Irate message hides fishy phishing motive

Throwing usual spoofing tactics out of the window recipients of the scam will find an irate message implying that they have not dispatched an order that has been paid for. Users then click on a link that asks them to log into their account – but the link is a spoof site.

"Almost half of the phishing messages we see currently are targeting eBay," said Mikko Hypponen, director of antivirus research at Finnish antivirus company F-Secure on its weblog. "However we've lately seen a [this] new technique."

The message in the email claims to be from a man called "Rolland" "I sent you the money, where's the package? You promised that after I send (sic) the money you send the goods asap. Is this a fraud? Please let me know! Should I contact the authorities?"

The message is intended to frighten users into making a mistake and clicking on the eBay link within the email.

"This fake site is still up, but eBay is very effective in taking down rogue sites like these so it should disappear soon," said Hypponen.

Earlier this month SC reported phishing attacks were still on the rise, clogging up email inboxes. But viruses and malware were on the decline through July.

www.f-secure.com