Ebay Scam???
Jonny_Paycheck
17,825 Posts
A zero-feedback bidder just "bought it now"... and I get this email:
WTF? Sounds like a scam. ????Hello, I will like to let you know that i have just hit the buy it now button on your item and i will like to know if you have included the shipping charges with the buy it price.I want to know how you want the shipping to be taken care of and also i will like to let you know that i will be sending you a postal money order as a method of payment and i will like to let you know that there will be excess amount on the money order in which you will deduct your item fees and send back the remaining amount back to me.I would have used the paypal method of payment but my paypal account is empty currently and i want you to bear with me..there will be no problem about the shipment.i will beresponsible for it.also make sure you deduct youritem fees and westernunion any aditional money on themoney order once you receive it.Below are the questions i have for you1)is the item in good condition? 2)is any westernunion location where you to send thebalance money arround you? 3)can you make sure you get the m/o cash at ur bankthe sameday you receive it? 4)can you allow me to send DHL for the pick up andcomplet the transaction the day you receive themoneyorder? If yes too all my questions.kindly email me back asaptoday so that the moneyorder can be send asap,
Comments
Without a doubt--no way would I deposit that MO.
YES, THIS IS A SCAM. Anytime someone is sending a MO w/ extra and requesting the difference, run like the wind. My bank even started posting signs about this, saying to report it and they will report the fraud to the proper authorities.
Someone may know better than I, but basically, there are no funds in the MO, so when you cash it and send the change back, the MO bounces, and the bank then comes after you for the funds.
Basically what KK said. There was a piece on Nigerian e-mail scammers in the New Yorker a few months back, and I believe this one was in their repertoire.
He also claims it's a postal money order in the first paragraph, then goes on to say it'll be from Western Union.
These guys are getting to be too much.
By sending a bogus MO, he hopes that JP will send the record and the difference back to him (the extra money that he put on the original MO. Say $100, for example.)
Then, his original MO bounces, and the bank will come after Jonny for the entire amount- say, $200 total.
The scammer will then receive the record that he paid nothing for, and $100 that he scammed off JP. Not that JP will fall for this, but that is the hope of the schmuck on the other end of it.
Like I said, my bank and many others are getting wise to this, posting signs, and reporting it.
And yet there are people who will bite. I can even think of a few people I know--age sixty and up--that might fall for this one.
Now I've gotta file with ebay for all those fees. Super
The guy in that story was really sad/stupid. Even after he was getting sent to jail for cashing those bad checks they asked him if he would do it again and he said yes. WTF?
Make sure to forward his email and a complaint to the ebay police too. This should probably get them booted off ebay and then they can't leave a feedback for you.
Forward the email to eBay right away so the user account can be deleted.
Additionally, for all you PowerSellers out there, you can call eBay's help line and communicate to a *real person* that someone tried to scam you. They'll flag the fake user account and investigate right away.
1. Doesn't speak English very well
2. Wants you to send him the excess via Western Union
3. Wants you to do it on the same day you receive the money order
Done deal, report that shit
He continued to believe that he had been contacted by Sani Abacha's widow and that only after they had begun negotiations had her e-mail account been usurped by "fraudsters".
That dude is bad news mayne. A scam for sure. For my eBay auctions, I only accept payment via paypal and do not allow any negative or zero feedback bidders.
What would this # be pray tell?
I've called ebay before but didn't hear of a "power sellers" option...
You have to be 'awarded' the PowerSellers status by eBay themselves, by meeting certain criteria (consistent sales volume, good feedback, etc). Once you are in the club, they send you a welcome kit with a direct number (as reflected by your PowerSeller level--bronze, silver, gold, platinum) you can call for assistance.
If you aren't a PowerSeller, the number won't do you any good because they ask for your seller name and password when you call. If you aren't in the club, you can't benefit from the hotline.
Full details here:
http://pages.ebay.com/services/buyandsell/welcome.html
Although I have read on some blogs that this is not true, they just give you the same number they (don't) give everyone else.
No they don't. The PowerSeller help line is totally legit. Calling a general eBay number is a waste of time. Calling your PowerSeller rep is very helpful.
No problem. Glad I could help.
Speaking of scams/grifts, a friend of mine, who should have definitely known better, fell for a doozy.
He had to sell his house to pay back the "people" he borrowed the $$$ from to use in the scam.
It was a variation of this...
The Black Dollar Scam
And now we come to the reason some 419 scam victims are asked to travel to countries in Africa - or London, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, New York, and especially Spain - to help retrieve the funds. This is usually the last step in the scam and involves the infamous Black Dollar Exchange Scam. It also means meeting the swindlers face to face - a very dangerous proposition.
In this part of the deal, the victim is shown some of the alleged money. It is then explained that the currency was damaged in storage, or that it stolen money stained by the U.S. Treasury to identify it as currency for recycling, or some such folderol.
The only way to "clean" the currency to make it usable is by applying a special chemical to it. The swindlers have unfortunately run out of the chemical and it is very expensive, however they will provide a demonstration of how well the chemical works, so that the victim is convinced the chemical will work.
The demonstration involves showing the victim real U.S. currency that is black and completely useless, i.e. Black Dollars. The currency is then washed by the swindlers. During the washing process, genuine clean currency is switched for the Black Dollars. Having impressed the victim with the efficiency of the chemical, the swindlers sell him a supply and give him boxes of Black Dollars to wash. Unfortunately, when the victim opens the delivered cartons they are full of newsprint and the swindlers are long gone.
There are several variation to this theme, but they always come down to the same thing - the victim has to shell out more money. A fortunate victim will only end up a bit poorer for this last experience. The unlucky ones are beaten, mugged, robbed, shot and left for dead, or made to disappear. A bankrupt victim is only worth his watch, jewelry, credit cards, and identity papers, the latter being the reason victims are asked to travel to a foreign country.
Blackened money?! That must've been quite a convincing/menacing story...
Apparently the bait and switch was real good, yeah.
Dude came to my apt. completely stressed and bugging the fuck out.
The minute he said "Nigerians", shit went off in my head.
I actually did a quick search while we were sitting here and came up with the "black money scam" piece I posted.
My friend pretty much got sick to his stomach at that point.
What gets me is that he's otherwise very street smart. He is literally the last person I would think could fall for such a thing.
Then again, he was financially down on his luck at the time and that vulnerability can make all the difference.