Call it the equivalent of neighborhood teens strewing toilet paper on your trees on Halloween, but the nuisance stunts of a Romanian hacker who calls himself Vladuz has quite clearly confounded eBay's attempts to stop him from making his presence known on the online auction site. Confident of his ability to breach eBay's security, Vladuz posted early this morning in eBay Germany's forums, displaying Pinkliner status.
In a year that eBay has dedicated to creating a safer buying experience, Vladuz has gained attention by flagrantly posting on the boards as an eBay forum moderator, or "Pink." How deep Vladuz' access to the site runs is open to speculation.
Some long-time eBay users insist that Vladuz is tied to innumerable fraudulent eBay listings, whose purpose is to defraud buyers and also collect their information, to be later used for creating bogus eBay accounts which can then list more scam listings and continue the cycle of fraud. eBay says fraudulent listings stem from phishing attacks and not any breach of security on its site.
eBay spokesperson Nichola Sharpe confirmed that Vladuz did access another employee email account on Tuesday and said eBay is putting additional things in place to prevent this from happening again. Sharpe said she could not disclose what those measures are because then Vladuz would know. Vladuz' recent board posts are "no different from what he's done before, and he hasn't accessed the eBay site."
Vladuz, posting as "vladuzpower," told readers of eBay's Trust & Safety board to watch CNN on March 15.
Sharpe said eBay has not been contacted by CNN. "I'd be very surprised if (CNN) were doing an interview with a known fraudster that Romanian authorities are looking for."
Related Stories:
"He's Baaack - Vladuz "Hacker" Taunts eBay"
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m02/i23/s01
"eBay Auction Listing Swings Remain a Mystery"
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m03/i12/s01
