Ebay scammers yet again....

Joined
Dec 29, 2005
Messages
125
Location
Florida Keys
Hey guys,
I guess it has been talked about here a couple times before... these days if you are trying to sell any decent electronics on Ebay or elsewhere (digital cameras, camcorders) you need to be really carefull to protect yourself from numerous scams. On Ebay it helps to correctly set up the buyer requirements. You also want to make sure that you absolutely are not going to ship anywhere but U.S. or Canada...it is up to you, but any other countries - that's like asking for trouble. There is so many clowns out there that literally jump your listing and "buy" your stuff and follow it with an email such as the one I got last night (below) that it's becoming quite old. These emails won't show up in your Ebay mail folder thought.
Here it goes :

Hello,
I need to send a surprise gift to my Son who went on a course Overseas in (Nigeria) and his birth is coming up this months and luckily i came across your item,as i see that your item is in good condition for that.I will be making the payment through Paypal.kindly send me your Paypal Account Email Address Or Your Invoice,So i can make out your payment immediately & Paypal will notify you of my payment as soon as it has been comfirmed by them & your paypal account will be credited as soon as possible..let me know how much it will cost you in shiping the item to my Son in NIGERIA Using the courier service australia post send me the total amount for the item including the shiping cost to Nigeria.So i can make out payment Immediately.I choose the Postal Service Is safe Cheaper & Affordable. Make sure you get the package ready for shipment, You can ship the item as soon as you recieve the paypal confirmation.Please mail me now Cause it`s urgently needed.
awaiting your fast reply


Well, of course, it is pretty obvious this guy is a moron. But I have personally recieved emails and email confirmation "from Paypal or Ebay" these thieves created that literally looked like the real stuff. Only if you very carefully looked through the message you knew what was happening.
The way this works they are trying to send you a fake payment confirmation - usually "the Paypal" one... based on which you ship the item but your real Paypal account was not credited.
By the way this guy was Ebay registered in Torrance, California but Mapquest aerial image showed me only an empty industrial lot next to a busy freeway at "his address".

So, a day later this knucklehead sends another email like this :

Hello ,
I have made out my payment to you for this item purchase and i added the shipping fee .my account has being deducted with your funds.you will have to send the shipment tracking number to [email protected] and your account will be credited immedaiely, check your mail for the confirmation mail from paypal. Get back to me immediately you receive the confirmation mail from paypal and don't for get to make package ready for shipment and you take package today to any EMS location closer to you for drop off and you will be giving an international shipping forms to fill, fill forms with priorty and the shipping and receiving, fill labels and you will be giving a tracking number. Send tracking to paypal at [email protected] and your account credited immedaitely.
Blow is my daughter's address for the shipment.

RECEIVER

FULL NAME.. Jerry Adola

ADDRESS..highway oba G.R.A no 10

CITY...IKEJA

STATE....LAGOS STATE

COUNTRY....NIGERIA

ZIPCODE......23401

Expecting your reply......
Thanks


By this time I am pretty pissed but cracking up at the same time.:rolleyes:
Anyway, the moral of the story I guess is that it is not so difficult to figure out most of these scams - you just need to double check everything you do and do not ever ship anything anywhere until you have money in your pocket or got credited to some kind of real account that you can verify. The annoying part is relisting the item, trying to get Ebay to refund the listing fees, etc...
It also does not seem like Ebay has a way to prevent these crooks from registering and bidding there.
I just wish there was a way to track one of these characters down and ....... well, you know... :D
 
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eBay fraud

To reduce the chances of confusing a fraudulent email that might be confused with official correspondence, I use a special email account for eBay and similar accounts that I don't use for anything else. I never send email from the account, and there is no reference to it anywhere.
 
I've found that what gives these boneheads away more often than not is their spelling and grammar. They're both usually godawful; most of the scam letters I've gotten could have been better written by first-graders. ;)

Geez.......if you're going to make moves on Ebay, at least be convincing!

John
www.skywatch7.com
 
I've had a couple of experiences with these scammers too. One told me that my Paypal account wouldn't be credited until the item had already been shipped. Claimed that Paypal was requiring it to be done that way, total crap. Another time someone sent me a fake Paypal email, and if I hadn't been suspicious I might have believed it. Instead I checked my account by going to the website on my own, not using their link, and of course, the money wasn't there. It's really frustrating and scary to think how many of these scammers there are out there. I wonder how many people get suckered by them...
 
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