Ebay Sale - Does This Sound Fishy To You?

by halfpoint

Posted: 14 years ago 23 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

Hey guys,

I'm selling my dad's phone for him on eBay. I set the price at $400AUD "Buy It Now" yesterday and I've just woken up to find that it has been sold. This is the message I received from the buyer.

Hello Value Seller,
Good Day,I'm very happy been the buyer for the eBay item,kindly inform me regarding the condition and i want the item posted via Australian Post Express to my best friend abroad as christmas gift,will be offering you the sum of AUS $550.00 including postage cost.Kindly provide me the bank details so i could commence on the transfer of the payment asap,Below are the needed information:

Account Name - Account No - BSB Code - Bank Name - Phone Number.

Please reply to: <snip>email taken out</snip>
Thanks a lot,

Armani

Does this seem somewhat strange to you? They are offering to pay $150 more than what they bought the phone for and I've also heard of scams where people say something like send it abroad.

It says this person is based in America, they have 100% perfect feedback from 7 people (all Power Sellers) since 2006.

I don't know... something doesn't feel right. What do you think?

#ebay #fishy #sale #sound

Lou Diamond 14 years ago

Hello,
sounds very bad to me,do not even respond to the fraudster.
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policy 14 years ago

Most likely a scam.

Why?

They addressed you as "Value Seller", usually when you e-mail or reply to something, you would put their name or screename.

Extremely high offer - During this economy, I don't care how "thoughtful" this person is when wanting it for a gift, he wouldn't give that high of an offer after the buy it now is for $400.

Asking for personal/bank information...I am pretty sure if you gave all of the information that they asked for, they could possibly gain access to your account (social engineering).

Regarding the ebay profile - 100% perfect, Us...2006, it may be a hacked account. Someone may have used a phisher or hacked this poor persons e-mail account and then used their e-mail to retrieve the ebay username and password.
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Rich Struck 14 years ago

Yes, this is 100% a scam for the reasons stated above. I get the same crap when I try to sell on Craig's List. I hope there is some way eBay will let you undo the "sale."
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- halfpoint 14 years ago
  
  Thanks for the responses.
  
  It seems that it is a case of someone hacking an innocent account. I've found the contact details of the real account owner in case I need them.
  
  I'm talking to eBay support on their live chat feature, so hopefully it gets sorted out. I just want to sell the thing.. this is so annoying.
  
  Thanks
  
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GarryMSayer 14 years ago

Yep sounds very dodgy.

Report them to ebay customer support but don't expect a prompt response - you may have to wait up to 48 hours.

Copy and paste their reply into the email you send customer support.

Garry.
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- halfpoint 14 years ago
  
  I spoke to their customer support on their live chat feature and I've since cancelled the transaction. They say I have to wait for the buyer to respond in order to be able to re-list it for free.
  
  This is really annoying as I just want to sell the thing and who's to say as soon as I re-list it, it won't happen again?
  
  Thanks
  
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Kenster 14 years ago

Yes dont send them any of that information.

Dont send ANYBODY YOUR BANK INFORMATION EVER. I dont care how much more they are offering you...that just makes it even more sketchy.

These guys are creative
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- halfpoint 14 years ago
  
  I received an email asking to send it to Nigeria, haha.
  
  They are pretty smart - the spoof email they sent me is fairly convincing. I've attached a copy.
  
  I'm now talking to eBay's trust and safety department.
  
  Thanks
  
  2 replies
  
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  jroh 14 years ago
  
  This sounds like a variation of the old check cashing scam where someone sends you a check, you keep a portion then wire the rest back to them only to find out that the check was no good.
  
  You have to ask why would anyone offer to pay more for something they could buy anywhere?
  
  Thanks
  
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  halfpoint 14 years ago
  
  You can't see it from the screen shot I posted above, but I looked at the email again and they even have a link to a cpa offer in the footer of it.
  
  They're very crafty, these scammers. I re-listed the item and blocked anyone outside of Australia from bidding on it, so hopefully I don't have to deal with this again.
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  halfpoint 14 years ago
  
  I can't believe this. I re-listed the item only to have it bought again, by a different scammer.
  
