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Textbook case of an ebay fraud/scam

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WidespreadPanic

WidespreadPanic

Jedi Hopeful
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$4300 Buy It Now? Hardtop, Overdrive, 54k miles, new suspension, blah blah blah.... Who wouldn't? Except, you cant place a bid!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nonono.gif

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so the trick on this one is the pre-approved bidder list. The (((seller))) sifts through all the requests from interested parties that have emailed him asking to get on the (((pre-approved))) bidder list. Once he id's his victim (usually a newer user, thought to have low experience, etc.) he attempts to negotiate an off ebay transaction, normally requesting payment via Western Union Moneygram or a similar service.

The old saying "If it looks to good to be true...." has never applied more.

link to ebay scam auction
 
There was a MKll Mini Cooper on ebay the other day. "Completely restored". In Madison Wisconsin, Buy it Now for $5500. It also had a pre-approved bidders list. I emailed the guy and he sent me a response saying that the transaction would be carried out through ebay. I asked some more questions. Strangely enough, I have not heard back! It was either a scam (probable) or someone got a great deal (unlikely). I tried to sell my Morris Minor Traveller last week on ebay. I included my phone number so people could actually ask me about it. I got one call and many offers to buy but they wanted to send me lots of extra money on their money order (Yeah right). Car didn't sell and the bidding didn't go very high. I wonder if the abundance of scams is sending real buyers away?
Bruce /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/driving.gif
 
Earlier this year someone outside of Milwaukee listed a very nice 6 for an unbelievably low price. I contacted him to find out when I could inspect the car. The auction was pulled almost instantly.
 
looks like the scam auction has been yanked by ebay.

[ QUOTE ]
This listing (200050901203) has been removed or is no longer available. Please make sure you entered the right item number.
If the listing was removed by eBay

[/ QUOTE ]
 
According to research scams and fraud get worse around the holidays. I don't know if that applies to big ticket scams, such as with vehicles, but be very careful.
 
I lost an auction a few weeks go on a TR2...I got a spoof email a few days later offering me the car for my bid price.

The trouble is I was already talking to the REAL seller in case his foreign buyer didn't pay...he finally DID pay and I didn't get the car.

BUT...ebay followed up on my spoof email complaint TWICE and I thought they did a good job of responding.
 
Its true. Usually when you make a complaint to Ebay they follow up pretty quickly. Its in their best interest to.
 
There was a nice 77 low mileage Spitfire listed on Ebay a couple weeks ago. I e:mailed the guy twice asking if I could inspect the car before bidding, (lived about 120 from me). Never bothered to answer me, bid's didn't make his reserve, bought another Spitfire instead that I could look at before buying.

Don
 
About a month ago, there was a sweet red MGB on ebay. It had all of the usual scam touches such as father's car and he was a SCCA racer that won three national championships in a row in a Production class. You would be hard pressed to finish three years in a row in an MGB, much less win. The kicker was the pics of the car. It showed the car parked in front of some really tall pine trees. Probably sugar pines. Trees that big only grow out west and usualy above 5000 feet. He said the car was here in Mass. I emailed him and said I had the cash and a trailer and would come buy it now. My buddy emailed him and said he was from Tenn and could Western Union him the money that night and pick the car up in a month. Guess who got a reply. It turns out that he stole someones ebay account who had a flawless record. The victim didn't even know there was a car listed under his name.
 
does anyone live in this part of Pa. If it's for real I'll take it.
Don
 
the auction has been pulled by Ebay. It was a scam.

Believe you me, I would have been on my way up there with a trailer yesterday if it was legit.
 
My sister lives in Poolesvile. I would have had her husband looking at it if I could have kept him from adding in to his corral
 
[ QUOTE ]
It turns out that he stole someones ebay account who had a flawless record. The victim didn't even know there was a car listed under his name.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is the part of the scam that really bothers me. How can one steal an Ebay account? Are they getting info from ebay employees ? Or are they just guessing passwords? How many ebay user passwords do you think are actually the word "password"? Ebay needs to make their password requirements more rigorous, like requiring upper and lower case, non alpha characters and numerals.
 
The crooks send out emails that look like they are from ebay. These emails look legit. At some point they have a spot to fill in info. One time I was on Grassroots Motorsports site, and there was a thread to an ebay listing. On that site there was a spot to send to a friend just like on ebay. I typed in my info to email to a friend and all heck broke loose. I quickly unplugged my computer and got it to a computer shop. Somebody was in the process of downloading everything on my PC. I had to get new accounts and passwords for everything. Be careful.
 
I had my ebay account invaded several weeks ago. Not sure how he got the password, but he preceeded to sell(scam) several big ticket items. He listed them with just 1 day bidding hoping no one would catch him. I just so happen to be selling some stuff myself and canceled the sale. Ebay refunded the charges and MADE me change my password. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
I had my ebay account invaded several weeks ago. Not sure how he got the password, but he preceeded to sell(scam) several big ticket items. He listed them with just 1 day bidding hoping no one would catch him. I just so happen to be selling some stuff myself and canceled the sale. Ebay refunded the charges and MADE me change my password. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]


did you happen to see this auction today? It looks like its in your neck of the woods. Seemed legit other than the fact the car is advertised as a 75 when it appears to be a 74 or earlier.

Link to TR6 auction
 
As an ebay user you would have to set your password. When I first started I had a very easy password and after about 1.5 years and some one caught it and started to use it. There are programs out there that will figure out your password if you are using names or words. Mine was eagle123, a real toughy. Now I use nonsensical combinations of letters and numbers, and change it about every 6 months.
I really feel that WE have to be the ones to make it tougher on the spam/con artists. Let common sense prevail in your actions with vendors/sellers that you don't know. Con artists have been out there since the begining of time and it isn't going to change, so be careful.
Tinkerman
 
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