How Bad of a Problem Is Ebay Fraud?
You’ve heard the horror stories and have been told be to careful on eBay, but is fraud really so common these days? The answer is yes – eBay scams are still quite common on the popular auction site, and both sellers and buyers need to aware of the dangers they face trading money and products with strangers. Following is a list of several of the most common eBay scams and what to look out for to protect your wallet and belongings.
Phishing and Account Take-Overs
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For those unaware, phishing is a scam in which a con artist will send a user an email that appears to have come from eBay, but instead tricks the user into giving their username and password. Despite the news and warnings circulated by eBay and fraud combatant blogs, the problem isn’t going away – the con artists are simply getting craftier.
It used to be that obtaining a user’s eBay account was as easy as sending an email from an address that looked like eBay, and telling them their account would be closed unless they replied with their username and password. These days people don’t commonly fall for this, so scammers have started using fake websites that look just like eBay, except they steal account information when a user logs in.
In fact, earlier this year JSOnline reported that some eBay scammers used Craigslist to lure in their victims. Con artists do this by posting something for sale on Craigslist and then telling interested buyers that they would rather sell it on eBay because it is more secure. The user is then sent a link to a fake listing that prompts them to sign into their account and place their bid. Predictably, when the user signs in, the site steals their username and password and the scammer uses the victim’s account to continue the fraud.
Phony Items For Sale
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Ebay users must not only look out for their identity, but also for fake items listed for sale as the real thing. In 2006, the International Data Corporation (IDC) performed an investigation of the prevalence of pirated software for sale on eBay and found that over 50% of Microsoft branded software on eBay was illegitimate. This study illustrates the far-reaching nature of this kind of fraud, and leaves users to wonder what percentage of other highly coveted items are fake.
Not even name brand electronics are safe from counterfeiters. Earlier this month, TechWorld reported that several eBay scammers were creating and selling fake Apple iPads for $80.00 – $100.00. The devices look like a smaller iPad, but run Android software. Such stories can be found in almost every market from fashion to technology. If you find any of the following popular and normally expensive items for sale on eBay at huge discounts, they are most likely counterfeit:
- Electronics.
- Designer clothing.
- Computer software.
- Movies and music.
- Autographs.
- Collectibles
- Antiques.
Ebay users are encouraged to remember the old saying “if its too good to be true, it probably is.” No sane person would take a loss worth hundreds of dollars to get you a new Chanel bag for $50.00.
Triangulation Fraud
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Triangulation fraud is a popular and uncommonly aggressive type of eBay fraud. Worse yet – it’s incredibly difficult to detect until it strikes. The way this scam works is that the criminal will list a moderately expensive item for sale on eBay, but one that is also available from other online retail sources. When a buyer wins the auction, the scammer will purchase the item from an online retailer with a stolen credit card and pass along the buyer’s shipping information.
Only once the credit card is reported to be stolen will the retailer investigate the charge, and when they look into it they will have a record containing the eBay buyer’s information – taking the scammer clean out of the picture. EHow cautions buyers to check all receipts and shipping documents that come with purchases to look for strange credit card numbers or information from people they have never heard of. If you catch the fraud before the credit card gets reported, you might have an easier time dealing with the authorities when they question you.
“Second Chance” Fraud
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Ebay buyers who lose an auction sometimes receive “second chance” notifications in which the seller offers them another opportunity to buy the item they were bidding on. Scammers manipulate this system to steal novice users’ credit card information by setting up an auction and letting buyers bid all they want on the item. When the auction ends, the seller sends out very official looking, eBay branded emails to the second and third highest bidders telling them that the seller has offered them a second chance to buy the item for their highest bid.
When the victim clicks on the “buy” link, they are taken to a page that looks like an eBay auction in every way – except it isn’t. Instead, the page was designed by the scammer and is programmed to steal the buyers credit card information the moment they type it in.
SafeFromScams reports that this problem is more widespread than most users realize. “It’s become a pervasive Ebay scam,” they proclaim. “In 2004 a Welsh teenager was convicted of conning more than 100 people out of £45,000 with such a scam, and he’s just the tip of the iceberg. According to computer security experts, hundreds of thousands of such e-mails are sent every month.”
