New eBay SCAM fraud

This is a new one:

Looking at eBay motors, other vehicles, aircraft, when you click on an auction it redirects you to a fake sign in page. If you enter your account info, name and password, you just gave it to a criminal.

Yesterday it was a black L-39 jet trainer for $30,000 buy now. Of course too good to be true, but I wanted to look. I did not fall for it and clicked out of the sign in page. What clued me in was the address line was a fake/fraud address. I went back to the auction to see if it would do the redirect again, but eBay had shut it down. (GOOD)

Today, there is another 3 identical auctions in the aircraft section. This time with a picture of a lady holding roses, with the same redirect fake sign-in scam.

DON'T ever sign-in or give your info out unless it is in the eBay sign-in page and address starts with---- https://signin.ebay.com/

The above scam pages looked like an eBay sign-in page. but if you look at the address it was NOT eBay. JUST BE CAREFULL. If you are being asked to sign-in just looking at an auction. WATCH OUT.

They finally got rid of the re-occurring $300 Garmin 396 fake auctions. Right a $2500 GPS for $300.


It is so sad. There are whole organized crime groups in Eastern Europe, and their main goal is to defraud people over the WWWeb. That is it. They try to steal account and personal info. On my junk e-mail account I get a couple of Nigerian offers a week. Sometimes 3 in one day. So sad and makes me very mad. I HATE CRIMINALS. I have never been scammed, but the first step in avoiding it is knowing I can be scammed anytime.
George

Shoot! I was counting on my Nigerian money to buy a Chelton EFIS.

If you all want a great laugh, check out this site. Basically it's a bunch of Brits who rope in these Nigerian-type scammers and mess with their heads. Extremely funny way to pass slow times at the office and it makes you feel good that these scum-bags are getting jerked around.

Another version of the scam showing up recently is a letter to your e mail that looks like an e bay message. It is full of nasty threats because you have not delivered an item you sold to them. Which is true because you haven't sold anything recently to anybody. It gets ya all ticked off and when you attempt to respond the web page again asks for username and password. I have gotten 3 of these in the last 2 weeks.

Speaking of a $2300 GPS for $300...... I have given up on e bay avionics most of the good stuff gets into a bidding frenzy and goes for more than new prices.

ebay bidding frenzy

N395V said:

I have given up on e bay avionics most of the good stuff gets into a bidding frenzy and goes for more than new prices.

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I know what you mean. The only way you can get a good deal on avionics on ebay is if the guy selling enters gamrin 403 instead of garmin 430 in the title, and no one else finds it.

I am selling a sports car and I had a scammer send me a check (to a P.O. Box even) for $8000 more than I wanted for the car. He asked me to send him back the extra 8 bones through Western Union. I took the check to my bank and they called the bank the check was written on (out of Canada) and big surprise it was a written on a fraudulent account. I wrote the scammer, who would not call me or give me his phone # and told him I got drunk drove the car into a lake but as soon as it dried out I would get him the car. He said, "no was not problem, where's my check?" The bank told me I needed to report this to the FBI. To add insult to injury, the FBI said they really didn't care. Oh, well I a pretty check out of it.

another one

Here is another...I received an email the other day from Paypal saying that I needed to update my account info. They gave a highlighted word to redirect me to their site. After checking the redirect, I found that it went to PaypaT not Paypal. I notified Paypal about the email and they said that they would look into it.
WORD TO THE WISE...Don't ever give your financial info to anyone that you don't absolutely feel safe with and never let anyone redirect you to a site to give info.


Jim Kinsey
7A Wings

Jkkinz said:

Here is another...I received an email the other day from Paypal saying that I needed to update my account info. They gave a highlighted word to redirect me to their site. After checking the redirect, I found that it went to PaypaT not Paypal. I notified Paypal about the email and they said that they would look into it.
WORD TO THE WISE...Don't ever give your financial info to anyone that you don't absolutely feel safe with and never let anyone redirect you to a site to give info.


