PayPal tackles phishing trap

PayPal has fixed a flaw in its website to block a sophisticated scam designed to obtain sensitive data from members, the payment service said on Friday.

By exploiting the flaw, attackers were able to redirect people from a PayPal web page to an online trap located in South Korea, a representative for the service said. The page actually has a real PayPal URL but hosts malicious code that presents a message warning members that their account had been compromised. It then redirects them to a "phishing" website.

At the malicious, information-thieving website, people are asked for their PayPal login information, experts at Netcraft, an internet monitoring company in England, said in an advisory. Subsequently, the scammers are urged to enter their Social Security number and credit card details, Netcraft said.

A PayPal spokeswoman said in an interview: "As soon as we became aware of this scheme, we changed some of the code on the PayPal website. So this scheme, or any scheme like it, can no longer be effective."

PayPal, a unit of online auctioneer eBay, is working with the ISP that hosts the malicious site to get it shut down, the spokeswoman added. The company has no information on how many people may have fallen victim to the scam, she said.

Joris Evers writes for CNET News.com