Shield Scams
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Shield scams are a type of eBay trickery that targets the seller of items, rather than the buyer as with most scams. The scam is set to target people selling expensive items who haven’t put a reserve on their listing. Typically the scammer will register two accounts, and use competing bids to ensure that they get the item for an incredibly low price.
If an item of interest costs $1,000.00, for example, and the seller forgot to set a reserve on the listing, the scammer would use one account to bid very low – say $40.00. He would then use his second account to make an astronomical bid that no other legitimate user would dare challenge – say $3,000. This discourages anyone else from bidding, until only a few seconds of the auction remains. The scammer then retracts his high bid, leaving his low one as the sole winner of the auction.
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Pay Pal is also used for phishing scams. Only one time as a seller and they tried for two more years to get my credit card info.
Before I started I told Pay Pal I would only pay them by check. They agreed.
I just got burned for $8800 on ‘purchase’ of a tractor advertized by someone who had hijacked a semi-regular seller’s identity and did a pretty good job of conning me, a novice user, into transferring money via fake instructions supposedly sent by eBay. I spent at least 8 hours with eBay trying to confirm that the seller was real . .. their consumer support is useless . . .the result of my research lead me to confirm things were ok. I think eBay is as guilty as the con man, and making a helluva lot more money.
Um one big problem with one of your “scams” and a real scam. In the Shield scams If an item of interest costs $1,000.00, and the seller forgot to set a reserve on the listing, the so called scammer using one account to bid very low – then use his second account to make an astronomical bid say $3,000. his astronomical bid would never show up as anything but a few dollars higher than the next highest bid!! Whether that next highest bid is his own or someone else’s, eBay bids are not and never have been revealed until they actually become a bid. In order for this to work the scammer would need three accounts! Two to jack the price up into the thousands (in your example $3000) then cancel both high bids leaving his third account to win at a low price. This would be spotted by eBay rather quickly.
Now for the real scam involving retracted bids. Lets say I want a clock on eBay, I bid what I feel is a very fair price let’s say $200 and then the day before the auctions end I am currently the high bidder at $75.00 so the next highest bidder bids $1000.00 he now sees the next highest bid, which happens to be mine at $200 because all he has to do is bid higher than me his bid is now officially $205.00 (remember the $1000.00 bid would never show up unless the next highest bid was $990.00)So he retracts his bid of $1000.00 and now I am the high bidder again at $75.00 He now knows to the penny what my highest bid is! Come the next day 10 seconds or so before the auction is completed he bids $205 knowing my highest bid is $200. This has happened on an item I SOLD, the bid retracter came back the day after he retracted his bid and bid the minimum amount required to beat the bid he saw as the next highest when he bid $1000.00 I canceled his bid and sold to the next highest bidder. The next day he tried the same thing on another auction of mine and after he retracted his $1000.00 bid I blocked him from bidding at all.
I hope I explained both of these scenarios well enough to make them understood. Any Questions as the author of this page please feel free to e-mail me.
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I got hit with a new fraud. I bought a Wii through Ebay but it was nothing like advertised. It had none of the cords or software as promised. So after a week of arguing through Ebay email the seller agrees to refund the money if I ship it back in the original package which was a post office prepaid. No problem. I went there and returned it just as he sent it. what he counted on was my not purchasing delivery confirmation just like he didn’t. He got the Wii back, my money and I am left with a useless post office receipt. Ebay of course finds in his favor without the confirmation despite the original fraud.
along the same lines here (I think) this is to save other people some trouble and money. I was on vacations and left my paypal account waiting for some money to come in as a payment for my services to a person , then after a week I found the money never entered so because a 5 dollar hamburger my paypal went to zero so they hit my bank, where no money was available, result? paypal hit my bank 13 times in 5 days costing me near 600 dollars in NSF (30 dollars each time paypal hit my account) when complained they sent me to each other, paypal to the bank and the bank to paypal, solution? I downgraded my account and unlinked paypal from my bank so no more problems like this could happen again. it was supposed to be a “feature” not a money sink.