Jim Kinsey
7A Wings

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That is one of the oldest tricks in the book. By clicking on the link, these guys will quickly change your password denying you access to your own account, and then proceed to pick you clean before you have a chance to straighten things out. NEVER EVER open a link directed by an e-mail. Called "Phishing", I've received DOZENS of fraudulent e-mails by bogus Paypal, and eBay sites threatening all manner of sanctions. The sites look authentic in almost every way. Usually the most obvious tip-off is when they address you as "Dear Paypal Member" or Dear eBay Member". Official e-mails will always refer to you by name and NEVER ask you to click on a link. There are other things to look for in suspicious e-mails and for your own protection, I'd advise you to look into them. I simply forward such e-mails to the fraud departments of the noted sites and usually within 24 hours receive an e-mail confirmation of the fraudulent nature of the mail.
On a related matter, though far less deadly, I have received several highly questionable e-mails lately with no subject line and an attachment seemingly coming from the Matronics RV list. I guess I alienated the wrong guy who means to send me a gift that keeps on giving!

Rick Galati RV-6A "Darla"

Rick, that is a good point about Phishing. The I use the "new" Microsoft IE 7 has Phishing Philter, I mean filter. I really don't know if it works. I try to stay pretty savey on the spooffing. You have to stay one step ahead.

Interestingly enough, the L-39 "Buy it now" bogus auction is still up on Ebay as of 11:15am Central time. You click to look at it and it goes to a signin screen that is totally phony.

Fun stuff.

I've been ripped off twice on E-bay, twice in the same day that is! Someone in Europe hijacked some legitimate accounts, and the camera equipment I thought I was getting from reputable people with positive feedback a mile long was actually bogus. This wasnt the $2000 camera for $500 tipoff either, it was a competitive bid online with everyone else. Ebay rejected my insurance guarantee claim with them - they said it was because I was not dealing with an Ebay member! Paypal was so slow to get off the block, that I just had my credit card company put a reverse on everything. Two weeks later I get a nasty email from Paypal claiming I wasnt playing by their rules and they canceled my account! I told them to keep their account because I would never be using them or Ebay ever again (Ebay owns Paypal by the way). I was later called by a detective following up with the credit card company and he told me about how rampant the fraud is on Ebay, and how they do an excellent job in keeping it all under the radar so they dont loose customers. The scammer that got me sold $1.5 million of non-existant goods. I for one am done with online auction sites.

It is fun to screw with them

Jamie said:

If you all want a great laugh, check out this site. Basically it's a bunch of Brits who rope in these Nigerian-type scammers and mess with their heads. Extremely funny way to pass slow times at the office and it makes you feel good that these scum-bags are getting jerked around.

Click to expand...

I did that once. They thought they where getting a scan of my passport, personal info etc. My pen name was "Woody U Jablowme". I went thru the whole deal up to the getting a Western Union address to send in my $400 "registration fee". I played along and could tell they where chomping at the bit by their emails. My last email to them had attachments that where obscene. Just to be sure it was in international language, BITE ME


I got as much info from them and sent it to the IFCC (Internet Fraud Complaint Center) and Western Union. Western Union was VERY happy to get the info and really seemed to be proactive. Note the scammers alway ask for less than $500 because the flags go up at Western Union with amounts over that. If you tell Western Union its for a eBay auction they will decline it. Of course any Western Union to Nigeria is a red flag. Still if you want to wire money to people you don't know than you should know what is comming. G

rv8ch said:

I know what you mean. The only way you can get a good deal on avionics on ebay is if the guy selling enters gamrin 403 instead of garmin 430 in the title, and no one else finds it.

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And then the seller might just deliver a Gamrin 403!!! It wouldn't be a scam either... 'cause by golly you should'a known that a Gamrin 403 is a cardboard cutout with a magic-marker drawing of a GPS display on one side before you shelled out $400 for it!

Here's a better way. If you need avionics or anything aircraft related just put an add on the Van's Aircraft classified. I have bought several things this way from other RV guys and have had great luck. It's hard to get them to even take your money until after you've received the goods and checked everything out to your satisfaction. I bought the items at a price that was less than the going price from EBAY too.
To the guys out there that helped me get the Nav/Com, intercom, and Garmin GPS I wanted, A BIG THANKS!

