eBay Fraud Vigilantes 357
firstadopter.com writes "New York Times (free registration needed) is reporting that users are sick of internet fraud on eBay. With lack of help from the company, they are taking the law into their own hands and closing down auctions they think are obvious scams."
Reg Free Link (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Reg Free Link (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Reg Free Link (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Reg Free Link (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Reg Free Link (Score:3, Funny)
Who gives a flying fuck link." [nytimes.com]
I looked on eBay. (Score:5, Funny)
I did get a super deal on my new compter, though.
Re:I looked on eBay. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I looked on eBay. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:No but he's pre-ordered... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I looked on eBay. (Score:2)
Expensive Electronics Cheap Scams, not taken down (Score:5, Informative)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item =2795846600&category=52476 [ebay.com]
***Please note, this auction is not selling the electronics themselves,we're selling electronic book packages that get you listed on a revolving list at our website. For list information and any other questions please visit our webpage @ www.revbuys.com--$220.00
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item =2795844320&category=52476 [ebay.com]
**You are not buying the actual item, you are buying a link to a website where you can obtain the item for around a $250 US dollars. Link also includes lots of other good deals on nice electronics** $5.00
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item =2795281687&category=52476 [ebay.com]
Please Read Auction Carefully. Winner will recieve information on where they can buy an Alienware Area-51 Extreme for only 275$. This is perfectly legal and I am usuing mine right now. Only one Alienware 275$ computer per household, so you can see why I am not selling the computers, but I am working on that.--$49.99
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item =2795708246&category=40176 [ebay.com]
Please Read Description Carefully Before You Bid! you are not buying any electronics in this auction. Here are some examples of the amazing deals you will get upon winning this auction:
Products:
JL Audio 10w7 Subwoofer: $100
Sony DVD/CD Changer: $100
Sony Motorized indash 7" LCD: $100
Exhaust Systems from $50
NOS Kits: $100
Body Kits: $100
Playstation 2: $40
Video Games: $20
Gateway 42" Plasma TV: $200
Sony DVD Dream Surround System: $100
Sony Digital Camcorder: $100
40GB Apple iPod: $115
Compaq iPaq PDA: $50
Panasonic Portable DVD Player: $50
Alienware Desktop or Laptop: $275
Sony VIAO Desktop: $150
Sony VIAO Laptop: $100
AND MANY MANY MANY MORE!!!!
Shipping is absolutely free!, If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at http://TankDoggSC@aol.com $3.00
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item =2795726979&category=52476 [ebay.com]
The item for sale isnt the real PC.the highest bidder will recieve the link to the site where you can purchase it for 160/275$.WHOEVER SAID ''THIS ISNT A REAL PC JUST A BUNCH OF LINKS'' MEANS THEY DID NOT READ THIS. $5.50-6 bids
Re:Expensive Electronics Cheap Scams, not taken do (Score:2)
Re:Expensive Electronics Cheap Scams, not taken do (Score:4, Insightful)
the advertising is a little misleading, but that can be said about any advertising for almost anything. when was the last time you ate a burger that looked as good as it did in the adverts (or saw a girl that looked like an advert girl for that matter)
This is more in the category of preying on the hopelessly gullible and exploiting their stupidity, rather than scam. Less like nigerian 419, more like religion.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Expensive Electronics Cheap Scams, not taken do (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Expensive Electronics Cheap Scams, not taken do (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Expensive Electronics Cheap Scams, not taken do (Score:5, Interesting)
Some of the schemes invlove selling of ebooks other are driven entirely like a pyramid with people entering at a low cost, below $50, and then relying on the "members" (fraud victims) marketing the scheme to get their goods.
Examples of schemes like this:
Electronicmatrix.com [electronicsmatrix.com] or Ezdeal4u.com [ezdeal4u.com]
Re:Expensive Electronics Cheap Scams, not taken do (Score:5, Insightful)
Matrixwatch [matrixwatch.com] has a lot of info on how these scams work and are involved in bringing a lawsuit against one of the biggest operators.
