We want to warn you of a phishing message we’ve detected in circulation affecting eBay members with the purpose to get their credentials.

The message seems to have been sent by “eBay” and uses the same logo and appearance as the original one to trick users and make them think it’s trustworthy:

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Something that has attracted my attention is when it says that your name is not displayed to protect you from spam, don’t you think it’s a little bit ironic?

The global message is clear and menacing: If you don’t log in your account now, it will be suspended.

But if you read the message carefully, you’ll probably notice that it doesn’t make much sense. You don’t really know what it is about.

For example, nearly at the end it says: “…your account will be suspended for a period of 3-4 days, after that it will be again operational Sunday, 16, June, 2010”

Umh, these are going to be the longest 3-4 days of your lives… and you’ll be surprised when you look at your calendar and discover that 16th June 2010 is not Sunday but Wednesday!

So, when you receive a message like this, it’s very important not to panic in spite of reading things like “your account will be suspended…” because it’s likely to be false.

But, what happens if I have trusted the message?

If you click the link included in the message, you’ll be redirected to a very similar website to eBay’s:

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But if you look at the web address, you’ll see that it doesn’t belong to the official eBay website:

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Don’t worry because you have not been phished yet.

If you haven’t noticed this detail and have entered your credentials, you won’t be logged in as you would expected.

You’ll be informed that you have to confirm your identity because someone is trying to access your account at the same time. That’s why you’ll be required additional information like the security question and answer, phone number and date of birth:

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Once you enter this, the process will be finished and a message thanking you for your collaboration will be displayed:

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You’ll see another ironic message in this page: “We want to keep eBay a safe place to buy and sell”.

Unfortunately, it won’t be a safe place for you anymore knowing that someone has your credentials. But the solution is easy: change the password of your eBay account and that’s it!