Garmin GTX-327 for $800 Fact or Fraud

I just noticed some very attractive pricing on Ebay for a Garmin GTX-327. Starting at $200 buy for $800, condition: New.

The same seller has a Garmin 296 starting at $200 buy it for $700, condition: New.

Futher investigation of the seller yielded 50 items (big tickets-TV,laptops etc) all starting at $200 and the actions lasting only 3 days and ending within a hour of each other.

Addition investigation of the sellers feedback shows that he has only sold one item since 2002 but has purchased 113 items and has positive a rating. But if he is currently selling 50 items on Ebay one would expect he had previously sold a few items before. Not so. In addition this seller hasn't sold or purchased anything on Ebay in over a year. :

What is going on? Here is my take on it.

Open a bank account. Register with PayPal. Post items you don't have (with nice pictures and info) with a very low starting price, no reserve. Make the auctions short and end within hours of each other. Recommend PayPal payment. At the end of the auctions payments arrive in your PayPal account within a day. Wire transfer the money to your bank account (5 days max). Tell the customers you are packaging up their items and it will take a few days to get things ready before shipment (stall tactic). When the wire transfer is received take the money, close out the account and walk away.

Food for thought

Paul M.

They steal accounts

Pmerems said:

I just noticed some very attractive pricing on Ebay for a Garmin GTX-327. Starting at $200 buy for $800, condition: New.
The same seller has a Garmin 296 starting at $200 buy it for $700, condition: New.
Further investigation of the seller yielded 50 items (big tickets-TV,laptops etc) all starting at $200 and the actions lasting only 3 days and ending within a hour of each other.
What is going on? Here is my take on it.
Food for thought Paul M.

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What happens is they steal accounts of honest members, use them to post their fake auctions. Typical of this scam you described is they "don't check their eBay mail" so they have e-mail contacts outside of eBay (against eBay policy). Later you find they want you to pay thru Western Union in Romanian. Hummmm

WHAT REALLY MAKES ME MAD WITH eBay is they are warned by people like you and me, and they take them off. BUT (AND THIS IT THE SCREWED UP PART) THEY LET THE SAME EXACT AUCTIONS, WORD FOR WORD, BE RE-LISTED THE NEXT DAY OR AN HOUR LATER WITH DIFFERENT STOLEN ACCOUNT NAMES!!!! HOW STUPID.

The ID theft trick I mentioned to start this thread was removed. The next day the same L-39 BUY NOW for $30K was back.

Why can't they scan the auctions for tell tale signs and KNOWN scams once they have been reported. Last year FOR a month the same Garmin 396 for $400 scam was repeated over again and again with about 20-40 stolen accounts. It would get reported, they take it off and hour later the same exact auctions (word for word and picture) reappeared. I reported a bunch and they would stay on for a DAY. It was SO obvious they where scams. eBay makes millions and I think they need to hire some more people to do security in the US, not India! (sorry but that is how I feel).

Each time the Garmin appeared, the same stolen member account was listing 30-80 other items! Of course all the items where high dollar items as you said. Besides the GPS they where doing scams on computers, audio, electronics, music instruments, bikes, binoculars, cameras and so on. I knew it was the same person because they used the same bunch of outside e-mail addresses.

eBay says there are too many to check and an auction goes LIVE right away. They claim they can't gaurd for this. I pointed out that if you get an auction with a outside email address and about 10 other common warning signs, a computer program could kick those out before they go live for further human evaluation. I suspect that members are all they rely on, and they do no more than just take the reported auction off. They don't bother or try to attempt preventing that particular auction or scam artist from re-posting in 5 minutes with new stolen accounts. That is crazy. The scam I saw used the same email addresses over and over for a month. Can't that be stopped? YES it can.

George

GTX 327 follow-on

Pmerems said:

I just noticed some very attractive pricing on Ebay for a Garmin GTX-327. Starting at $200 buy for $800, condition: New.

The same seller has a Garmin 296 starting at $200 buy it for $700, condition: New.

Futher investigation of the seller yielded 50 items (big tickets-TV,laptops etc) all starting at $200 and the actions lasting only 3 days and ending within a hour of each other.

