'Now where would those things turn up?"' said Fort Collins police School Resource Officer Suzanne Rice. "Sure enough, they took a gander, and there they were."

Up for bid were what appeared to be most of the 32 computers and other electronic equipment taken from Fossil Ridge High School.


Police and school officials contacted eBay, which passed along profile information that led to the arrests of two male 17-year-olds who now face burglary and theft charges.

Link to News Story

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Paypal Testing New Device to Beat Phishing Scams

Paypal is currently testing a new device to help keep user accounts secure. The Paypal Security Key is a small pocket sized device that generates a unique six digit security code every 30 seconds. Users enter the security code when logging in to their Paypal or Ebay accounts with their regular user name and password. The code used to sign in expires every 30 seconds, providing a higher level of security.

The device may be ordered from Paypal for a one time $5.00 fee. Business accounts are exempt from the fee. The key uses a two-factor authentication system which was designed by Verisign

For more information and demo:
https://www.paypal.com/eBay/securitykey