They have instructions on how to report those annoying "free link!" auctions to ebay and how to get paypal to close the accounts of people who start new matrix sites.
There are a lot of people out there who are bad at maths and are unable to grasp that if they are the twentheth person to sign up for a plasma TV 50x matrix then they don't get their TV until 1000 people have join that list which will take years even if the matrix operator is not sued, shutdown by his card process and dosn't dissapear with the money or just not pay out when it's your turn.
If you are signing up for place 20 to get a TV the chances are that people 1-19 are non existant or shills.
Ebay is slow to remove "free link!" auctions but they are certainly monitoring for people offering to sell goods outside of ebay.
I doubt it a conincidence that transactions outside ebay reduce their income whereas matrix scams just annoy users.
I reccently bid for a computer. I got half a dozen email message sent via ebay saying "I have ten of those really cheap, email me!" followed by half a dozen warnings from "eBay Singapore customer support" (I'm nowhere near singapore) which began "We recently investigated the possibility that 'newoffretez@yahoo.com's account was compromised and used by an unauthorized third party. Our records indicate that you may have been contacted by this third party about purchasing an item off of the eBay site."
Re:Expensive Electronics Cheap Scams, not taken do (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Expensive Electronics Cheap Scams, not taken do (Score:5, Insightful)
You're absolutely right. So they should have their items moved to a section dedicated to sales of information, not actual electronics, and label their auctions accordingly. If the information doesn't provide the user with the ability to get a cheap system like these listings claim, then I would submit that it is a scam.
the advertising is a little misleading, but that can be said about any advertising for almost anything.
Again, you have a good point. These listings, when you see the item titles and parts of the description, are very misleading.
when was the last time you ate a burger that looked as good as it did in the adverts (or saw a girl that looked like an advert girl for that matter)
I can't remember when I ate anything that was as good as the ads.
Re:Expensive Electronics Cheap Scams, not taken do (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Expensive Electronics Cheap Scams, not taken do (Score:5, Insightful)
There's a difference between stretching the truth and making statements that serve no purpose other than to mislead and confuse the consumers. Everyone knows that the burger they see on TV is going to be nicer than the one made by some stoned highschool kid working for minimum wage, but it's going to be essentially the same thing. If a 'real business' consistantly practiced the type of deception that these eBay guys are, they'd never be able to stay in business once word got out. Why is it different online?
I used to vigilante too (Score:5, Insightful)
its usually pretty easy to spot: only takes western union, item is new in box for absurdly low price, eithe rmultiple auctions or a "private auction". You used to tell by low feed back but its getting so that can be a misleader. You send them an e-mail and it gets answered during romanian daylight hours.
My favorite gambit is to ask them some absurd question that makes no sense like is this the power book that had the DVI fibrulator? They will answer "yes". Ask them if they take paypal and they dont answer.
I have to say that for all the problems and accusations about pay-pal, it is a hallmark of an honest seller.
E-bay claims a low fraud rate, but I think that is on a per-sale basis (most fruads dont result in sales, and there are many many honest auctions for $1.99 baseball cards, etc...). On a per dollar basis I'd bet it looks bad for e-bay. And certainly if you restrict the search to high vlaue commondity items i'd bet they average around fifty percent. E-bay needs to get sued and sued hard for knowing letting this go on.
Some lawyer should go get a job ther coverty, find out what they do internally to prevent this, then sue the shit out of them for negligence.
Re:I used to vigilante too (Score:4, Insightful)
How dangerous is this? According to ebay your bid is a binding contract with the seller. What if you end up getting sued for payment from somebody who's running a legitimate auction? What if someone starts posting auctions that look suspicious but aren't in order to trap people like you and then sue you for payment? I'll tell you this: if you ran up my legit auction you'd be hearing from my lawyer.
