WATCH OUT FOR...
Fake eBay ‘customer support’ Google results
Protect your tech
Scams and threats to avoid, plus new security tools
What’s the threat?
Scammers have infiltrated Google’s search results with fake websites promising support for eBay customers. Researchers at Malwarebytes spotted them in results for www.google.com in the US, but if they prove successful the fraudsters are likely to try them in other countries, including the UK.
The fake results appear as sponsored links for the searches ‘ebay phone number’ and ‘ebay customer service’. The scam uses several different URLs, including the official eBay address (www. ebay.com) and logo ( 1 in our screenshot). However, look closely and you’ll see a strangely worded description below: ‘24/7-Customer-Service | e.bay-24x7Customer Service’ 2 . The information below is even more dubious: ‘Manufacturer refurbished, inventory is direct from G@rminpowered by e.bay’ 3 . Clicking the URL takes you to a site headed ‘eBay Developers Program Search’ with a fake support phone number. The other URLs are easier to identify as fake because they contain ‘e-bay’ not ‘ebay’ and have meaningless suffixes instead of ‘.com’ 4 . Visit Malwarebytes’ site to see all of them: www.snipca. com/52790.