eBay

There are many eBay scams out there to keep an eye out for when you are buying or selling on eBay.

This article will cover some of the known and not so well known scams to be aware of.

Whether you’re a causal buyer or seller, or a professional on eBay, you need to know about these scams so that you can take measures to prevent or recognize if itís happening to you.

Bid Shielding

This scam is something you need to watch out for as a seller on eBay. Basically the scam is run using two separate eBay accounts. The scam works like this. You put your item up for auction. Letís say your item is worth $100 and you have no reserve. The first bidder (scammer) comes along and bids $5 on your item. Right after that, another bidder working with the first bidder comes along and bids $200 on your item. Since your item is only worth $100, you receive no more bids for the duration of your auction. Right before your auction ends, the first bidder backs out and cancels their bid, leaving the $5 bidder the winner, effectively shielding all other potential bidders because of the $200 bid.

Because of the potential for this scam it is always good to have a reserve on your auction. Also, I would put some sort of disclaimer on your auction stating that if you suspect bid shielding on your auction, you reserve the right to back out of the sale. Itís always a good idea to keep an eye on your auctions and watch for this type of behavior. If you suspect this is happening to you, be sure to report the parties involved to eBay right away.

Wholesale List Scam

This scam takes advantage of the fact that many people donít pay close attention or read the fine print on an auction. This scam is targeted at buyers who are looking for deals on electronics and technological items on eBay. The wholesale list scam is basically an auction that looks like the seller is offering a great deal on a product like an iPod for example. They may have a buy now price of $40 for an iPod that is worth $150. However, if you actually read the fine print on the auction, you will find that you are not really buying the iPod. In fact you are purchasing a wholesale list.

To avoid this scam, just be sure that you read the entire details of the auction before making a bid or a purchase. Basically, just use common sense. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is, so read the auction carefully.

Bad Check / Cheque Scam

This eBay scam is exactly what it sounds like.
The bad check scam is simple. Someone purchases your item and sends you a check as payment. You receive the check, and send out the item. However, 2 weeks later you find out the check bounces and now you are out your item and the money.

To avoid this, simply do not send out any products until the check has cleared.

Spoof eBay Emails

This eBay scam is an attempt to get your personal information and/or eBay account information. Basically the scammer sends you an email that looks like itís from eBay. The email may direct you to a website (that also looks like eBay) where it asks to you verify your information. In reality, the website is created by the scammer to collect your personal information and use it for identity theft. The scammers can be very tricky and make everything look very official.

To avoid this scam, you need to be wary of any emails that you get. The first thing you need to check is the email header. Emails from eBay, will have ì@ebay.comî as the last part of the senders email. Also any links that are in the email may be directing you somewhere other than where they say they are. Also copy and paste the links into your browser, and only visit official links that start with ìwww.ebay.comî. If anything seems suspicious to you, forward the email to eBay and wait for their response. They will let you know if itís legitimate or not.

In conclusion, most people you run into on eBay are good honest people and not out to scam you. You may do business on eBay for years and never run into any of this. However, occasionally these things do happen so itís important to use common sense and use your best judgment when it comes to this stuff. Just be aware that it can happen, and take the necessary precautions and you will be fine. Thereís a lot of money to be made on eBay, so donít let anything scare you off. Keep yourself armed with knowledge and information and you will be successful out there in the auction world!

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This article was written on behalf of eBayBusiness.net by Webmaster and Internet Marketing Specialist Jason Cooper. Visit http://www.ebaybusiness.net and download – http://www.ebaybusiness.net/free-reports.html – 3 Free eBayBusiness.net Success Reports[/url] today! (c) 2005, eBayBusiness.net. This article may be reproduced in all venues so long as the content and by-line are reprinted intact and all links are set live. http://www.supabiz.com

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eBay is a relatively safe marketplace. Unfortunately, like most online marketplaces, it is vulnerable to scams.

eBay tries to keep instances of scams occurring, but with more than 100 million members, and approximately $40 million moving through the
site on a daily basis, this can be a little difficult.

Sometimes, scams occur.

If you have been scammed, there are certain steps you need to follow to report the incident, and to try to come to a resolution.

If you paid for the item through Paypal, the first step is to login to your Paypal account and open up a dispute for the payment.

If you did not pay through Paypal, contact your credit card company.

In most cases, if you have used one of these two cases, you will recover your money.

