EBAY SCAM BEWARE

Colinl

Colinl

Active Member
Joined
11 Feb 2004
Messages
65
Location
Dun Laoghaire Ireland
www.iol.ie
Hi All

Tought I would share this with you.

Iwas bidding on a camera but was pipped at the post. No problem.

I got an email thru what looked like ebay saying the winner hadn't responded to requests to pay and I being the loser was offered a second chance. Great I replied and future emails I was told that I would recieve an invoice through ebay that he didn't deal outside of them

Then I got another email from"ebay" giving details of the sellers address and would I pay through Western Union. Very well done it looked like the real thing but it was the Western Union thing that set the alarm bells ringing

I reported it to ebay and they came back and said it was a fraud.

They seem to watch real auctions with large amounts and target the loser.

As far as I can see the auction was real and the winner got his camera.

So beware of second chance offers that look like they come from ebay.

Cheers Colin
 
Colin,

scamming on ebay is getting more prevalent - which is why I don't sell/buy on there anymore. Just one example:

Search on "alienware" (laptop's). Make sure you do a worldwide search and see what pops up. Look at all those being "sold" as a 1 day auction. Virtually all of them are scams with ebay ID's being stolen. Amazing!!!!!

Oh!and another one seeing as this is scuttlebutt - raymarine scam http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RAYMARINE-C-120-12...1QQcmdZViewItem
 
Get a product like qurb which interfaces with Outlook and express, and it displays a little logo showing if the email actually comes from ebay or paypal - it authenticates them. Then you know if the email is genuine or not. Experienced peeps can do that quickly anyway, but for people who are not used to spoof email, it can be useful.
 
Well, the rrp is about $2500 - so he's selling a brand new display for one fifth of its real price. If it looks too good to be true, it not normally is. Also, he's not actually holding on auction but is asking you to email him. I suspect he then asks you to send him the money via Western Union and that's the last you ever hear of him.

I actually use eBay a lot to both buy and sell. The vast majority of items are genuine sales - the scams are a tiny percentage - and it isn't as bad as the stories suggest. Just use common sense and don't believe that you have any extra protection than if you buy something from a magazine advert. Never make direct bank transfers to the seller - always post a cheque, use Paypal or collect and pay cash.
 
You can check the header details of the email, but you need to understand what they mean, and where the various routes came from. Not easy for the uninitiated.
 
Anyone who insists on using Western Union for eBay payments is more than likely running a scam. If you are enticed to use Western Union then protect yourself by using their password facility to secure the funds and refuse to release them until you receive the goods.
 
If Western Union is so bad, as reported regularly. Why are they not being investigated and / or gone out of business as people shy away as soon as those two words are now spoken.

As this company has been responsible now for seemingly millions of dollars of fraudulent sales and probably a great deal more money washing, how are they still there, wherever there is?

Most World banks have to follow a code of practice, how come they seem exempt?
 
That in itself is no real warning of being a scam. There are many other indicators which don't involve Western Union.

A bit like saying don't use ATM's cos they could be fake or have scanning equipment on them, both of which happen, but rarely
 
Western Union provides a valuable service for people who wish to move money legitimately.

My sister wired money to my niece whilst backpacking and got excellent service. They provide a service to move real cash from one place to another and as it is a cash service it will attract the scammers.

Try googling western union scam and you'll get one or two hits.
 
The problem with Western Union is people misusing it. It's the electronic equivalent of handing over wads of cash, which is fine for "wiring" money from A to B, especially if A is an anxious parent, and B is their gap year offspring that has run short of funds in Katmandoo.

What it's not so good at is coping with any concept that B might have received the money under false pretences (e.g. offspring actually in body piercing parlour in Brighton), and that A wants it back again. With credit cards or paypal (normal ebay service) you get some comeback. When you have wired funds to a nigerian conman using Western Union, you get someone else to buy you one at the bar to commiserate.

dv.
 
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