Ebay Scam

[Lextreme II]

There was a listing of a 2004 Z06 with T56 transmission with starting bid of $500 and the seller on zero feedback and that should ring a bell. So I email the seller and asking for his name and number. and this is what he responded:

Hi,

You can buy this engine right now for only 3500 US$(shipping taxes included).
If you are ready to buy it please reply with your full name and address so we can start the delivery.
As soon as the package will be prepared and verified by eBay , you will immediately receive eBay's notification with the shipping status and the payment instructions.
You will receive the package within 2(two) days upon payment verification.
Waiting to hear back fom you with the requested info needed to move forward with our transaction.
Thank you for your time and interest !!

So I email him again with this:
I would like to pick it up myself. What is your address and phone number?

david

This is what he responded:

Reply with your full name and address so we can start the delivery.
You will soon receive the invoice with all the instructions in order to complete our deal.
thank you


So I did and give him a fake address and this is what he responded:

David,

I want to inform you that everything is DONE !
I prepared the shipping and paid for all the shipping costs and also for the insurance of the engine.
You will soon receive eBay's notification with the shipping status and the payment instructions.
It was a pleasure doing business with you.
Thank you for your time and cooperation

This is what I got from him. http://www.lextreme.com/misc/Ebay-Scam.pdf Read the terms it is just too funny.

So watchout for this guy Patrick McDonough.

 

[Lextreme II]

Update:

I chat live with a Ebay Rep and this is the conversation: www.lextreme.com/misc/ebay-scam-rep.pdf

Looks like ebay is a very unsafe enviroment for good citizens like us.

 

[Smitherz]

Yeah you really have to know your stuff when buying something that is a lot of money on eBay. I tell friends and fam to get some concrete facts when spending large amounts on ebay and if anything is kinda weird to just not follow through. It's almost not worth the stress sometimes but if its a rare item then sometimes it's the only way to get it.

Feedback is IMPORTANT and I recommend reading a lot of the sellers feedback. Even if a seller has 100% feedback still read it. I've seen a lot of sellers bribe buyers by MAKING them submit positive feedback before shipping an item or holding back on the whole transaction itself. They can have 50 positive feedback with 15 of them neutral due to the seller threatening not to send the item if the buyer doesn't change the negative feedback to neutral.

I had a seller try this crap with me and I quoted certain lines in his email that showed his attempt at feedback extortion. I found a specific section in the Ebay security/policy which addresses feedback extortion and sent it to him. This took care of his attitude pretty quickly and everything turned out ok from that point on.

I've seen kids scam on Ebay using their parents account and their parents don't do anything... here is how to deal with this:

If you can prove to UPS or Fed EX etc. that they indeed did scam on Ebay (which wasn't that hard in my friends case) then they totally blacklist the address of that Ebay account from which the seller used. Then the shipping companies WILL NOT do business, pick up or recieve packages from that address at all! The bad parents flipped out and took care of the situation (their kid accepted $1400 for a fake auction in Canada and thought he was safe) they paid my friend back very quickly and said, "ok now our situation with UPS is good now right?" My friend told them, "that's between you and UPS and has nothing to do with me." An investigator did call from here in the U.S. to the Canadian Police and they worked pretty fast to send a policeman to their door and have a talk with the parents too.

I would have a hard time sending any large payment to a P.O. Box for a private individual or small business!!

 

[jibbby]

You need to be experienced to avoid scams on Ebay... Rules to remember...

1) Never respond to Ebay emails sent to your private and personal Mailbox...Lot of fake Ebay emails that encourage you to give out personal info....

2) When buying always look at the sellers latest feedbacks... Look for a good Ebay rating and a good history....

3) Always you paypal for buyer protection..

4) Never complete an Ebay transaction outside of Ebay and Paypal...

Follow those rules and you should be ok....

 

[Tempeheat]

yep

watch out for the Craiglist scams too. A co worker of mine got scammed selling his car. Its a very common scam of being asked to pay the car shipper out of a check sent by the buyer. They act like they want you to send your car overseas. Of course I wouldn't have fallen for this since I've seen it for years. Don't ever take checks and if you do ask your banks fraud department before depositing it if you think its fake. The routing number will be off just a bit. people that pull these scams should be shot at sunrise and thrown in a ditch...bastards:AR15firing::28:

 

[jibbby]

Yep, the famous I am sending a messenger with a check scam... That's old, but always be weary of fake checks... I've received fake postal money order checks from scammers...