Sophos Cloud Optix
The eBay logo has gone on a low-carbohydrate diet, slimming down to a near-anorexic new look in the first logo redesign in 17 years.
The new logo went live on Wednesday last week.
As of Monday, some scammers had already updated their phishing campaigns to reflect the new look, according to GFI Labs.
But then again, some had not, retaining the chubby letters and gravitationally confused, baseline-arbitrary logo that typifies the old graphic.
As GFI points out, scammers will pick up on the new logo in short order.
But at least for a brief window of time, use of the old logo gives us a means of instantly spotting an eBay scam.
eBay itself lists these other tips for spotting a scam:
- Warning Sign #1: eBay will never send you an email requesting your personal information.
- Warning Sign #2: Often this email will be sent to an email Address that is not the same one that eBay has on file.
- Warning Sign #3: Forged Headers (From Address). eBay says it’s hard to detect forged headers without internet knowledge, but I don’t think that applies to many Naked Security readers, to whom I’d suggest checking out a guide such as this one by Wendy Grossman, posted as a Gizmo Tech Support Alert. (PDF)
- Warning Sign #4: The Greeting would say something like Dear eBay User or eBay Member. Realistically, eBay knows who you are, so they would typically use the name you registered with.
- Warning Sign #5: The threat. The email will threaten to suspend your account if you don’t take immediate action.
- Warning Sign #6: A Non Secure Page. If you click on the link in the email you will not be on a secure webpage, no https in the URL and no little padlock in the lower left or right hand corner of your browser!
- Warning Sign #7: Bad Grammar or Misspelled words in the email.
Don’t fall for any of those long-established scams, and, of course, keep an eye out for the new warning sign: plump logo letters.
Anyone who is saved only by the logo change should stop using a computer right now! 😉
But your checklist is excellent. Would that everyone caught those signs, at least a couple of which are always there.
What are the shady links at the end of the PDF file you linked to (the Gizmo/Wendy Grossman one)? They either don't work or look like phishing links. I clicked one, and it went to the main page of Gizmo, but I did a Google search preview of the others and they don't make sense. One goes to a page with only text that says Welcome to nginx!" Why would these be in a legitimate article?
The link works for me.
It goes to http://www.techsupportalert.com/pdf/t1304.pdf
It's an article by Wendy Grossman, a respected technology journalist.
Hi Graham,
The link works fine and her article is great. I am aware she is well respected – I mean the links that are included on page three within that PDF file, that are supposed to go to Gizmo's additional articles/recommendations. I know you guys didn't make them, obviously.
Mike:
Have you noted the date of Wendy Grossman’s article? It’s 1998. That does not invalidate any of the advice contained in it. However, it might well explain why links on page 3 do not work!
I thought the new eBay logo WAS the sign of a dodgy site at first… oh wait, IT IS!!!
Not sure it should even be called a logo. It is terrible, which reflects the new eBay (or is it simply 'ebay' now?). Prepare for ebay branded boxes and bags full of tacky plastic disposable merchandise…
The security is a problem after using Ebay my credit card was used for fraudulent purposes causing me to get a new credit card 7-10 days to doe this