Example of a common Ebay scam and how to avoid it.

Fraud Chaser

Hi Greebo! Good for you for spotting the scam.

We receive just about every phishing letter under the sun. Sometimes we'll go investigate the site at the end of the link. Even so, whether the link is a suspicious one or not, I make a habit of copying all email links into a new window and going over to the scam site from there. That's not a huge protection device, but every little bit helps.

Thanks for sharing your story with us,

Annie

myjugsarehuge

I won a mobile phone from an UK ebayer last week. First thing he's sold although has feedback of 8 for purchases. It was stock photo not one he had taken himself I should have been suspicous.

I paid him with Paypal in the normal way but screen says my payment is pending and the seller has not claimed it. When I messaged him he says he never got it and now wants me to send payment again to a different email addy without adding the Ebay item number etc. Sounds like a complete scam. I've reported it to Ebay but what do you think.

Julie
www.enjoy-our-hospitality.com

thesteve

You're right here, never send a payment to a paypal account that is not linked to the item. SOme guy from singapore tried to get me to do the same for a tripod for a camera. Eventually he sent it to me without paying him to show he was honest and I paid the 'unlinked' account then...

Nunu

I got this email today purporting to be from paypal. I'm a new ebay and paypal user, only bought my first item last week, so the timing of it gave me a bit of a fright and nearly had me fooled because of it all being new to me. Has anyone else received this email?

PayPal is committed to maintaining a safe environment for its community of customers. To protect the security of your account, PayPal employs some of the most advanced security systems in the world and our anti-fraud teams regularly screen the PayPal system for unusual activity.

We are contacting you to remind you that on 28 JUL 2006 our Account Review Team identified some unusual activity in your account. In accordance with PayPal's User Agreement and to ensure that your account has not been compromised, access to your account was limited. Your account access will remain limited until this issue has been resolved.

To secure your account and quickly restore full access, we may require some additional information from you for the following reason:

We have been notified that a card associated with your account has been reported as lost or stolen, or that there were additional problems with your card.


This process is mandatory, and if not completed within the nearest time your account or credit card may be subject for temporary suspension.

To securely confirm your PayPal information please click on the link bellow:



https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run



We encourage you to log in and perform the steps necessary to restore your account access as soon as possible. Allowing your account access to remain limited for an extended period of time may result in further limitations on the use of your account and possible account closure.

For more information about how to protect your account please visit PayPal Security Center. We apologize for any incovenience this may cause, and we apriciate your assistance in helping us to maintain the integrity of the entire PayPal system.



Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team

When I clicked on the link in the email the url in the address bar changed to http://www.paypal.com.ssl91.com/webscr/login.htm. It asks for your paypal user name and password and then takes you to a screen asking for full credit card details. I went back out and logged in again using a random email and password and the credit card confirmation page came up again. Very, very dangerous.

myjugsarehuge

Did you report it to Paypal ? Helps them keep track of scammers. This is how to do it if you want, its listed under the help section on Ebay.

"If you receive suspicious email that appears to come from PayPal, you can forward this to spoof@paypal.co.uk or spoof@paypal.com (if you registered on the Irish site)"

Just forward the entire email to them, they do get back to you and let you know. Ebay have a similar system in case you receive anything suspicious that you are not sure is from them.

Nunu

Yes, reported it last night and had a reply in my inbox from paypal this morning confirming it as a hoax. They also gave me full detailed instuctions on what to do if I have given over any personal info. Very prompt and helpful indeed.

wildkholly

Do these scammers actually get people to fall for their scams. I must get 50 e-mails a day with misleading scam amil claiming to be ebay, paypal, amazon etc...:cool:

BigCon

I was selling a car on ebay, someone bought it and is trying this scam now. Problem is I can't see how to report it to ebay (keeps saying I must wait for 7 days after the item ends).
Anyone got a contact address?

spurious

BigCon wrote:

I was selling a car on ebay, someone bought it and is trying this scam now. Problem is I can't see how to report it to ebay (keeps saying I must wait for 7 days after the item ends).
Anyone got a contact address?

Report it here:
http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/index.html

shoutman

I just got scammed and I feel like a right mug.

Bought a pair of uggs for my girlfriend. Reputable seller 244 reviews 99.6% positive feedback. All seemed good.
In the auction it said
"AS STATED IN THE LISTING ITEMS WILL BE DELIVERED WITHIN 14 DAYS DUE TO BEING ON HOLIDAY PLEASE DO NOT BID IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THESE TERMS"
Fair enough no problem.