Re:I used to vigilante too (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I used to vigilante too (Score:5, Interesting)
As far as eBay, these folks don't take their own terms and conditions serious. I don't remember how often I reported one specific seller due to duplicate auctions (still forbidden according to the German terms and conditions). All I get is form e-mails. A day or two later, the seller usually changes all but one of the dupes completely, and continues as usual. This specific seller also attempts to bully people in order to avoid negative feedback. eBay did nothing about it. The point is that eBay has a monopoly, and the lack of competition makes them talk not act.
Re:I used to vigilante too (Score:5, Interesting)
So instead I locked all his accounts and put an auto-responder message on them. This auto-responder would explain to the sender that the guy was a con-artist and that they should not under any circumstances send him money.
I wish I could have seen his face when he realised he'd lost all his correspondance with people he was planning to con.
Re:I used to vigilante too (Score:5, Interesting)
So, how many people from my company/IP would have to register before you feel justified to start reading our mail?
Re:I used to vigilante too (Score:3, Insightful)
if your company needs email I suggest setting up your own mail server and serve them that way instead of using the ever popular hotmail accounts
Re:I used to vigilante too (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I used to vigilante too (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I used to vigilante too (Score:5, Informative)
Next I checked his sign up details, he'd created 50 accounts all with the same details (e.g. firstname, lastname, address were all identical). Finally, earlier that week I had noticed a large amount of traffic from eBay's mail system, delivering lots of emails to these accounts.
With a give away like that I did one final check by looking up some of his addresses on eBay. He was selling satellite nav, plasma TVs etc, and all of it was way too cheap for what it was worth. At this point I thought that if he wasn't scamming, why set up 50 separate accounts? The whole point of the eBay feedback system is that lots of good feedback shows you are a trustworthy seller. So by then I was certain he was up to no good and checked one of his mailboxes, which revealed the last of his tricks:
The guy would open an auction, and invite potential buyers to email him any questions about the product. When he'd got enough "fish on the hook" he would close the auction and email the "fish" telling them he was having problems with eBay but he was still willing to sell if they were interested. He then asked if they would mind paying him directly.... Since he only had 1 of each product to sell on eBay it was clear he was trying to sell the same thing multiple times and by being paid directly he was skipping the relative safety of PayPal et al. At which point I slapped the auto-responders on and locked his accounts.
It is a condition in our T&Cs that we reserve the right to inspect an account if we suspect illegal activity, but I only exercise that right if I am absolutely sure there is something going on. Usually this means an email sent to the abuse address with headers that prove the email came from our system.
Now, if you think eBay scammers are bad, try keeping 419ers of your system. Luckily the rise of broadband means they usually have the same IP address for extended periods of time. So when we are informed of a scamming account we can find all of their other accounts at the same time.
Re:I used to vigilante too (Score:4, Interesting)
Unfortunately, PayPal is the first resort of the deadbeat buyer.
Even requiring the buyer to use funds from a bank account won't protect you. The buyer can do a 'charge back' or equivalent at any time and you, the seller, have to prove you sent the item and it was received. When PayPal protects the buyer and the seller equally and fairly I'll start using the service.
Re:I used to vigilante too (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Expensive Electronics Cheap Scams, not taken do (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Expensive Electronics Cheap Scams, not taken do (Score:2)
www.paypalsucks.com (Score:5, Informative)
Don't use paypal's "withdraw from bank account" option. Use the credit card option. If something goes wrong and you go past 30 days - your are screwed. My experience is that Paypal (an ebay company) is the worst in getting problems resolved.
www.paypalsucks.com
OK, but... (Score:2)
The only solution I can see is opening a special-purpose bank account for PayPal use only, and feeding it only what it needs for the transactions I authorize. Whi
Re:OK, but... (Score:2)
My mother has about 2500 ebay transactions, (dont ask). And after getting royally phucked by paypal once the solution was pretty evident. Get a throw away bank account. She went down to the local credit union (not our normal bank), got an account, and linked that u
Re:OK, but... (Score:4, Informative)
And it is free. As Dan's Data would say, Recommended.
