why so many scam ebay car auctions?

[mikeouk]

Ive noticed more and more auctions which are quite obviously scammers,they always for something prestige or sporty, porsche,ferrari,mercedes,bmw etc ,they always have a note under the main heading,usualy something like "special buy it now £3800" which is always a fraction of the actual cars worth,they will always have a note saying something like "any questions email me direct"and then theres always a @yahoo or @msn or other webbased email. Ive reported loads of these to ebay and they always get pulled, ive actualy emailed the proposed seller to see what response and its always sum **** and bull story about how the car is uk reg but at the moment is abroad etc etc,,,,,but I want to know do people actualy fall for this type of thing and who are the people behind it and how do they actualy make money out of it and are the accounts they use always hyjacked??????

 

[Shude]

Ive noticed more and more auctions which are quite obviously scammers,they always for something prestige or sporty, porsche,ferrari,mercedes,bmw etc ,they always have a note under the main heading,usualy something like "special buy it now £3800" which is always a fraction of the actual cars worth,they will always have a note saying something like "any questions email me direct"and then theres always a @yahoo or @msn or other webbased email. Ive reported loads of these to ebay and they always get pulled, ive actualy emailed the proposed seller to see what response and its always sum **** and bull story about how the car is uk reg but at the moment is abroad etc etc,,,,,but I want to know do people actualy fall for this type of thing and who are the people behind it and how do they actualy make money out of it and are the accounts they use always hyjacked??????

Why? I'll tell you why: GREED

Greed on the part of the "seller" who just wants to make a quick bit of cash and greed on the part of the unsuspecting bargain-hunter who thinks it may be mis-priced or simply a cheap deal too good to miss.

Why is it always a prestige or sports car? If you're going to try to scam people you might as well make it a big sum of money rather than just a few quid. There is no point in scamming poor people is there?

 

[Rory]

I've complained to eBay about these ads too - a couple of yrs ago I was looking for an ThinkPad laptop and it seemed like half of them were scams.
I did suggest to eBay that they shouldn't allow email address in listings.

 

[jaymanek]

I did suggest to eBay that they shouldn't allow email address in listings.

I think a few of my legitimate auctions have been pulled in the past because i had my email address in them...

 

[janner]

It's not just cars.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=260079706461&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=016
Price is about a tenth of its real value. Also item location is UK but the pictures are US/Canada.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I know someone who fell for it, with a caravan though. Exactly as you describe - UK caravan but in Greece following a move out there to buy a business, etc. Attracted by the low price compared to buying one here.

Very elaborate. Was given a shipping number for the export agency. Logged on to the website, entered the shipping number, and the description of item came up, with status set at the item being at dock, and will be shipped on a certain date. Enough to give them the confidence to send 50% by Western Union. Export agency website immediately dissapeared, along with the money.

Police unable to really do anything. They complained to a senior officer in writing, and the response was pretty much "There were plenty of warning signs - you nana!!". An expensive lesson learnt for them.

 

[Rory]

I think a few of my legitimate auctions have been pulled in the past because i had my email address in them...

I didn't say it was a perfect idea!

I do think that eBay, who are supposed to have very sophisticated scanning, could pick up the dodgy listings. If they took them down fast, then people eventually wouldn't bother.

 

[Shude]

Enough to give them the confidence to send 50% by Western Union.

Western Union! That should be warning sign enough surely?

I *received* some money for pedals from SamKet07 (forum member) a couple of years ago via Western Union, I was surprised to find out that my nearest WU office was inside the local ASDA! The money arrived fine but it must have cost Sam a fortune to send it.

Normally anything with Western Union in it should be avoided IMHO

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Western Union! That should be warning sign enough surely?

Absolutely - alarm bells time. Sadly some people only find out when it's too late.

That said the person who was scammed actually had to sign something that said they were not using the service to make payment for goods purchased over the internet - because of comeback in the event of a scam!! And they still went ahead with it...

 

[janner]

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/01/18/tech-ebay.html#skip300x250