  Why is it so hard to sell a phone on eBay?!
  
  Thanks
  
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  Michael Oksa 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Pat Jackson
  
  I can't believe this. I re-listed the item only to have it bought again, by a different scammer.
  
  Why is it so hard to sell a phone on eBay?!
  
  Because scamming scumbags know no boundaries.
  
  ~M~
  
  Thanks
  
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  "Ich bin en fuego!"
  
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pcpupil 14 years ago

Dont do it.The same thing happened to me on craigslist.
I was selling a large tow hitch.The person said they where from the UK and where going to send there driver to my house with a certified check.
All they needed was my bank account number to put on the check.
Ya right,sending a driver with a truck to pick it up in Arizona and then take it to his sons house in some state in the north west.
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Michael Oksa 14 years ago

Way to go, Pat!

Asking for advice here is all well and good, and the advice was spot on. However, you contacted the very people who could give you the only "real" answer, and that's eBay.

I had a friend that lost an $800 laptop this way. Luckily he told me he had just mailed it, so I was able to prevent him from sharing any other information. Of course, there was NO WAY the USPS could do anything about it, as it had entered the mail system.... even though the package was still in the post office.

I'm not pointing fingers, but it does show there are plenty of things that work in favo of the low-life scumbag scammers of the world. The one thing we have is common sense, which Pat has so aptly illustrated.

All the best,
Michael
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liamIam 14 years ago

If you look and think carefully for a moment about this message you will find the answer. The word use we can pass judgment on are:

[ kindly inform me ]

[ kindly provide me ]

and then asking for specifics...
Account Name - Account No - BSB Code - Bank Name - Phone Number.

I used to run a Payment Gateway. With the banking information above
I could do tremendous damage to that account 1 time... and do little things two to three weeks prior to make sure I got as much as I could.

Let's pretend that you went forward - provided the details and God forbid - the unthinkable happens.

You report it - next thing you know you're telling your story to an FBI agent assigned to gather the facts from you.

What do you tell the Agent?

It doesn't matter - you're F%^&cked.

They have a giant stack of these cases to investigate and the one common question that all agents ask after hearing the story is "why would you ever give your banking information to a complete stranger?"

-L
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- JAIDEEP2959 14 years ago
  
  This seems a scam to me. Otherwise $400 payment could have made by using Paypal.
  
  Report this to Ebay.
  
  Thanks
  
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Melanie Bremner 14 years ago

yes, I had this happen to me twice actually when I was trying to sell high ticket electronics. I ended up having to contact ebay admin and have them cancel the transaction, refund all fees and let me list them again. They also went after the person who was trying to scam.
Since that time a few years ago I have not tried to sell those types of items and have had no such instances.
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avandrunen 14 years ago

What's that unmistakable scent in the air...oh yes...scam...

Complete con job, good job picking up on it...there are a lot of people that would have given away the farm for the extra money...generally when someone offers to pay more than the asking price they are up to no good.

Adrian
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garyv 14 years ago

Do you have the "must pay immediately w/ paypal" option turned on?
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Kenster 14 years ago

Good idea Garyv

And yes, these guys are pervasive and its really sad. I remember hearing about a stat on 20/20 or something about the amount of money these Nigerian scammers alone scam the US...it is STAGGERING.

I know this ist the only country doing it and I dont want to generalize a whole country, but that is just the stat I heard. I will try and find the actual figure.
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- halfpoint 14 years ago
  
  Umm I don't think I have that feature on as I would prefer direct deposit. I spoke to eBay and they told me to take off the "Buy It Now" option so I could see each individual bidder before the auction ends.
  
  I only intended to post it within Australia anyway so I'm just going to delete any Non-Aus bid and hope for the best.
  
  eBay is not worth the hassle these days..
  
  Thanks
  
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ocon9316 14 years ago

This always happens to me when I sell on craigslist as well. The fact that these scammers have been doing this for years and are still doing this must mean that some poor people are actually falling for it though.

best of craigslist: Dear Mr Scammer, I am sorry

THIS post on craiglist is hilarious though....it describes all the things some guy did to get back at a scammer
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dimatrix Banned 14 years ago

Run as fast as your legs can go.
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