BBB warns eBay users about scam

PROVIDENCE- The Better Business Bureau is alerting eBay shoppers about a scam.

The Better Business Bureau said con artists are exploiting a vulnerability in eBay’s editing feature to redirect online shoppers to lookalike websites that can steal passwords.

The Better Business Bureau gave an example of shopping for a laptop or cellular phone.

“You see a listing with a great price. You click on it, but instead of taking you to the item’s page, it reroutes you through a series of websites. You end up at a page requesting your eBay username and password. Don’t enter it! The site might look like eBay’s log in page, but it’s really a different website. If you input your username and password, it will end up in the hands of scammers. This gives hackers the ability to access your account, and, if you use the same password for other websites, free pass into other accounts,” the press release from the BBB serving Rhode Island, Maine, Vermont and eastern Massachusetts states.
The Better Business Bureau said this can happen because eBay permits sellers to use Javascript and Flash to add design elements to their listings. This flexibility allows scammers to add malicious code, a practice called cross-site scripting, it said.
To protect information online, the BBB advises users to check a website’s URL in the browser bar before entering password or any other information to make sure they are on the correct website, to be wary of offers that are too good to be true and to look for secure connections by ensuring Web addresses start with “https” and have lock icons.

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Learn more about eBay scams HERE.

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