eBay Scam BEWARE

superklue on 20/12/2011 - 10:41
Last edited 20/12/2011 - 10:44

I felt this was appropriate to post here as some less experienced bargainers may be lured to eBay with the promise of cheap goods and high positive feedback scores.

"Australian eBay customers lured by ultra-bargain priced TV sets and other electronics have shelled out thousands of dollars only to receive empty boxes in the mail. Police are investigating after receiving reports from reputable eBay sellers who were tricked into carrying out the scam by bogus job ads.

In just one instance, Christmas bargain hunters have paid $1120 for what they thought was a 55-inch Sony TV, only to receive an empty box in the mail or nothing at all. As part of the con, scammers are using job classifieds sites including Seek to advertise "sales manager" positions.

They specifically seek sellers with high positive feedback ratios on eBay and ask them to list goods on their behalf. The positive feedback lulls victims into a false sense of security and this coupled with below wholesale prices makes the scam particularly effective. In one instance seen by this website, a seller with a 97 per cent positive feedback rating, named virtual_fantasia, sold 10 Sony Bravia 55-inch 3D TV sets for $1120 each. The sets are selling online at JB Hi-Fi for $1798 and on Sony's website for $2299.

The same seller also sold Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 32GB tablets for $550. The high quantities of items listed on each auction mean that for every individual product sold there could be more than 10 victims.
The cheap prices caught the eye of Wojtek Czarnocki, who runs the dmavo.com.au online store and found that the price on the tablet was "way cheaper than our wholesale price with our regular supplier overseas".
Czarnocki attempted to buy the tablet to resell to his customers and was reassured by the 1700+ positive feedback messages and the fact that PayPal protection was offered."

Merry Christmas and good luck with your shopping.

General Discussion

Comments

  • 777 on 20/12/2011 - 10:51

    yeah just saw, you beat me in posting this

  • andy19363 on 20/12/2011 - 10:54
    +2

    More evidence to show that using Ebay as a pricing benchmark is unreliable….

  • morpheu on 20/12/2011 - 12:59
    +1

    scammers have been around long before ebay, they just have turned to more sophisticated ways to fleece the unwary, in the end think "if its too good to be true then chances are it is!"
    ps i wonder if paypal will pony up!

    • dealman on 20/12/2011 - 15:15

      I'd think they would have to, else they loose trust which would be worth more to them than the hundred thousand or so at stake here.

  • SpaceNinja on 20/12/2011 - 13:18

    The poster of the deal is at fault. They should have realized that according to ebay and the rules they will be the sellers in the deal they are posting not their "employer". The poster is either a fool or a party to the scam.

  • cdeep0 on 20/12/2011 - 16:15

    One MUST always use paypal or use a Platanium card to Safegaurd themselves…as I always do…

    • thanq on 21/12/2011 - 22:18

      Should take note that paypal's buyer's protection policy does not guarantee you'll recover your money.

      If in doubt don't buy

  • llama on 20/12/2011 - 23:15
    +1

    There is a similar eBay scam that's been running for about 6 months now, where the scammers advertise for (high feedback) sellers in the job sites, but the items are slightly lower prices (in the $200 to $500 bracket). The listings are easy to spot, as the entire listing description is an image.

    This image is supplied by the scammer, and it's hosted on a remote server. Once the scam completes, the listing description is removed or amended so it shows something else. So watch out for any listing that contains no text, and/or if it doesn't match the seller's other items.

    • LKB on 21/12/2011 - 14:56

      Thanks for that llama, will definitely be on the look out! I thought I was pretty in the know about all things ebay but would never have picked that up!

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