The next step is to use eBayís dispute process to report the seller.

This is specifically for items that were not received, or items that were significantly different than what was described in the auction.

eBay also has a purchase protection program to further protect buyers.

If a settlement cannot be reached with the buyer, the next step is to make an eBay buyer purchase protection claim.

Advance fee (419) fraud – Attempt to scam Internet vehicle buyers purporting to be sent by ebay

Warning – there are currently fraudulently attempts to obtain funds from vehicle buyers biding on vehicles on eBay.
This is clearly a development since the banning of money transfers as a payment method. The seller is allegedly in the UK and is asking for payment to be sent to Poland to the eBay account manager.

eBay is not involved in the actual transaction between the buyer and the seller, so they would never act as a payment intermediary and the email is fake. Note this email has been sent to the buyers external email account and has not been sent within the ebay mail system.

Any messages from eBay are personally addressed and will appear in the member’s ‘My eBay’ messages section. eBay provide advice throughout the site. The advice regarding the different payment methods is found at http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/confidence/isgw-sending-payments.html buying and selling cars is found at http://pages.ebay.co.uk/motors/privateseller/

This is clearly a development since the banning of money transfers as a payment method.

The seller is allegedly in the UK and is asking for payment to be sent to Poland to the eBay account manager. This is false. ebay do not use this account.

An example of the this type of fake email is below:

* DO NOT SEND ANY MONEY if you receive one of these type of emails or pass over any personal details.

Example of an email:

example 1

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: EBAY SECURE TRADER
Date: 11-Aug-2006 11:43
Subject: Your Invoice for 2003 AUDI A4 AVANT TDI
To: xxxxxxxxxxxx@googlemail.com

Here is the invoice for
2003 AUDI A4 AVANT TDI!

Dear xxxxxxx,

We require the payment towards poulton2233 to be done through Bank Transfer. As a protective measure for the parties involved in this transaction the funds will be held in our agent’s bank account until you receive the item(s) ordered. You can find all the details required to successfully transfer the funds below.
Item Information

Item Title: 2003 AUDI A4 AVANT TDI

Item Descripton: Climate Control Air Conditioning, Six Speed Manual Gearbox, Factory Fitted Satellite Navigation, CD Player/FM Radio, Trip Computer, Electric Windows, Electric Mirrors, Alloy Wheels, Remote Central Locking, Cruise Control, ESP Traction Control, Airbags All Round, Head Rests front & back, 60/40 Folding Rear Seats, Front Fog Lights, Luggage Compartment Cover, Adjustable Steering Column, Integrated Rear Compartment Blind, Factory Alarm, Hight Adjustable Front Seat, Rear Centre Arm Rest.
Payment Details

Buyer: xxxxxxx

Subject: 2003 AUDI A4 AVANT TDI

Amount: 4,000.00 GBP

Downpayment: 4,000.00 GBP

Shipping: 0.00

Total: 4,000.00 GBP
Delivery Information

Name: xxxxxx
Address:
Seller Details

Name: xxxxxxxxxxxx
Address:
Banking Account Details

Bank Name: ING BANK Slaski

Acct. Owner: Bizjak Saso (eBay account manager)

Acct. Number: 1000 0023 0450 0966

Bank Code: 1050 1445

IBAN: PL73 1050 1445 1000 0023 0450 0966

Swift Code: INGBPLW

Bank Address: Ul. Sw.Tomasza 20, 31-020 Krakow

Bank Country: Poland

Often people, who become the victims of fraud through on line auction sites, are often persuaded to send the money fraudulently obtained from them through money transfer service providers.

Internet auction – basics

* Get to know the parameters set by the site – they are in place to ensure user safety. Read the safety advice provided by the on line auction site before trading. Never step outside of these or outside of the site no matter how enticing the deal. Fraudsters will try to trick you into doing this. Like any popular activity you must ensure you know ‘the rules of the game’ because ‘A little knowledge is a dangerous thing’.
* When looking at an advertised item compare pricing. Beware of people offering you a deal below the current bid or reserve price, especially if they are contacting you direct. Remember ‘If an offer sounds too good to be true it probably is’.
* Get to know the seller by looking at their selling history and the goods they sale. Be extremely careful around the payment method used for persons selling with little or no selling history.
* Don’t get carried away in the excitement of winning an auction. Fraudsters rely on you being over keen and off your guard. It is never too late to ask questions of a seller to ensure that you are completely happy with what you are about to pay for. Do not follow through if you think it is a fraud, report the seller to the site.
* Finally, if your site offers ‘second chance’ bidding on an auction verify that any notification of you qualifying for this ‘opportunity’ actually comes from the site and not from a fraudster impersonating them. You can do this by carefully checking the address from which the e-mail is sent or by contacting the site via its published website (Beware of using any hyperlinks or numbers attached to such a ‘notification’ as these may also be false).
* “Always ask yourself, have I won the item, or have they won their next victim?”