Won the auction then got the email saying that Hi

I have made a mistake and added the wrong paypal email address to the listing.

Payment should be made to busted_242@hotmail.com.

If there is a problem and you do not feel happy about the transaction you
are more than welcome to cancel your order with no negative feedback to be
left.

Any other problems please let me know.

Thanks

Emma.


Of course me being the gullable fool just took her word for it.
I got an email from paypal requesting payment to the above email address. I paid and over three weeks later, and countless emails to her got no reply and no uggs.

At this stage I checked her profile to see that she was no longer a registered user

I sent in the claim to paypal and just got the reply.

"After careful review, we have concluded our investigation of the Buyer
Complaint described below.

We have decided in your favor, however, we were unable to recover any funds
from the seller's account. As stated in the PayPal User Agreement, recovery
of funds associated with a Buyer Complaint cannot be guaranteed."

I am a tool!
But none the less I feel cheated and would like to punch this lady in the vagina.

(Before anyone asks, I rang the number that she gave but it was not a registered number)

scubabeth

Great useful post with some info I didn't know.

Hero Of College

FuzzyLogic wrote: »

Hmm, an interesting one to be sure.
This sounds very very like a scammer, I'd be surprised if it was legit.
While I (an obviously yourself) wouldn't want to tar all Nigerians as scammers, I see your concern. That country is home to a far higher numer of internet scammers than other countries of its population.

A lot of ebayers do register on the day to buy an item. Heck sometimes people register and re-register for each consequitive item.

The buyer did contravene your directions, which will be grounds for a dismissal of the sale if you wish. I suppose, once you recieve your payment, there should be nothing to worry about. Once the money gets to paypal, even if it was a scam, that money is yours. The CC company/paypal/whoever else will take the hit. Just make sure you have that money before going ahead. (obviously)

Will you keep us posted? It'd be interesting to see how this plays out.

**edit: just seen your latest post.
At least ebay copped it before anything happened.
Theyre on the ball like that.

Maybe I am stoopah, but I don't see the guys angle. At best all he has is an email address, albeit the one which forms the username of your PayPal account. After that, he still needs the password. And besides, of all the email addresses in my Address book, there is every chance some of them form the username of paypal accounts.....so technically I too could have someones usernames, and totally legitimately. While I have NO DOUBT that this Nigerian {if thats what he was} was a Scam merchant, if you all could elucidate on the angle of the scam I would be more than grateful.

Hero Of College

thesteve wrote: »

You're right here, never send a payment to a paypal account that is not linked to the item. SOme guy from singapore tried to get me to do the same for a tripod for a camera. Eventually he sent it to me without paying him to show he was honest and I paid the 'unlinked' account then...

Thats right. Then he stings you 10 transactions down the line on a far more expensive item.:mad:

jor el

Hero Of College wrote: »

Maybe I am stoopah, but I don't see the guys angle. At best all he has is an email address, albeit the one which forms the username of your PayPal account.

The scam is, that they are using a hijacked Paypal account, or a stolen card number on the Paypal account. When the real owner notices the payment, the money will be taken back from the seller and refunded to the buyer. It's usually the sellers though luck if they sell to a scammer. The scammer gets away with the item and the seller is out of pocket.

Hero Of College

jor el wrote: »

The scam is, that they are using a hijacked Paypal account, or a stolen card number on the Paypal account. When the real owner notices the payment, the money will be taken back from the seller and refunded to the buyer. It's usually the sellers though luck if they sell to a scammer. The scammer gets away with the item and the seller is out of pocket.

Ahhh...so the transaction is legit but the means by which it is effected is not. Gotcha.

cabtaker

i was given this treatment on selling a laptop about tree years ago,
the would be buyer was putting similar pressure on me to send the laptop,
and also sending emails proproting to come from paypal,

it was odd too that the bid came just about two minutes before the sale of my laptop,
suggests automation,

Sleipnir

If anything is out of the ordinary when using EBay or Paypal, just don't do it.
"Oh, I changed my emails address"
"Oh, that the wrong account"
"Can you ship it elsewhere"

ANYTHING that's not standard, don't do it.

