EBay Seeks Sender of Fraudulent E-Mail

EBay Inc., a leading Internet auction site, has filed a lawsuit as part of an effort to track down the sender of a fraudulent e-mail that requested credit card information from EBay users under the guise of a routine records check. The “John Doe” suit, filed this month in federal court in San Jose, will enable EBay to subpoena information from Internet service providers that routed the fraudulent e-mail, said Mike Jacobson, EBay’s general counsel. The San Jose-based company does not know how many users received the Oct. 2 message, which appeared to be sent by EBay but routed replies to a private Hotmail e-mail account. But Jacobson said EBay has received fewer than 10 complaints and knows of only one victim who disclosed her credit card number. The company, whose stock has topped $82 per share after its initial public offering last month, is also cooperating with an investigation launched by the San Jose Police Department, Jacobson said. EBay shares fell $2.50 to close at $80 on Nasdaq.