EBAY Scams

I wrote into ebay with this letter:
this and several other are selling cheap laptops from europe at
first i was going to bid but then i saw you gcould chat with them on
yahoo so i did and they said they would not let me unless i sent money
thourgh western union i have had it with three different people today.
This needs to stop here is a copy of my e-mail that i got back from
them1

I willing to sell it for $1000 . At this time I am located in Romania
and I can only take the payment through Western Union money transfer. I
will ship within 24 hours from the payment using the UPS Air Services so
that you may receive the unit in less then 72 hours. For our protection
we will do this deal trough ebay square trade company and our
transaction will be supervised by ebay safe harbour team. You will be
100% protected against description error and fraud. I never make any
deal outside ebay. I will pay the shipping and handling taxes.

Thanks


The item number was 8226919098!

PLEASE STOP THIS!


and I got this reply

Hello,

Thank you for contacting eBay. I can understand your concern in this
situation and I appreciate the opportunity to address your report on
member, dmspano for item 8226919098.

The recent items listed with this account were the result of an
unauthorized account takeover. Unfortunately, we were not aware of this
activity until some time after the listings appeared on the site. Once
we became aware of this activity, immediate action was taken. We are now
in the process of restoring the account to its true owner. At this time
the transaction in question should be considered null and void.

Let me suggest a few ways this could have occurred.

If the user had a relatively simple password or password hint question
it is possible that a third party was able to gain access to the account
by guessing the password.

It is also possible that the user could have unknowingly provided his or
her password to another party. Some eBay members have reported receiving
messages asking for User IDs and passwords. These messages appear to
come from eBay Support, but in fact are not. eBay will never ask for
sensitive information of this nature through email. It is never a good
idea to click on links in emails that come from parties that you don't
know personally. In addition, eBay will never ask you to enter personal
information into text fields within an email.

There are also a number of computer viruses in circulation that log and
record keystrokes. It's recommended that computer users keep their virus
alert software up-to-date, and check their system often for problems. A
firewall for high-speed Internet users is also highly recommended.

Please be aware that eBay urges caution when purchasing high-priced
items, especially if the price seems too good to be true.

We do not recommend the use of instant cash wire transfer services such
as Western Union and MoneyGram, and we ask that users decline sending
payment in cases where these are the only methods of payment offered by
the seller. Generally, if payment is sent using an instant cash wire
transfer service and the item is not delivered as promised, no recourse
is available for recovering funds. In most cases, a verified escrow
service should be used when purchasing high dollar value items. For more
information on the benefits and risks of individual payment methods,
please review the Sending Payments Web page at:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/isgw-fraud-sending-payments.html

Again, thank you for taking the time to write to eBay's Trust and Safety
department. I appreciate your continued help in keeping eBay a safe and
fair place to trade.

We are committed to your online trading safety and success.

Regards,

Venecia
Fraud Prevention Group

SO WATCH OUT FOR THIS STUFF! Im SO GLAD I CAUGHT IT!

 

eBay is a feeding ground for Scams. I don't buy very much there any longer, certainly not computer equipment. It's jsut as bad when you're trying to sell as well.

 

I had four scammers try to buy my laptop before I found a legit buyer.

 

Yup, similar experiences, at least with consumer electronics goods it's a minefield of scammers when buying or selling.

 

I bid on a legit Ferrari 4005 a couple of months back... Over the next 3 weeks, I was flooded with emails from others offering me the same laptop at a huge reduction...

 

One of mine, the guy tell me he needs it for his dauhgter's birthday somewhere in Africa, but surprisingly he is in Sweden. After he uses the buy it now option, he emails asking to send it out right as soon as the money order arrives. I email back saying I'll ship it once I am assured the money order has cleared from my bank. Then emails me back offering escrow site which is fake, but looks totally legit. I can see why some less educated in the ways of the internet are fooled by this. I say fine as long as we use the eBay one. Never hear from him again. It wasn't really the money, ebay was very good about refunding my money and all, but I had to do it five times before I got a legit seller. Pain in the but. Having said all that, I bought both of my ThinkPads on eBay.

 

I sell lots of stuff on ebay and I hope that it doesn't get a bad rap for scam artists.I sell tons of computer stuff and RC car stuff and it really helps me make some cash on old things I don't use much anymore. Sad to see that eBay has gone down the tubes in recent years...

 

um wow ive been using ebay for about five years now its great, i hope you guys just arent jummping on somones bandwagon. I've seen these scams too but if you just ignore them and find what your looking for then there really shouldnt be a problem. strangley enough ive never seen more scams on ebay then for laptops..... i have no clue why though? Also remember its not ebay's fault there are millions upon millions of htings being sold on ebay. They cant possibly keep track of all of them, as long as people register to sell ebay mmakes money from them and thats all there is too it.

 

I've been selling laptops on Ebay and have had my share of attempted scams, usually Nigerian. I have blocked anyone out of the USA from bidding or buying and that helps alot except for the occasional email trying to talk me into ending early and sending to their daughter in school in Nigeria. Emails are just an annoiance, whereas someone ending your auction early is much worse.