Fraudsters target Trade Me

Trade Me has warned users to be vigilant as international cyber scammers target the site.

The online auction site has reported a two-tiered identity fraud scam involving criminals from Indonesia, Nigeria and eastern Europe, who are emailing users requesting personal information.

"Phishing" emails to users are using embedded links to send information to the hacker, allowing them control of a user's account and with it private details such as banking data and addresses.

As is normal procedure on Trade Me, any buyer showing interest in a "sale" is requested to contact the seller by phone or email for further information, at which point the fraudsters strike.

But Trade Me says no Kiwis have yet to fall victim to scam.

"We're pretty good at stopping this sort of thing," Jon Duffy, Trade Me security team, told the New Zealand Herald.

"Most of our members are based in New Zealand, so a red flag goes up when a foreign IP address is used.

"There are proxies that mask [the true IP address] but we've got good technology to detect that too.

"I can't recall an instance when we haven't been able to identify the person committing the fraud.

"Typically we follow the money."

"But if someone wants to take you off our site to conclude a transaction, that should be a warning sign."

Have you noticed anything suspicious on Trade Me? Tell us your thoughts below.