the decision. The email claims that 50% of eBay members are required to say that they want eBay to stay open, otherwise it will be closed permanently.

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

However, clicking on either of the links takes the user to a phishing website which poses as eBay, and is designed to steal usernames and passwords from users. Sophos has determined that the phishing website is hosted on a hacked server belonging to a UK legal company.

"It's unlikely that anyone would really believe that such a successful website as eBay is considering shutting its doors for business, but they might think it is a teaser campaign by the auction giant for some other kind of promotion," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "This isn't the most sophisticated phishing campaign in the world, but it could still result in the unwary handing their account details over to hackers who could then use them to make fraudulent purchases and commit other identity crimes."

Last year Sophos revealed that over 75% of all phishing emails were targeted at customers of eBay and PayPal.

eBay, like Sophos, is a member of the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), an organization dedicated to wiping out internet scams and fraud. eBay has published tutorials on how to spot phishing emails on its website:
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