Buyers on ebay please if you are returning an item back to sellers make sure you pay that extra confirmation delivery fee. I also had an incident where the seller claimed he did not receive item. I was also left with no refund money, a post office receipt and no support from ebay customer service. Some people are dishonest and use the post office’s honest workers.
As both a seller and buyer on eBay these scams make it harder for both buyers and sellers. I’ve had scammers try and rip me off both as a buyer and a seller. As Isabel said, make sure all your mail has Delivery Confirmation, it might not be enough to have the PayPal gods rule in your favor, but it does go a long way.
I’d been selling on eBay for 5 years and have achieved a Power seller status with 100% positive feedback, over 1000 transaction and 500+ and 100% positive feedback.
I can honestly tell you that there is a lot of fraud going on from all sides and your best bet will always be with US power sellers. Going for the cheep option can bite back. If you are not satisfied with the product because of a legit reason, always contact the seller using eBay email. Log into your account, go to the item and email from there. Be Honest! and I bet you the seller will work with you.
If you are returning something 1- Make Sure you are mailing to correct address, insure and get tracking. It is rare that a seller will disagree to reasonable and honest requests.
All the best!
Here’s a scam that sellers have no defense against. If you sell an item to a buyer and the buyer claims your item was not described accurately Ebay will give them a full refund taken from your Paypal or linked bank account if the buyer opens a case against you. It’s not quite that easy for the buyer of course. Ebay would never refund the money without the buyer returning the actual item you sent them, right? Wrong. The only thing Ebay requires of the buyer is a Delivery Confirmation number of the package they sent back to the seller, supposedly returning your item. However, regardless of what is inside that package, Ebay WILL give them a full refund and there is not a single thing you can do about it. I was sent a bag of dirt and then Ebay gave the buyer a complete refund. They said if I can prove that the buyer sent me a bag of dirt that I could appeal the case, but of course there is NO WAY to prove anything about what they sent you. I was told taking pictures would be proof but when I tried this, they told me it was insufficient evidence because I could have put that bag of dirt in the box myself. This leaves the buyer with the only “proof” Ebay accepts and that is a confirmation number of the package they sent to you. For anyone considering selling on Ebay please be warned, a buyer has ALL the tools to scam a seller, leaving the seller with little to no options.
Hey,
I bought a military watch on E-bay, supposed to be original when I found it was a fake I contacted the seller. His response It was made up of pieces and it looks good so don’t worry. Stay away from Vietnam on Ebay.
Contacted Credit card company(Capital One) my money has been refunded pending paperwork. No answer from E-bay
eBay and PayPal appear to be assisting cons. They both tout how they protect you, encouraging you to buy on eBay, and with PayPal, but when you get ripped off, they apparently have a multitude of excuses why you will not get your money back.
We bought a vehicle from russ-in-texas/Blue Collar Guys (I see he has now canceled this eBay account). The ad for this vehicle prominently displayed the buyer protective/guarantees from both eBay and PayPal.
The delivery was part of the deal and that to be on a particular day. We paid him asap. Then he started making excuses, not answering communications, etc. We did not receive the vehicle, if there ever was one, nor did we receive any contact from him until after we informed him we were going to report it to PayPal/eBay. He left us waiting in another state for the delivery. Caused us tremendous stress and difficulty.
Apparently, PayPal and eBay allowed him to list approx. half of the purchase price one way, and half of the purchase price of the ONE single vehicle we purchased in a different way that was NOT “eligible” for PayPal to assist us. This, according to PayPal, meant that PayPal had no obligation to get our money back/return our money to us. The way one payment was listed “qualified” for PayPal protection, they said, and the other didn’t (of course there was no info. regarding this possibility prior to our purchase).
eBay deferred their end of the “Vehicle Protection Plan” to their third party (Auction Insurance Agency and Centennial Casualty Company)who apparently handles these types of problems. They first told us we were eligible for a refund. Then they came back and told us things like, “the seller doesn’t want to give the money back. He’ll bring you the car now.” [IF there was a car at all, he could have sugared the gas tank before the delivery or sabotaged it in other ways before delivery to us, and he'd already caused us great harm and loss] “the seller can’t give your money back. He spent it already.” etc.