Internet auction – payment

Buyer:

* Never use money transfers as a payment method whenever someone suggests this to you, even if it is by the seller after you have ‘won’ the auctioned item or when approached to step outside the on line auction site. There is little security in this, no matter what the seller says, and you are effectively sending your hard earned cash to a stranger ‘on trust’ alone. See our Money transfer pages for further information.
* Being extremely careful around direct banking transactions to pay for goods. There is still little security in this area also, which increases if the seller has no or little trading history with the on line auction site you are using. You are still effectively still sending your hard earned cash to a stranger ‘on trust’ alone. There have been instances where people have sent money to bank accounts and not received the goods. This has been more prevalent when dealing with people with no or little trading history on the auction site as a seller.
* Use on the online payment options or a reputable ESCROW account to pay for items. ESCROW is a payment system where both buyer and seller’s financial details are held separately and in isolation by a legitimate third party company acting as ‘middleman’. The buyer makes their payment into the Escrow account. The payment is only made to the seller the goods have arrived and been deemed satisfactory by the buyer. By doing so your transactions will be better protected and often insured. Never enter an Escrow account site through a link in an email sent to you by anyone, as it has not been unknown for fraudsters to set up fake Escrow websites. Use a search engine to locate the website or enter your chosen Escrow site through it’s proper web address. Always check the url shown in your web browser address bar.

Seller:

* When a cheque is accepted for payment, please be aware that although your bank or building society may after three days state that it has ‘cleared’, this only means that the money has passed between the banks. You remain liable if the cheque that you have paid into your account is forged or stolen, this may not come to light until the cheque is received by the other bank or the bank account holder queries a transaction on their account. This may take longer than you anticipate. The money is then taken back from you account so you lose not only the items that you have shipped to the ‘Buyer’ but also the money that the buyer ‘paid’ for the goods.
* A common trick that fraudsters use is known as ‘Criminal Cash Back’ where a seller accepts a cheque for an amount higher than the value of the transaction, often to pay a ’shipping charge’ to the buyers ’shipping agent’. This is actually paid to another fraudster who receives ‘clean’ money from you. You then find out at a later stage that although the cheque paid to you has ‘cleared’, it is a stolen or forged cheque, and you must pay the money back to your bank with no hope of getting the money back from the bogus ’shipping agent’. See out pages on Criminal Cashback pages for further information.

Internet auction – account security

* Protect your on line auction account details as you would your own bank account, whether it be your actual log in details and password to your auction account or your payment account. Do not become a victim of identity theft by revealing your name or account details. By aware of phishing emails that purport to come from the on line auction or payment site you are registered with, asking you to update your account or re-enter your details because your account has be suspended. To see two examples of a phishing emails purporting to be sent by on line auction site Ebay, click on the link to example 1 and example 2.

There are a number of factors that will indicate this is a phishing attack. In example 1 the following:

1. The email address, From: eBay Administration [admin@ebayz.com] whilst looking like a genuine one from ebay is not correct as it reads @ebayz.com instead of @ebay.com
2. Often these emails will contain links that sometimes take you to pages on the genuine website to give it an appearance of being genuine. But they also can take you to fake pages set up to represent the genuine website.
3. The link to up date your records http://cgi1.ebay.com/aw-cgi/ebayISAPI.dll?Update, whilst looking genuine will take you a fake website, in this case http://johtnanx.com.phtemp.com/eb/. Always check the url shown in your web browser bar.

* Always enter your on line auction or payment site through it’s proper web address. Save this in your favourites. Never be tempted to enter it through a link sent to you, especially in an email, as it might lead you to a fake site and disclosure of your personal information. If your on line auction or payment site provides a toolbar down load that will advise you when you are on the genuine site, consider using this.

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