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By Alorie Gilbert, 10 March 2003 14:00

NEWS Subscribers to online payment scheme PayPal are being sent emails aimed at conning them out of personal information. Over the past week, users of eBay's online payments service have been receiving emails masquerading as official PayPal alerts. The messages ask recipients to submit bank and credit card details. Tricks involving bogus email posing as legitimate messages from eBay and PayPal are nothing new. However, the latest spoof email - which included a PayPal logo, links to PayPal's site and official-looking fine-print - appeared particularly convincing. The emails tell recipients that their PayPal accounts have been randomly selected for maintenance and placed on "Limited Access" status. The message, which appears to come from info@paypal.com, instructs the account holder to enter credit card and bank account numbers in an online form embedded in the email. eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove said the "spoof" email did not come from eBay or its PayPal unit and that it is very likely a trick to rob people of private information. He said the company has received several complaints, but has yet to figure out who is behind the scheme. He said: "We encourage people to notify us and not to respond to these emails." According to Pursglove, it has proven difficult to catch the perpetrators of spoof email fraud, which have also plagued Amazon.com and America Online, despite efforts by ecommerce companies and internet service providers to identify and locate them. But eBay has taken steps over the past year to counteract such tricks, Pursglove said. For instance, eBay has begun notifying account holders by email whenever they receive a request to change an account's password or user name. The company is also testing a system designed to detect fraud and tampering. In addition, the company posts messages on its discussion boards about how to protect personal information.