Now they say they will “help us” file a complaint with the FBI (as our bank suggested, as they’ve had reports that eBay is/has been investigated by the FBI for other cases of fraud.).
So far it looks like it will be very hard to get our $1000 back, if we get it back at all. THANKS! eBay, Vehicle Protection Program, Auction Insurance Agency and Centennial Casualty Company, PayPal, russ-in-texas/ Blue Collar Guys/Russ E Schlicher/PayPal Email ID PP843!
P.S.
The other thing PayPal did that left us with fewer options for getting our money back:
demanding that we put a checking account as primary, and even if you change it to your credit card for payment, it has for us often/sometimes gotten switched back by the PayPal system, or some failure on their site, SO we do not even have a credit card company to make it good. Would NOT have purchased this from our checking account as we make most all our purchases by credit card, especially when it is for large amounts.
My favorite… Purchased a broken xbox 360 for repair purposes… Yes, I knew it wasn’t functional. I knew about the described/photographed cosmetic issues. Description listed that the system powered on but had RROD. Not going to go into what that means, but basicly it had all its parts and there was something that is usually minor wrong. I’ve been buying these left and right and double even tripling my money on them for years…
anyway… System shows up, it’s been gutted. Basicly the only thing that was left was the shell and the exhaust fans. Great… the two parts that are next to useless for repair purposes. Not what was described, not what was pictured… So I contact the seller, state that it was nothing like the pictures and it was missing parts, no response. Escalate to eBay claim. Immediately get offered a full refund upon return. Wrap it up, box it up, ship it out with delivery confirmation… Seller responds: We have received your RMA unit, however we will not be issuing a refund because you removed all the internal components. eBay closes case in their favor. Ok, escalate to an PayPal claim… Sent youtube link of the video I took of the package arriving and being opened also showing the missing parts. Response from PayPal: eBay has already addressed this issue. Case Closed. Contact the bank who handles my credit card, they reverse the charge. Sweet!
Very next day PayPal recharges my card and puts a hold on my paypal account. I knew it was a mistake to get a card through PayPal, even though the cards are issued through GE banks… Call GE again, they say they can’t do anything about the second charge from paypal due to the card/paypal terms. Great, so I just got screwed by the seller, eBay, PayPal TWICE, and GE bank… Needless to say that card has been cancelled, my ebay and paypal accounts will never be used again. Thanks to all of you who have made a good track record of online commerce go to shit in two seconds flat.
eBay has another big poke in your back “serial retractor” or, RE-LISTING DUE TO HIGH BIDDER NEVER GOT A HOLD OF ME TO MAKE PAYMENT ARRANGEMENTS.
Bidder A 100% value bid (my opinion).
Bidder B “serial retractor” bids 120% just a guess on percent.
Bidder C 110% value bid just a guess on percent.
If no more Bids then “serial retractor” retracts bid.Bidder C has 5 retracted bids in the History of eBay of 6 months. eBay get a percent of winning Bids, They do not care.
Bidder C wins or SELLER “RE-LISTING DUE TO HIGH BIDDER NEVER GOT A HOLD OF ME TO MAKE PAYMENT ARRANGEMENTS.”
*Shilling bids *Hackers *dim minded buyers it’s costing buyer money but eBay keep it going saying no proof.
“Serial Retractor” some as many as 50 some odds poke in the eBay limited SIX MONTH HISTORY.
This is a simple idea of 16 bids up to $1425.00
This happened not once, but twice. The first time ebay charged my bank account $43.00 in service fees. I found this suspicious because I NEVER sold anything on ebay. I hadn’t even made a purchase in quite some time. After undo stress, insufficient bank fees for overdrafts, caused by this unauthorized transaction, conversations with uninformed telephone operators, disconnected calls, and pay pal and ebay passing the blame bucket back and forth, I finally got my money back. I canceled my ebay account. I wanted nothing to do with this incompetent organization.
