Buyer Beware: Online Auction Scam Targets Bidders

budnonymous · Top Poster

eBay Scammers Evolve, Use Live Chat “Customer Service Reps”

budnonymous · Top Poster

Buyer Beware: Online Auction Scam Targets Bidders

KTLA News

10:26 PM PDT, May 14, 2010

Lengthy report with video. Here are a couple juicy snippets:

"The problem is, Cory Chalmers says he never sent Eric that second chance e-mail. He sold the van to the original high bidder. After that, it looks like someone stole his eBay identity and his good name to convince Eric that the "second chance" offer was legitimate...."

"One of the e-mails also looked like it came from a "vpp-ebay.com" web address. The VPP was an apparent reference to the eBay Vehicle Purchase Protection program outlined in one of the fake e-mails. But that VPP-Ebay.com address isn't associated with eBay...."

"One big unanswered question is this: How did the scammer get a hold of some of Eric's and Cory's personal information including Eric's personal e-mail address which is not listed publicly on eBay to pull off the scam?..."

(... psssst... Because it's HACKED!!! lolololol... )

Be sure to follow the link in the previous post or just go here for a list of poser, phake, and look-alike domain names.

If you are adventurous and like to gamble remember that livechat.ebay.com has had an uncorrected xss flaw since at least October 2007, so there is NO GUARANTEE you'll even get the 'real' livehelp, which by all reports is worthless too.

rotflmao!!!!

-- Edited by budnonymous on Sunday 16th of May 2010 06:09:56 AM

budnonymous · Top Poster

man oh man these scams are everywhere now! eb is getting a real bad rep, because no one is even going to go there to begin with when they see this. It's also been on the local TV news at least a few times now. They've said right on TV news is you can't see it in reeal life and drive it it's a scam.

Perry County Sheriff's Office warns of scam

BBB Warns Of Craigslist And eBay Car Scam

Residents fall prey to Web scams

budnonymous · Top Poster

These scams are literally in the news now on almost a daily basis.
The real message being received is that ebaY is a scam, or a place to get scammed.

Fake eBay Scam Nets South Side Victim

By Darlene Hill, FOX Chicago News

A Southside man said he learned a hard and expensive lesson on the Internet.

He went looking for a car and ended up on a website that he thought was eBay, but the deal ended up costing him $5,000.

"I got beat bad," he said.

The victim of the online scam did not want his name used, but he said he thought he was being street savvy and asked all the right questions of the seller.

He said he trusted the seller and wired him $5,000 because eBay guarantees its transactions.

The victim said he did not see all the red flags that the seller was using an eBay impostor designed to scam unwitting victims out of their cash.

"I ignored them because I thought I was getting emails from who I thought was eBay tellilng me my money was safe and no matter what the seller didn't have access to my money," the victim said. "So if I didn't like the vehicle or I didn't get a purchase order I could get refunded my money."

He fell victim to scam because the fake seller told him he was in the Army and getting ready to be deployed and he was selling a car at a good price.

The vicitm says he was told to wire the money to Rome, but by then, he says he wanted the car so badly he was too far in to pull out of the deal.

The Better Business Bureau said with the tough economy scams like this are popping up all over the internet.

A BBB spokesman said the scam artists make their sites look legit because they cut and paste credible company names on their website.

When it's time for payment of an item, if the instructions take you off a legitmate site, stop immediately.

budnonymous · Top Poster

Same sort of scams still going on non-stop, often with a Craigslist twist.

Looking to buy a car? Beware of scam circulating on eBay

Just remember, if you can't see and drive the vehicle etc, it is a scam. If anyone mentions anything about ebay payments, escrow, protection plan, mediator, etc etc, from an ad at any site, including ebay, it's a scam.

budnonymous · Top Poster

Looks like some folks just got caught doing this type or similar scam,

Romanian-Moldovan Nationals Face Racketeering Charges

but if you look here you'll see that Americans and others have also been caught doing the same thing over and over, so it's far from just a Romanian thing. Doubtful this will end the scams.