Addition investigation of the sellers feedback shows that he has only sold one item since 2002 but has purchased 113 items and has positive a rating. But if he is currently selling 50 items on Ebay one would expect he had previously sold a few items before. Not so. In addition this seller hasn't sold or purchased anything on Ebay in over a year. :

What is going on? Here is my take on it.

Click to expand...

Take a look at the reply I received from a question I asked the seller of the GTX 327.


From Remus Vlad <[email protected]>

Dear Customer,

This product are brand new in the box[NTSC and PAL], never used, under full US
warranty (1 year) and with invoice.
They come with all original listed accessories ,including manuals,all
in english.My buy it now price is the best you can find.
Also the price is very cheap because we are in post transition(economical speaking).
.Shipping is world wide via UPS air services and is
free.Payment is via Western Union money transfer because i can't use PAY PAL because my account of PayPal was hacked.
If you are really interested to buy this product please email me your
full name and address for shipping and eBay Staff will contact you
with the payment instructions to complete this transaction.
Please note that this transaction will be made through eBay(eBay
guarantees the safety of this transaction).
Please reply with the following details:
ebay user ID:
First Name:
Middle Name (if any):
Last Name:
Street Address:
City:
State/Province:
Zip Code:
Country:
Phone Number:
Product Name :
Email Adress :
Price Product :
if you have any questions left please contact me any time
Thank you!

BTW all his auctions suddenly dissappeared (all 50 of them) overnight. I wonder if Ebay pulled them.

Paul M.

New Spin

I bid on this item.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...d=1,1&item=4616484039&sspagename=STRK:MEDW:IT

It looks like it is everything you would need for your RV, but possibily damaged. Still the price was such that some of it had to be good enough to make the money. (The action ended at $1700, I figure if everything worked the items were work 4k-5k)

I bid fairly low, and was outbid, by a few people. The next day I get a "Second Chance Offer" from an email account that was not Ebay's.

I asked to pick them up in person because the items were in my same state. He gave a lame reason "I don't want my family involved in my transactions". I told him I would have to pass. He then sent another email asking why.

Today, I got another "Second Chance Offer" from a different non-Ebay email account. This one I sent straight to [email protected]. When I get home to where the other email is, I will forward that to [email protected] too.


You know, at this point they would be better off shutting down the whole ebay site until they can come up with a more secure method.

I get scam mail from PayPal and E-bay pretenders every week. I frankly don't have time to either sift through them, report them or even look at them. DELETE. I won't buy anything off E-bay again. Just a big hassle and too much risk these days. I watched a 3 year old Bendix Skymap IIIC GPS go for $200 less than you can buy a new one for with warranty and current database. There were a frenzy of bids in the last 5 minutes where it went from $550 to $1700. I can't figure who would do that? Bidding fever I guess.

Hard to get a good deal anymore on anything common.

Baja_Traveler said:

Paypal was so slow to get off the block, that I just had my credit card company put a reverse on everything. Two weeks later I get a nasty email from Paypal claiming I wasnt playing by their rules and they canceled my account! I told them to keep their account because I would never be using them or Ebay ever again (Ebay owns Paypal by the way).

Click to expand...

Be very careful doing this if you have your bank account linked to your PayPal account. If you issue a chargeback on your credit card without PayPal's permission, they've been known to recoup that money out of your bank account.

To be fair

Chofrock said:

You know, at this point they would be better off shutting down the whole ebay site until they can come up with a more secure method.

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I don't totally agree. If you read the security info eBay has and follow all policies you will be afforded a reasonable level of security. Obviously,

Read the learn about........
http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/
http://pages.motors.ebay.com/services/overview.html

The big ones I have seen are:
Off eBay correspondence (ANY)
Cash, Western Union payment
Second Chance offers
Out of country
Anything does not match exactly
And lately auctions that redirects page to steal account info
(you computer guys know how that works, hidden code HTML?)


Always ask lots of questions before bidding and if possible call them if needed. If there's ANY DOUBT, don't bid or pay.


If you follow all the above, you reduce the chance of rip off to considerably, however there's no 100% here I would agree. If you don't follow the security and policies you are a sitting duck.