Absolutely (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Absolutely (Score:3, Informative)
You can still file with them after the 30 day deadline to meet this requirement, and of course your claim with Paypal will quickly get rejected, but then you'll be in the clear with them.
A VERY good idea is to open up a second chequing account with no funds in it, so if they try to dip in (which they have been known to), they'll get nowhere. I have a 2nd account at my bank and I can easily transfer funds between the two accou
Re:Absolutely (Score:3, Informative)
eBay AND PayPal sucks ... (Score:3, Informative)
auctioneer instead of the customer. As a
fee based system, they derive the bulk of
their income from these same auctioneers.
By joining eBay, the bidders relinquish
any right to sue, and the cap on any
arbitrated settlement is $200. PayPal
might be convenient, but they have next
to zero for security and auditing. A
close friend had their checking account
cleaned out by someone either at PayPal
or one of the auctioneers. I stopped
doing ANY business with eBay after getting
ripped o
Re:eBay AND PayPal sucks ... (Score:2, Informative)
I have noticed that my wife, who buys what I would call 'cheap trashy things' on eBay, like 'collectable christmas ornaments,' runs with a less reputable crowd. Likewise, buying or selling 'new laptops' on eBay is a crapshoot.
But there are different crowds buying and selling different things. I mostly buy and sell in pure 'geek' categories (things you're almost entirely unable to buy any other way, like used Sun hardware) and I find it an ethical 'ge
Re:eBay AND PayPal sucks ... (Score:3, Interesting)
And I no longer keep any money in my paypal account because of that whole barely legal freezing thing they do when they get pissed off at you for making them work.
I am fairly sure that any unau
Re:eBay AND PayPal sucks ... (Score:3, Informative)
That's where Paypal makes the real money.
By signing up with Paypal, you allow them to go into your bank account to cover certain debts. That's why you should open a 2nd account with nothing in it. Why walk in a legal gray area when you can prevent the situation from happening entirely.
I'd say Paypal favours the buyer and not the seller anyway,
Good... (Score:4, Insightful)
eBay Does Do A Lot... (Score:5, Informative)
Really, what should be happening is that eBay should cooperate as much as possible with the banks/credit companies, and that would take care of a lot of fraud then and there.
As long as they don't stop... (Score:5, Funny)
...the clever people who've sold things like "genuine air guitars" and "nothing".
Half the fun of e-bay is the really bizarre stuff. [bidboy.com]
The Dalai Llama .sig available for purchase: $100,000 USD -ebay auction #66666. Buyer pays shipping from Andorra.
This
Re:As long as they don't stop... (Score:5, Funny)
Needless to say, I'm still emotionally scarred.
Ebay has let users work to close these fakes down. (Score:5, Insightful)
I've found questionable sales, usually someone asks me "Hey, look at the deal", but when I've looked for a way to report it. Zip nothing. They did not list any contact in safeharbour for this.
Hell, it took way too much time to find the link to report the phish emails I got last year.
Yes, it will mean more overhead, but that's what it's going to take if Ebay expects people to continue to use the site. Allowing a group of moderators that can flag obvious problems will help.
Re:Ebay has let users work to close these fakes do (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ebay has let users work to close these fakes do (Score:4, Interesting)
Once... (Score:4, Funny)
The person who owned the site saw the traffic coming from the ebay page. He then proceeded to change the images to one insulting the scammer in a very something awful-esque way, and photoshopped eyes over the car headlights. It was hilarious-- anyone have a link to it?
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Here's a tip (Score:2, Informative)
eBay's job is to prevent these things... (Score:3, Interesting)
If eBay can't get a grip on their fraud problems, then the door will be wide open for another marketplace to challenge them.
Darn it, I was almost there, too! (Score:5, Funny)
Why can't you vigilantes just mind your own biz, damn it!!!
Yo, it's a joke -- no need to start a super-secret file on me.
It's a scary world (Score:3, Insightful)
By the way, this was just a joke, no need to make an entry of me in the CIA's secret files.
