How do scams work on eBay? eg. iPhones

Hoju on 19/04/2013 - 18:30

I've been on the look out for a cheap iphone on ebay, and see a lot of new sellers posting listings for very cheap iphones, buy it now. They actually tend to sell almost instantly, but my question is, if this is a scam, how can it possibly work with Paypal buyer protection almost always working in the buyer's favour these days?

The only way I can think they could make any money off it is if the seller actually sends you the phone, but after the 45 day claim period expires in Paypal, they report the phone as 'stolen', get a replacement on insurance and you're left with an IMEI blocked phone and no recourse through paypal. Would that work?

Does anyone have any ideas about this? The reason I'm looking seriously at these phones is that when I was ipad shopping, I saw a lot going for cheap, and actually purchased a couple that arrived fine and were genuine bargains.

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  • plmko on 19/04/2013 - 18:54
    +3
    1. You pay, paypal protection included.
    2. 'sorry, I used the wrong paypal address, could you repay with the invoice i'll send you?'
    3. Refunds you the funds from the payment you just made, paypal protection voided.
    4. You receive a new invoice that's not attached to any Ebay transaction, but you keep clicking on it until you pay, since the names of the product and the price are exactly the same.
    5. He does a runner.
    6. You lose.
  • Hoju on 19/04/2013 - 18:58
    +1

    Yeh ive heard of that one, and have seen lots of listings saying bank deposit only, my paypal account isnt working or something lame.
    But assume the purchase is all completed via paypal, i cant see why these people are bothering, or how a buyer could get burnt.

  • Horsey13 on 20/04/2013 - 09:41
    +1

    iOS some dork said their Paypal account wasn't working I wouldn't buy off them, because its either a) a scam, or b) if they are too lazy to fix it then itheyll be too lazy to post your product.

  • Horsey13 on 20/04/2013 - 09:42

    If….not iOS…

  • Horsey13 on 20/04/2013 - 09:42
    +1

    OP, I'd also check their returns policy….

  • Hoju on 20/04/2013 - 09:45
    +1

    Yeh there's definitely no way I'd pay through anything but paypal, even with a seller with a perfect and longstanding seller feedback history.
    Googling around, it seems that there is a reasonable instance of people who have bought a phone on ebay or gumtree, only to find the IMEI is blocked a short while later.

    Almost seems like you have to buy new these days with such scams going around. If only a new iPhone 4s wasn't $600+!

  • plowry1977 on 20/04/2013 - 13:08
    +1

    Reminds me of another eBay scam people should be aware of, especially when selling phones, which my friend nearly got caught with.
    Someone won his phone, he received receipt by email from paypal that money arrived and was about to send phone off.
    Luckily he logged in and checked PayPal and money wasn't there.
    In fact the email wasn't from PayPal, just a fake. So he marked phone as sent in eBay but obviously never sent it. He never heard anything else from buyer but reported to eBay

  • Moots on 20/04/2013 - 14:09
    +1

    This scam is simple.

    Sell an iPhone, scammer uses Sock5 or proxy to mask IP. Setup PayPal and eBay, sell the iPhone. You pay' scammer receives funds and by the time you claim the funds have already been spent.

    Especially with iPhones please read my comment about dealing with these scammers and the things to avoid, this was made about Gumtree which eBay owns.

  • Hoju on 20/04/2013 - 16:51
    +1

    Yeh definitely wouldnt buy off gumtree. Just about every buyer or seller Ive dealt with on there has been a little bit strange.

    In your scenario above, I guess I see that the seller walks away with some cash, but as long as you pay by paypal, the buyer has no worries at all right? Especially with this new pay after delivery thing, you never even get the money withdrawn if there is a problem.

    • Moots on 20/04/2013 - 16:55

      You don't know it but you read the terms and conditions carefully, your basically taking out a line of credit using that new method.

      Did you know that PayPal can refuse, close, suspended and withhold any funds or accounts you have based on your credit report?

  • samfisher5986 on 22/04/2013 - 13:15

    They can also send fakes, you can still get your money back but not without more effort then usual.

  • Hoju on 26/04/2013 - 19:41

    Well after about ten days of iphone shopping, I had three sales cancelled.
    Two were scams, or to me seemed to be given that when I requested IMEI and Serial numbers, they either gave wrong numbers or one seller cancelled the sale.
    The other was a fake. I requested the serial and IMEI for a 32gb black 4S, and when checking the details of the phone matching those numbers it came up with a white 16GB model, as well as the fact that the serial was used by fake chinese iphone makers (C39GH4E9DTD1).

    For anyone else interested, you can match IMEI to model here: http://www.imei.info/
    Check if IMEI is blocked here: http://www.amta.org.au/pages/amta/Check.the.Status.of.your.H…
    And match the serial number to the phone model here: http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/

    Make sure the IMEI and serial number models come up the same :)

    Finally did get one for a half decent price, but the in call volume is unusually low. Is that just an iphone vs android thing, or did I score a dud? It's still fine, but doubt I'd be able to hear anything in a busy, noisy area.

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