I always look at their feedback, what they have bought or sold in the past and check for the "Too good to be true" warning.

I have never got ripped and have sold my junk for a fair price. I had one bidder not pay, but it was one of my first auctions for a old cel phone for $8. I never shipped it, and the dude ended up with a negative feedback rating.

As a buyer there was one item I bought, a CD player that did not come with the AC adapter. It took a few months, but he got with the program after I filled a complaint and he sent it. After almost 100 other successful auctions thats it. Oh yes I bought one item I was not super happy with. Nothin wrong but it was not what I expect exactly. I was able to send them back with no problem and the seller went out of the way, paying for all shipping, to and from. Nice guy.

They are not going to shut eBay down. We are all smart. As the price of the item goes up, avionics, cars any big ticket item, you have to turn-up the BS detector to full and take every precaution. I would be hesitant to buy anything over $500-$1000 from an individual with a low rating on eBay. In the case of the stolen accounts. I love it that a member who only bought needle-point and stuffed dolls but now is selling $8,000 avionics! Hummmmm (stolen account).

In fact I would likely only deal with a super seller or dealers for big ticket items. There was one case where a super seller went bad and sold a whole bunch of stuff and skipped town out of the blue. They got him (like the scene in Fargo when the Cops get William H. Macy in the hotel at the end of the movie). If you did not see it yet sorry, but its your fault for not seeing one of the best movies made in the last 10 years). What happened to the bidders money I don't know? It happens.

George

I agree with you. As a seller it is a great place to do business, things seem to go for much more than what you could sell them for anywhere else.

As a buyer, ebay is not so great. Things often sell for much more than they are really worth. Even if you have the winning bid 11 seconds from the end of the auction, you can still get out bid, by two people. I wish someone would explain how that happened to me.

Not only are things overpriced, but there is a lot of fraud on the site. There is no way that ebay can possibly keep up with all of it, and I have little faith in them actually being able to get my money returned to me. So essentially I have to either hope I am dealing with a "Nice Guy" or do lots of research on the username (and hope the account has not been stolen).

When you add all of that up, it just is not worth the hassle to buy overpriced stuff.

I do agree that Fargo is an awesome movie though. However, I would not buy a copy of it off of ebay.

Gambling, you can't win if you don't play

Chofrock said:

Even if you have the winning bid 11 seconds from the end of the auction, you can still get out bid, by two people. I wish someone would explain how that happened to me.

Not only are things overpriced, but there is a lot of fraud on the site.

When you add all of that up, it just is not worth the hassle to buy overpriced stuff. I do agree that Fargo is an awesome movie though. However, I would not buy a copy of it off of ebay.

Click to expand...

Words of wisdom. One there are programs or "services" outside eBay that will bid for you seconds before an auction closes. I have even heard of last second bids and rebidding to just jam the process up to block others. Don't know how that works but suspect they also have fast connections to the WWW. That is the nature of the game.

As far as overpaying, I agree 100%. I have got great deals, however I am a little embarrassed about some of the prices I have got for my junk. Hey its good junk and worth it, but I would not pay that for it. No one forced them to bid. They saw it, wanted it and bought it.

If you have the skill and look around the most popular method of getting deals is finding auctions that are in the wrong category have misspelled title words. If no sees it, than you may get it cheap. Looking at cars, they almost always reserve prices that are near or at market value, BUT there are deals. Once on a BMW motor cycle that did not sell on ebay. The reserve was not met. I called the dealer after the auction closed and offered a low ball cash offer. He countered with a wholesale price. I went and looked at it, and it was a deal. Same with cars. If they don't sell you can offer a price and they may go for it, so they don't have to deal with listing again. Not exactly per the eBay policy so I don't recommend it. This works for only large dealers. I would not do that with individuals.

Its like gambling, you kind of get into the chance of "winning" a deal. I personally don't gamble at all and if its a penny over a clear bargain, I don't bid. I do watch certain items and sometimes they just slip thru the cracks and not enough bid on it or bid high enough. Key strategy is patients, let them go if they go too high and know what it's worth and what its selling for. If it is a HOT product, you are right it will sell for what the market will bear, which is too much. Capitalism at its best.

George