Re:It's a scary world (Score:5, Interesting)
It's a scary world when you have to include a disclaimer such as "Yo, it's a joke -- no need to start a super-secret file on me." in a Slashdot post making parody of the president. The Patriot Act has proven far too powerful and unjust.
On Kuro5hin, there was a comment [kuro5hin.org] during the anthrax scare about how to assassinate the president of the United States by infecting the vice president with an infectious disease.
The poster of that message received a visit from the United States Secret Service.
From the analysis of that tale, it seems that if you are flagged as a dangerous individual (through, presumably, religion, association with certain political groups, region of origin, etc) and make a nasty comment on a monitored website, the powers that be will investigate.
Scary thought indeed.
Bidding qualification? (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe eBay should set some threshholds at which point bids require a deposit in escrow in order to justify a large bid, money that is returned if the bid doesn't win, but is lost if the transaction doesn't close because its withdrawn while being the high bidder.
Don't forget Paypal scams! (Score:5, Informative)
They have an item asking if you received ANYTHING in the mail. So I checked that off. Bad mistake! They classified the report as "misrepresented item"!!!! Then a few days later closed the complaint saying they didn't do anything in those cases!
Paypal = SCAM CITY
Lesson: accept Paypal payments for expensive items and mail a jellybean to the buyer. Paypal will support you all the way.
Nooooo (Score:3, Informative)
ALWAYS PAY WITH CREDIT CARD. Credit cards offer you the protection of canceling a fradulant charge within 30 days. A misshipped item that they refuse to exchange counts. Contact the seller and demand a refund. If they don't ssue one, stop payment on your card. Contact the seller and let them know you are happy to ship it back to them, at their expense.
Also, if you get ripped o
Re:Don't forget Paypal scams! (Score:3, Informative)
If so, he's the same guy who scammed me in the same way. I purchased a copy of Mac Quark Passport at a reasonable price, and got a OEM Windows Installation CD/Manual/hologram certification instead.
The return address was made up, but it definitely came from Tbilisi. Anyhow, I contacted paypal, and essentially they said that since he committed
Hit me too (Score:3, Interesting)
They got me with a road bike for 100 EUR + 50 for shipping and I bought it. It's been a month without the bike and any reply to the emails.
This article motivated me to go to the authorities to try to get the money back. This fraud was stupid enough to give me his bank acount and a postal address. Let's see what the police san do about it!
amazing (Score:5, Funny)
You mean that Paris Hilton action figure [ebay.com] is a fraud!. People auctioning off their life [ebay.com], and those imginary girlfriends [ebay.com] are frauds! I for one am shocked. And awed too
Re:amazing (Score:2)
Ebay has fallen a long ways i n my book (Score:4, Interesting)
How about those "Get info on FREE Ipod/HDTV" Bids? (Score:2)
You can't even hit up ebay for anything these days without getting billions of those.
Add the professional snipers, and Ebay wasn't what it used to be (well what did we expect ? heh)
Sunny Dubey
No problems with lawnsale-ish junk. (Score:5, Insightful)
The other day, I remembered an LP I found fascinating when I was a kid, called "Hearing is Believing." RCA put it out--I believe they gave it away for free--in the early fifties. It was an introduction to hi-fi. I suddenly "I'd get a kick out of hearing that again." I went on to eBay, there was a copy up for bid at a starting bid of $3.00, nobody else bid, I got it for $3.00 plus $3.50 shipping, and experienced a intense burst of pleasurable nostalgia at hearing it again.
Nobody can make a fortune scamming people $3 at a time, so most of the low-value weird junk items are legit. And if they aren't--so you're out a few dollars, who cares?
I won't say there are easy answers, but by far the largest number of horror stories seem to all be about one specific category: people that believe they can get new or practically new electronic gadgets for substantially below the new price. Indeed, no doubt you sometimes can, but that is the kind of item where the risk is high.
Of course, trading junk doesn't appeal to everyone, but I think it is one of eBay's highest and best uses.