Shaneod21

Thats hillarious

MojoRising

hi all, looking to buy apple imac 24 seen one on ebay in uk gud price maybe to good how safe is it to buy something like this on ebay?any advice appreciated
thanks J:o

AidySevenfold

don't really know where to put this.

sold someone on ebay over 4 days ago, havent recieved payment or a reply to any email?
i can't report yet, have to wait until tomorow.
was looking at the feedback too, its all positive, but one guy gave him positive feedback but called him a prick.

just wondering wat to do?

jor el

AidySevenfold wrote: »

just wondering wat to do?

Wait?

AidySevenfold

Nah really need to get it sold. Plus all the other feedback says they paid straight away so I don't see why they havent now.

Motley Crue

This is to the OP and everyone in general

I have been scammed no less then 4 times THIS WEEK ALONE by people purchasing my items and sending them to Nigeria. Obviously, I haven't sent a single one, but the naivety of some people to think that an obviously forged PayPal document will get me to send my items abroad.

A simple check - check your PayPal account, if there is no new money in the account or pending then you are being frauded

I even had one guy email me back and say he was going to report ME for accusing him of this kind of scam

ttm

Motley Crue wrote: »

This is to the OP and everyone in general

I have been scammed no less then 4 times THIS WEEK ALONE by people purchasing my items and sending them to Nigeria. Obviously, I haven't sent a single one, but the naivety of some people to think that an obviously forged PayPal document will get me to send my items abroad.

A simple check - check your PayPal account, if there is no new money in the account or pending then you are being frauded

I even had one guy email me back and say he was going to report ME for accusing him of this kind of scam

Any Chance you can copy and paste the documents into a reply so we can all see how good or bad these fakes are?

biko

Is this a potential scam?
http://cgi.ebay.ie/Dev-Android-HTC-G1-T-Mobile-Unlocked-/140412110539?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Cell_Phones&hash=item20b136c6cb
Seller is in Ireland but wants a 150 dollars to send to Ireland. Or is it a common trick to get people to bid/buy and then get ripped off on the postage?
I said I'll come over and pick it up in person if so we don't have to worry about postage, will keep yous posted

jor el

biko wrote: »

Is this a potential scam?
http://cgi.ebay.ie/Dev-Android-HTC-G1-T-Mobile-Unlocked-/140412110539?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Cell_Phones&hash=item20b136c6cb
Seller is in Ireland but wants a 150 dollars to send to Ireland. Or is it a common trick to get people to bid/buy and then get ripped off on the postage?

He could be using the postage to avoid paying the eBay and Paypal fees. Postage is excluded from fee calculation, but doing this is against eBay rules. You can report it, if you want to.

High postal charges are common enough, and usually keep the over all price low for the buyer (but saving the seller on fees) but €150 postage is taking the piss. I don't think he'll get away with that.

biko

Yeah I saw his "Please note: Shipping costs are set to avoid ebay's outrageous fees" statement there but for the unwary buyer this could be a nasty surprise indeed.
We'll see what he has to say for himself, if he gets back to me.

rubadub

biko wrote: »

the unwary buyer this could be a nasty surprise indeed.
We'll see what he has to say for himself, if he gets back to me.

He will say no, there is no doubt about that. Nobody should ever bid without knowing the postage costs, they are clearly stated. If some newbie did buy it they could complain and there is no way they would be forced to go through with the auction.

As well as jor el's reasons, it also effectively puts in a reserve price/opening bid free of charge -both of which usually need extra fees. He will get away if nobody reports him, I wouldn't myself, I actively seek out high priced postage sellers as they can work on the same profit margin and sell it to you cheaper. You sometimes see the same seller sell 2 identical items, but the one with higher postage costs will be going for less as a buyitnow.

The risk with this is when there is a problem with the item and they tell ebay it only costed €1, I think there could be a potential scam there but I am not certain. For this reason I would only stick with powersellers who practise this. He is a bit foolish blatantly saying why it is so much.

biko

Yeah he mailed me saying it was to avoid ebay fees.

So in essence, he's happy to use the marketplace but too cheap to pay the rent.
Probably drives around on British plates too

rubadub

biko wrote: »

So in essence, he's happy to use the marketplace but too cheap to pay the rent.

The way I see it the buyer benefits too, like I said he can offer it at a lower price working on the same profit margin, the only one losing out is ebay, the poor destitute souls. I have no doubt they got their fair share from that sale, esp. if the buyer paid via paypal.

I also seek out high postage prices since they usually go for less overall, because many people will not even place a bid as they feel they are being ripped off, so I get it cheaper.