eBay faces up to online fraud The online auctioneer eBay has admitted an "extreme growth" in the number of personal accounts being hijacked by fraudsters.

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4533154.stm

eBay faces up to online fraud
The online auctioneer eBay has admitted an "extreme growth" in the  
number of personal accounts being hijacked by fraudsters.

Criminals are obtaining the secret passwords of eBay subscribers and  
using their sites to conduct bogus auctions for non-existent goods.
In a growing number of cases, would-be buyers on the UK's most used  
website are paying thousands of pounds to apparently reputable  
sellers after winning auctions on the site - only to find out they  
had been dealing with criminals.
In an interview with Radio 5 Live, eBay would not reveal exactly how  
many accounts had been hijacked, although a company spokesman refused  
to deny that possibly tens of thousands had been compromised.
"Last year there was extreme growth," said Gareth Griffiths, head of  
trust and safety for eBay. "Certainly last year it was a high-growth  
area for us, it's a painful issue."
In one recent case, up to ten people are thought to have paid a total  
of £15,000 for non-existent hot tubs, while another would-be buyer  
thought he had purchased a £4,000 camper van - which turned out not  
to exist.
Grab and go

In both cases eBay accounts had been hijacked to sell off the non- 
existent goods.




It gets to the point where that is obstructive to our inquiry
Ruth Taylor, North Yorkshire Trading Standards
The hijacking of sellers' accounts is a particularly sensitive issue  
for the auction site, which relies to a large degree on the level of  
trust between the buyer and seller of goods for its success. There  
are more than three million items for sale on the site at any one time.

eBay blames its account holders for not installing proper security on  
their home computers and for replying to so-called "phishing" emails.

These are fake emails made to look like official eBay messages and  
which demand the secret passwords to users accounts.

Viruses are also said to be infecting home computers by installing  
themselves inside hard drives, where they monitor the keystrokes of  
eBay users, make a record of passwords before sending them onto the  
fraudsters.

'Nothing to do with us'

Describing the problem as an "off eBay" issue, Mr Griffiths said the  
problem was "nothing to do with us".

In several cases examined by the BBC the eBay users who had their  
accounts hijacked claimed to be computer literate and vehemently  
denied that they had replied to phishing emails.



"There is no way I would have done that," said Dr Oliver Sutcliffe a  
biochemist from Nottingham. His site was hijacked over the space of  
one weekend to sell thousands of pounds worth of electrical goods.

EBay is also under fire from law enforcement officials and  
manufacturers over levels of crime on the site and the levels of  
cooperation they receive.

Trading standards officers who regularly investigate crimes  
perpetrated on the site have accused eBay of being "obstructive" in  
the way it shares information. North Yorkshire Trading Standards says  
eBay can take up to two months to provide the names and addresses of  
suspects it is pursuing.

"If it takes up to two months, then it is eating in to a lot of time  
that we have to make prosecutions," said Ruth Taylor, who heads the  
authority's special investigations unit. "It gets to the point where  
that is obstructive to our inquiry."

Faking it

Concerns have also been raised about the large amount of counterfeit  
goods on sale on eBay.

Adidas told the BBC that it monitored up to 12,000 auctions involving  
its goods every day on the British site - yet it estimated that up to  
40% of all Adidas products available were counterfeit.



eBay says it has a special relationship with brand owners, who can  
notify the site of auctions involving counterfeit goods which will  
then be taken down within hours.

However, the Ben Sherman clothing brand says it recently took eBay  
five days to take down an auction of counterfeit clothing - by which  
time much of it had been sold.

"I think one must say that it's highly unsatisfactory," said Barry  
Ditchfield, Ben Sherman's brand protection manager.

"With all the amount of profits that eBay makes, then there is ample  
scope for additional staff. Frankly, it is totally unsatisfactory,  
not just for Ben Sherman but for all brand holders.

EBay have rejected the accusations, saying that the company has a  
good relationship with law enforcement officials.

"The satisfaction level is generally very high," said Gareth Griffiths.



Five Live Report: Policing eBay can be heard on Radio Five Live at  
1930BST on Sunday 18 December or afterwards at the Five Live Report  
website.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/business/4533154.stm

Published: 2005/12/15 23:56:44 GMT

© BBC MMV

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