People sometimes do this out of anger... (Score:3, Interesting)
Start a new E-Bay (Score:5, Interesting)
E-bay will have to restructure and get rid of these fake auctions or die.
So which will it be e-Bay?
Re:Start a new E-Bay (Score:2)
Anime Bootlegs? (Score:3, Interesting)
eBay great for the right stuff (Score:5, Interesting)
caveat emptor (Score:4, Interesting)
I like selling wierd cheap wierd stuff (Score:4, Interesting)
Example :I was wandering around a local church yard sale and stumbled across a book filled with pictures of dead people. So I bought it and put it up on EBay [ebay.com].
Covering your butt (Score:3, Interesting)
Also, it is reasonable to send the seller and email, or call the seller. You can even have someone visit the seller if necessary.
As both a buyer and a seller, I've had very few problems. I bought one item that didn't work as advertised, but it was only $9. Not a bad loss.
I've sold some stuff to a bunch of people that didn't pay. All said, illegit bidders cost me over $85. That pisses me off, but it's part of business on eBay.
I always make sure that there's a lot of quality feedback when buying. If there are some negative feedbacks, I read them and try to figure out who the loser is. Often times, the loser is a first-time (and last-time) eBay buyer.
A seller with little-to-no feedback is a huge warning sign. I can't imagine someone selling on eBay without first buying several items on eBay. It's OK to buy from a person with little feedback, as long as then item is very little money. I won't panic if I lose a few bucks (like less than $10).
I watch to see where the product is coming from. Something that's in the USA is much safer in my eyes. It's rare that someone will be selling a Plasma TV on eBay from some east Asian country. I simply stay away from that kind of unwieldy, unlikely-to-be-true stuff.
Paypal is easier for me as a buyer and seller. However, PayPal's fee (for the seller) is quite high. I usually sell with some kind of proof-of-delivery. I understand that Paypal doesn't offer me any real protection - so I always think safety first.
Been doing this a while on Yahoo (Score:3, Interesting)
I've used their auction alert system for about 2 years and it really works, it's an easy system to tell yahoo that something is wrong with an auction. It allows "you and me" to police auctions - ebay should have something similar.
Vigilante Justice works! (Score:5, Informative)
Full details on the event are in my advogato diary [advogato.org].
Basically the scam was that this seller puts a laptop model for sale on eBay, dozens of times. Dozens of people bid on the item and he picks the 'n' number of highest bidders to "win" the auction. At no time does he own these laptop models he is selling. He requires that all payment be sent to him within 5 days of the auction close.
After 4-6 weeks of delays, people start sending emails, getting pissed, and mad. "Brian Silverman" emails them back, with excuses about delays at the "warehouse" and other excuses.
Meanwhile, 2-2.5 months later, he purchases the laptop model, at quite a discounted price from the vendor (not being the "newest" model on the market anymore).
So he keeps hundreds of thousands of dollars in auction buyers' money in his account, accruing interest, and then he purchases the laptops, at roughly 30-40% less than his original auction price.
But wait, it gets better... Brian decided that the whole "send the item to the buyer" part of the scam was eating into his profits too much, so he decided to just not send any laptops to anyone.
I was the last person he ever sent a laptop to. I actually tracked him down, and called him at home one night to demand my laptop, or the FBI would be at his door in 30 minutes. He claimed he would send it out that night, and double the RAM "for my troubles". A week later, I did indeed receive the laptop.
But I posted all of the details in my Advogato diary entries. Hundreds of other people who were being scammed by Brian Silverman googled [google.com] for his "electro_depot" name, and my diary entry was the only one to come up. They would email me directly asking for more details.
I then received a call from the NY Cyber Crime division, asking me if I had any details on the "scam" with Brian Silverman, and if anyone else had contacted me, because they had a "few calls".
I said I had 141 separate people who had emailed me to complain. 141 people!!!
The end result, was that Mr. Silverman was tracked down out of the country, and the FTC caught and nailed him. I even received a nice little letter from the FTC praising me for my efforts in catching him.