Thinking this was over, imagine my horror to find ebay was going to debit my bank account $424.!!! More trumped up seller’s fees! Same scenario. Ebay has no record of me, because I canceled my account. Yet, no one can tell me why I have this charge!!! Stupidity reigns at ebay!!!
I am awaiting resolution from pay pal. I’m looking into who I need to talk to about ebay’s lack of business ethics!!! Anyone????
Forget the refund, Capital One recharged me without saying anything(their letter said they would contact me first) & so far refuses to tell me why the rebill. The seller off of Ebay.ca had the nerve to contact me after I told him I was flagging him on collector websites I use as a definite do not buy.Funny how his english improved when he wanted something. Still trying to complain over Capital one head to get the money back from”feelingtubes” Ebay seller to beware.
i was just had when i tryed to buy a truck through ebay , …was scammed out off $4,000 . ? now what im screwwed !! truck was an white ford f-250 diesel truck . the thief goes by sara bailey , and her partner goes by brayn watson .. yall be carefull out there ..
$4000 is a lot of money. Internet can be a wild, dangerous place. Sympathies. Hope you reported them to the FBI.
Hi all, I was hit by same way as bruce loper was hit, The seller has sent me damaged memory card, later i went to sandisk service centre to know it was fake, i opted for refund, sent the card back to the address provided only to know that the address was fake, “Beijingshi, beijing muncipality 100055″ seller claimed my money, by describing goods didnot reached back, in my case i got the packet returned, with address insufficient mark by chinese postal authorities.
=============
Resolution of case no. PP-001-214-410-487
Inbox
Add star
service@intl.paypal.com
Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 9:43 AM
To: lewisavinash@gmail.com
Reply | Reply to all | Forward | Print | Delete | Show original
Hello Avinash Lewis,
We have concluded our investigation into the following claim:
Seller’s Name:
Seller’s Email: longchangzhubao@yahoo.com.cn
Seller’s Transaction ID: 37M99576A1862615K
Transaction Date: 25-Jan-2011
Transaction Amount: -$16.99 USD
Your Transaction ID: 1PP81242KX534124F
Case Number: PP-001-214-410-487
Buyer’s Transaction ID: 1PP81242KX534124F
The tracking information you provided was invalid, and we were unable to
confirm delivery of the item associated with this claim. As a result, the
case is now considered closed and we are unable to process a refund.
We encourage you to work directly with the seller to find a resolution.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Yours sincerely,
Protection Services Department
I use ebay as a buyer and seller all the time. Here is what I’ve learned.
1. Don’t buy/sell more than you’re willing to lose. Sooner or later you will get burned, the only question will be “how much?”
2. Don’t link your bank account to pay-pal – When you’re paid via paypal have them issue you a check. When you pay for something via pay-pal, use a pre-paid credit card. This way, pay-pal can NEVER get into your bank account.
3. Don’t buy ANYTHING on ebay you can’t buy somewhere else, even if you have to pay a little bit more for it, it’s worth it. Not to mention, 99% of the time, Amazon will have it for less. If you’re looking for something unique like an old car part, check craigslist first or hobby forums for whatever it is you’re looking for.
As of April of this year, ebay will begin taxing sellers on SHIPPING! So now you’ll pay a tax for selling your item, INCLUDING the cost of shipping, and of course another tax from Pay-Pal (which is actually the SAME company).
Soon, the ONLY way to make money on ebay will be fraud! : )
I believe the author is incorrect on one point (regarding Triangulation)
A person bidding cannot retract a bid after a certain point in the auction process – and they absolutely CANNOT retract a bid an hour before an auction ends. Ebay does not allow bid retractions that late in an auction (perhaps for this reason)
One more type of fraud, albeit small, that I have encountered a lot on eBay: a seller will indicate that their item is eligible for a return / refund within 7 days in the BOLD print, but when you click on the “see details” link, the seller reverses that position and says that returns are not accepted!
While it is always a good idea to read the fine print, it is VERY misleading when the main body of the listing in large type says “I accept returns” and the fine print contradicts that.
