Why am I being directed to alternative ‘ebay’ site?
QRecently, I wanted to buy a product from ebay. I duly visited www.e-bay.co.uk, but I ended up on a different website. I tried several different browsers, but each time I ended up on different fake websites. It seems clear that the ebay website has been hacked, so please spread the news – and perhaps let both ebay and the police know about this internet crime! Fred Oscar
AYou told us that you’re using a pseudonym for your own protection, so we’re just acknowledging that fact to our readers.
You can be assured that, at least at the time of going to press, ebay has not been hacked and the company’s official website is quite safe to use.
However, you’ve been visiting www.e-bay.co.uk – note the hyphen. This domain is not owned or operated by ebay and is currently leased to a private individual, who is apparently using it to redirect visitors to all manner of suspicious sites. The company’s actual UK website is www.ebay.co.uk (no hyphen), and this is working fine.
Nonetheless, this is certainly an unfortunate situation, and ebay itself might consider it a case of cybersquatting. Unfortunately, brands are regular victims of scams like this. As a user, all you can do is recognise when something feels off, and perhaps inform the company.
For ebay, you can do this via its Report a Concern page at www.snipca. com/49562 (see screenshot).