My diary entry was THE reason people were brought together, and the FTC and NYPD took notice in the matter.
Vigilante justice does definately work, but you have to be very careful about how you go about it. After people found my diary entry, they created all of those other websites to track and report on Mr. Silverman's scams.
(And that T23 that I "won" is currently at IBM repair, for the 6th time in 2 years, so it wasn't exactly a "win" in my case).
Nasty Plan (Score:4, Funny)
1. Email Ms. Houkom about having a fake item
2. Outbid her by $.50
3. Repeat 1-2 until winning bid is yours
4. Have a victory espresso from your brand new espresso machine
My ebay story (Score:5, Insightful)
These aren't just little kids trying to get items for free. There's a definate pattern here. People, who I imagine don't even play Diablo 2, have taken towards buying D2 items with stolen paypal accounts and on some legitimate account (which actually belongs to them) they resell the items. Thus they end up with money in their paypal accounts which is very cleverly laundered from stolen paypal accounts in a manner which is almost untracable. So all those people phising for paypal accounts have found a way to keep the money without having any sort of records connecting their money with the account they stole.
The only weakness of this plan is that, of course, is that the accoutn which does the actual reselling of the stolen items must be a real account. I have taken a couple hours of my time to track down the legitimate account of a person who ripped me off for roughly 150 dollars, and tried to bring this person to eBay's attention, but they don't care. After all, he's a seller generating seller fees for them -- they're not gonna do anything unless I somehow give them ironclad proof.
You would think would an overwhealming level of circumstancial evidence (he started selling the just a few hours after the first items were purchased using a stolen account, he sells the same items in the same quantities as were stolen by the two accounts I know to have been stolen by the same person, he even recieved his first seller feedback from one of the stolen accounts for his cheapest item) would be enough to convince ebay to even consider some sort of investigation. But they won't even respond to my emails anymore (and I'm a powerseller, supposed to be entitled to "priority support").
Let's face it, ebay is complicit in the fraud committed by these individuals. They do not act strongly to stop them. They do not actively monitor for fraud (if I can search completed listings and tell you who's a fraudulent buyer and who's not, then certainly ebay could).
So then it's not really suprising that ebay users would take to doing ebay's job for them -- someone has to do it. There's no real alternative to ebay at this point (yahoo auctions is a sad, sad shell of ebay) and people depend on ebay to make a living.
Heck, the thought of buying something from the legitimate account of the person who stole 150 dollars from me just so I could request the phone number from ebay and do a reverse look-up had crossed my mind. But even if I did get his home address, what would I do with it then? Show up on his doorstep with a baseball bat?
I'm at a loss for ideas. Now with all my auctions I'm forced to screen my buyers very carefully. Calling long distance to verify that the people using the ebay account are in fact the real users, checking bidding histories for suspicious patterns.
I want to treat my customers like customers, not like criminals. But I see no real alternative as long as eBay continues to drop the ball on halting fraud.
Another fraud, not exactly through eBay... (Score:3, Informative)
I put in a bogus name and password and it passed me right on to the next page where they ask for all your info, including a credit card. I plugged in more bogus info and it responds with yet enother page that looks exactly like eBay's that says congrats you've updated your info. I wonder how many people fall for this?
I also wonder if it would be technically illegal to use curl to submit a few thousand million POST requests with bogus info to that scam page?
Not Just Ebay! (Score:3, Interesting)
Definite scam, emailed Amazon and the hosting provider, site was pulled, Amazon never replied, I forgot all about it, about a month later I get ANOTHER email from this guy, different Amazon account, same URL, new host... the cycle continues...
Apparently Amazon did nuke his account, and his web host pulled the fake escrow site, DNS update, new Amazon account, and he's back up and running.