I got burned by that (and eBay actually sided with the seller)
And regarding Paypal: Once Paypal got into the equation, it just feels like an organized crime operation, albeit a friendly one. They really can use the good cop / bad cop thing and throw your issue endlessly back and forth.
My latest rip off was from ebay member alohameanslove who is a Chinese national selling artificial furs from China pretending to be a native Hawaiian selling Hawaiian artifacts which in fact are made in China.
eBAY fraud can go a long way.
I have been receiving tens of items regularly.
I order an item from 24-7swords. AFTER a month the item is returned back due to “address not verified”. The item is SHOWN to be on its way back to seller via standard tracking yet the seller will NOT refund me. Reason? He needs item in his hands although he knows it IS on the way back to him.
What did I do wrong? I DID NOT FILE A REPORT WITHIN 45 DAYS BECAUSE I TRUSTED THE FRAUDELENT SELLER!!!!
Check the fraud out and NEVER buy from here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/260811857917?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2648#ht_2918wt_952
I am currently watching an ebay member’s auctions that contains 5 high end items that he cannot possibly own. He has one single image of each item which has been pulled from ebay’s own highlights site(!), gives no description, does not answer emails, yet people continue to bid. I have contacted ebay with detailed information and they’re doing nothing. So… I’ll just watch and wait. This seller is going to net somewhere between 40K and 200K depending on how crazy the bidding gets.
I am wondering if anyone has heard of this fraud. I purchased an item, the label was printing and a tracking number was given. But nothing further was ever done with the tracking number – it was never taken to the post office. I contacted seller repeatedly. Finally, I opened a dispute. On the last day the seller replied and refunded my money through PayPal. Ebay then closed the case. PayPal refund was not honored by the seller’s bank. Ebay will not reopen the case. And PayPal will not open a case because I already had opened one in Ebay. I think someone knows how to play the system. And furthermore, I think Ebay and PayPal’s guarantees are worthless. I am wondering if the seller committed mail fraud. Anyway, I don’t know if this is just a lot of coincidences or if this is a new kind of fraud. Thought you all might like to know.
Fraud on Ebay, really comes down to being a smart informed buyer, i’ve not once of late since informing myself been a victim of any sort when buying on ebay.
What is the communication like between you and buyer?
What is their feedback like?
What is product image like?
How is the auction set up?
I look at all these details with a fine tooth comb before buying, if i’m not satisfied i don’t buy. No sale.
It’s that simple. and what i don’t buy i can usually find somewhere else with confidence and sometimes better price.
mein ebay Konto wurde nach fast 14 Jahren Laufzeit und 100% Bewertungen jetzt plötzlich und unerwartet gelöscht.
Ich sollte Kaufbelege für meine gebrauchten Golfbälle und selbst gemalten Aquarelle für 1,-Euro zuschicken + Ausweiskopie.
Seit dem ebay in der ehemaligen DDR ist, geht da ganz schön die Post ab.
Here are two scams I’ve been subjected to. I bid on a laser drum for my printer and was a successful winner. The final price was good for me, bad for the seller. After the auction I got an email from the seller saying he no longer had the item. Pretty easy way to get out of a sale they don’t want to make.
Second was an eBay slight of hand. Read the fine print and you will see that as a buyer you are committed to a bid even after loosing the auction. A seller came back to me stating that the top bidder retracted his bid and since I was the next below him, I was the winner….two days after the auction closed! EBay backed him up stating what to me was an unknown policy. I was stuck with the item and luckily for me, was not a winner in other auctions for the same item.
I am a Power Seller on ebay…over 6000 items sold. A buddy of mine and I uncovered a very clever scam on ebay involving the sale of men’s Robert Graham shirts. One ebay seller uses 2 ebay accounts…one to buy USED Roert Graham shirts, and the other to sell them as NEW for hundreds more. She simply adds a spare price tag and voila…the shirt is now “New”. I wrote a Guide on ebay, describing in detail how it is done. Below is the link to the Guide. I hope the link will work.
http://reviews.ebay.com/How-to-Avoid-Dishonest-ROBERT-GRAHAM-Sellers-on-eBay?ugid=10000000095797587