eBay Scam

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geek

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I think I've stumbled on...sorry been the victim of an eBay scam.
I wanted a Pay as you go vodafone SIM card for my son's phone. Looked on eBay and bid for one. The seller had a rating of 13 and all the feed back was positive. I made payment by nochex.

A week later nothing has arrived.

After a bit of investigation, it looks like the guy I bought from is now 'Not a registered user'. However there is another userid selling exactly the same stuff with exactly the same format of ad.

Guess who has left this guy positive feedback. Yup the one I bought from.

After more investigation there are at least 7 different userid's that are involved in it. They all bid on each others items, sometimes winning, and then leaving positive feedback. They tend to keep the price below £15 as eBay don't tend to investigate fraud below £15. They even go so far as to retract or cancel bids on each other irems to make it look even more legitimate. eBay is down for routine maintenance at present but when it is up I will post some of the items.

Its so obvious what they are doing, but only because I got caught out.

The eBay response has so far been to just email me their policy on fraud etc.

Any one else been caught out in this way??
 
sorry to hear that.

I have only had one negative experience with eBay - I was the seller at the time.

I sent an item out to somebody with a "p.o. box" number, and it allegedly never turned up. There was no proof of signature, as I had sent it parcelforce.

The "buyer" insisted that I returned his cheque, which I did, and I was compensated by Parcelforce, as the item was insured.

I was sure that there was something dodgy about it though - I went to great lengths to check that this item had arrived and by all accounts it had.

When I challenged the buyer, he became very abusive and threatening.

I was going to report it to eBay but a few months later, the guy's status changed to "not a registered user" (surprise surprise !) so they must have caught on to him in the end.

They will investigate stuff like this, so make sure that you do report it.

I'm pleased to say that the vast majority of my dealings on eBay have been very smooth transactions and you can certainly pick up some bargains - makes me really angry when things like this happen though !

Hope you get it sorted.

S.
 
Thanks Sym.

Although the amount of money I spent was not a lot, it really P*sses me off when people do this. Like you most of my dealings with people on eBay have been excellent, but this appears to be a major scam that could be making them thousands.

I will keep this thread updated (if people are interested) with what happens.
 
Originally posted by geek
I will keep this thread updated (if people are interested) with what happens.

I'm sure a lot of people will be interested, keep us posted please.
 
I bought my current car (200T) from e-bay. Seller stated that the exhaust was blowing. £450 later (new exhaust, disks, pads, brake lines, headlight, tyres and a wiper blade) I managed to get it M.O.T'd. Dont regret it but a lesson was learnt. Caution when listening to what others have to say about an item.
 
sorry to hear that dude ... My only sympahy i can offer is that it was only £15

My friend was scamed out of £1000 from a dude selling a " laptop" He got his pants pulled down and never heard from the guy:mad: :devil:
 
I've been watching this item. The sellers feedback looks very similar to that described above. Cheers chaps.
 
I think sending a cheque is sound advice.....if they were dumb enough to pay it in to an account then it would easily be traceable and you could just report the fraud to the police yourself.

An easy case for the police to follow up.

The thing that intruiges me is how someone can clone a ebay ID. No two people can have the same ID so unless the password on the cloned accounts were very weak, ebay must have a security breach - possibly internally.
 
The problem is that the amount of money involved per transaction is very low. In most cases its under £15. I can't see the police getting involved to try and get back that sort of money.

I'm still trying to progress it with the eBay fraud team, as I am convinced that this is a BIG scam.

Am I allowed to post eBay ID's on here so that you guys can have a look as well??
 
Originally posted by geek
Am I allowed to post eBay ID's on here so that you guys can have a look as well??

Just point us in the direction of the item for sale, then we can see the seller etc and delve into history if we want to.

Keep it simple this is a MB forum remember.
 
Another SCAM is hijacking of a legitimate user ID

I got caught buying a bose lifestyle Hi Fi

the deal sounded too good to be true & it was I lost £800 Ouch!!

I thought I was dealing with seller A who had superb Feedback but when I emailed a question the reply came from Seller B (the hijacker who had intercepted seller A 's account details) posing as Seller A . the auction got ended early and I was persuaded by email that it was a technical hitch - I received an official looking email from ebay - it was in fact a fraud assuring me the seller was ok to deal with.

I sent the money in cash by Western Union at the sellers insistance, believing all was well, and heard nothing. The Police are involved as they are conducting a major investigation on a national scale into internet fraud including ebay. But my cash is gone! the robber is in MALAGA Spain . He calls himself Anthony Rivers

Morale : Never ever send cash . always a credit card transaction or legitimate bank to bank transfer.

Trust No One - cover your back with every tranaction. If there is any doubt or suspision- WALK AWAY from the deal . there will always be other legitmate auctions. I have done a fair bit of business on Ebay - buying & selling and it has been fine - apart from this one when I broke my own rule, & ignored my instincts - basically hunger for a cheap buy overwhelmed my better judgement.

:mad:
 
Trying to keep it simple....

The following is a link to one item that shows what they are doing, but if you look at the history and the bidders they all inter-linked. Try searching on their names for what they have sold and bid on in the past.

I have also proof that the 2 people on this item (buyer and seller)are the same and are using the same nochex account.eBay Link
 
Gents
to be honest with you I am always on the look out. I never use a credit card. I ask for their name and address and post a cheque. Most decent people will accept that and if you write the card number on the back then then post back straight away. With a name and address at least you have some comeback.

Cheers
Ian
 
I am an ebay user, both buyer and seller and my ID is geordie_the_parrot. This link is to my ebay "home page" if you want to see why I chose that name
http://members.ebay.co.uk/aboutme/geordie_the_parrot/
I only mention this so you may get an idea that I know what I'm talking about (just a little, lol)
The fact is that scams are rife on ebay. Make no mistake. The problem is that ebay customer support are so pathetic that when they are made aware of such goings on, it takes over a week for them to do anything about it. Obviously,by this time, the auction has ended and the damage has been done. With this in mind, there are some people who, rightly or wrongly, bid on these auctions just to make sure they win and thus prevent an innocent buyer being duped.
There are many places on ebay and the web as a whole, where advice is given on how to avoid fraudulent auctions and how to spot the tell-tale signs of a scam. All I can suggest is that there is a lot to be learned from the old sayings such as "If it looks too good to be true, it probably is"and ebays catch-all, "Caveat emptor"(hope that's right) meaning "Buyer Beware"
 
Steve,

Doesn't it get a bit cold in that shed come winter what with no insulation and all?

I'm guessing that the poor parrott has to move back indoors come winter.
 
sp!ke, NO INSULATION ??????? You must be joking.
There is a double wall system with loft insulation between the walls, 6 inch thick insulating poly under the floor and 4 inches of fibre-foam between inner and outer roofing.
Believe me when I say it is insulated. lol
BTW, The parrot never lives in the shed. She only goes out there with me.
Remember, People with sheds never need to watch QVC, lol
 

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