Kinda makes you want to go to Chuck E Cheese and play whack-a-mole, for all the good you do tracking these bastards down they just pop up out of another hole.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Tips (Score:5, Informative)
- Check feedback. Not just the number, but the comments. Read the negative and neutral comments and judge whether it was the seller's fault ("you never shipped") or the buyer's fault ("my notebook didn't have an OS" when the auction said so) or neither ("broken item, seller replaced, OK").
- Sanity check prices. A brand new Sony notebook on buy-it-now for $49 is a fraud. A used Dell CSx with a PIII 500, 20GB HDD, DVD/CD-RW, Windows 2000, good battery, and 256MB Memory for $350 is a stupid seller.
- Remember, prices on auctions often start low and go high. SET A HARD LIMIT. DO NOT BID MORE. It is easy to get into a bidding war and end up paying way more than you wanted.
- DO NOT PAY WITH A WIRE TRANSFER. PAY ONLY USING PAYPAL AND ONLY WITH A CREDIT CARD.
- Ask bogus questions. If you are buying a notebook, ask if it has the "hyperspeed math co-processor". If you get a "yes" answer, it's a fraud.
- Know what you are buying. If you have a question, ASK before you bid.
- Compare with similar auctions. Check completed auctions. If something seems off, ask about it.
- Know how much shipping is.
- Make sure you aren't buying pirated software. If it includes Windows, make sure there is a COA (unless you plan on loading Linux).
Want to stamp out fraud? (Score:5, Insightful)
You cannot have a well-behaved global village without personal accountability for it's citizens.
This could backfire in the vigilante's face. (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not suggesting anyone attempt this but I am curious if such a thing is possible.
my story (Score:3, Insightful)
At some point, she said that she suspected an ex-friend of hers had sent her a CD-R that she was suspecting of less than honest intentions and she was afraid it would cover her computer with computer viruses. I popped it in my linux box, poked around... and was surprised to find that it contained the solutions manual to my textbook!
I went back and looked at what she had bought. It was listed as "Introduction to Electrodynamics (Hardcover, 1998)" but under the notes it said "Notes: Solutions manual in CD format. Returns not accepted due to possibility of copying."
We've emailed half.com but haven't found any response. We've left bad feedback but that doesn't seem to do anything. All our requests for returning are unheeded.
I understand that he probably thinks (s)he's providing a valuable service offering bootleg copies of the solutions manual, but I found the damn offer misleading, and I don't even want the solutions manual! I want the book! And when no one responds to inquiries... Grr..
--Stanza, who has been burned internet shopping everytime I've ever tried to buy anything online.
Re:No-reg link (Score:2, Informative)
Re:What were they expecting? (Score:3, Insightful)
The people that have been scammed, for the most part, are people that were expecting to get something for (next to) nothing.
A little common sense goes a long way on eBay. Unfortunately, most people have none, especially when a deal "looks too good to be true".
It's really the same kind of gullibility that keeps spammers in business. For some reason, people think that if it's "on the Internet", it's automati
Re:What were they expecting? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:What were they expecting? (Score:5, Interesting)
On that note, don't ever buy anything from StudentCompSolutions.com, Jeff Bellisimo, or jeffyjimmy@*.*
And if anyone lives near 5150 Argus Dr. in LA, and would like to pay Jeff a visit for me I'd be much obliged.
Re:What were they expecting? (Score:3, Insightful)
Determine how much a significant sum of money is. Don't spend more than that on any one eBay transaction unless you have a way to reduce the transaction's risk.
Anyone can get ripped off anywhere. A legit seller can "turn bad". eBay sellers are usually not professionals with storefronts... they are individuals who may be
Re:What were they expecting? (Score:3, Funny)
I think it's a forgone conclusion that when you go on eBay you have to leave your bullshit detector on high.
It's not a Wal-Mart and nobody that does a lot of business on there treats it as such.
"I'm not expert and I haven't plugged it in..." (Score:2)
Re:Why buy on eBay at all?? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Editors: How hard is it to include GOOGLE links (Score:3, Insightful)
So Slashdot should be more professional by disrespecting NYTimes wishes? It's their story, not Slashdot's.