Details going twice in auction scam

Internet shoppers were last night warned of an attempted sting designed to steal the credit card details of the 55m people registered with eBay, the world's largest online auction site.

Fraudsters sent an email to customers asking them to log onto a website called ebayupdates.com and resubmit their financial details.

The email, which began appearing last week, read: "Dear Ebay (sic) member, We at Ebay are sorry to inform you that we are having problems with the billing information on your account. We would appreciate it if you would visit our website and fill out the proper information that we are needing to keep you as an eBay member."

A spokesman for eBay said the company was aware of the site and urged users to be vigilant. "This is an issue for the internet overall. We just try and inform users that we never ask for personal details over email. Most people know that and just delete the message, which is what they should do. We do what we can but these people are generally hit-and-run merchants."

The company said that fraud constitutes less than 0.01% of all transactions on eBay. The so-called 'shadow' site has now been closed down.

The news of the eBay scam came as research showed that more people than ever are spending money online, with internet retailers likely to enjoy their best ever Christmas.

In the week after Thanksgiving in the US, internet sales rose 34% to $2bn according to market research firm Comscore Networks.

The sharp increase in online shopping contrasts with the state of retail sales in malls and high streets across the US.

Federated Department Stores, which owns Macy's and Bloomingdales, reported a 7.4% drop in same store sales in November, twice as bad as it had predicted.