By Andy McCue, 12 November 2003 17:20
NEWS eBay is warning customers to be wary of fraudsters using hijacked sellers' accounts to try to con them out of money by offering to sell goods such as laptops at knockdown prices outside of auctions.
silicon.com was alerted to the problem by a reader, Silvia Krivosikova, who contacted us after being relieved of £500 by the scam.
The fraudsters take over legitimate eBay user accounts with details obtained through the 'phishing' spam emails that take recipients to a fake eBay page and ask them to update their account details.
They then join live auctions for items such as laptops and contact the bidders direct by email offering the same item at a lower price if they do the transaction direct and outside of the eBay auction.
Krivosikova received the following email while bidding for a laptop on eBay: "I saw you are interested at the Toshiba Satellite Pro 6100 Notebook and I have one to a very good price:500GBP included shipping tax and the insurance. If you really are interested I wait your mail. Thank you for your time."
Of course, people familiar with the scam will know that once the payment is banked the laptop never arrives. The problem for customers who do fall for the scam is that there is precious little they are able to do to get their money back or catch the perpetrators.
eBay said in a statement: "Unfortunately, because the item was purchased outside of eBay.co.uk, the user is not eligible for eBays Buyer Protection Programme. eBay.co.uk often reminds its users of the risks of purchasing items that are not sold via the site. This is also a breach of our user agreement."
Krivosikova has traced the IP address used by the fraudster when contacting her back to the Netherlands and contacted her local police in Sussex, but was told that as the payment was banked in Spain it was outside of their jurisdiction.
The criminal or criminals behind the scam have clearly gone to some lengths to covert heir tracks and evade detection and capture.
silicon.com was contacted by Krivosikova after six emails to eBay's US customer service team reporting the problem and asking for advice went unanswered for over two days, and eBay said it is now looking into the cause of that delay.
eBay also said that along with many other internet companies it is targeted by people wanting to perpetrate fraud online, but claimed that less than a hundredth of one per cent of listed items result in a confirmed case of fraud.
Comments
There are 16 comments. Join the discussion
1. Dan Rhodes
I've been selling laptops on ebay in my spare time for some while and recently this has been happening a lot, one person bidding on one of my laptops received 30 of these emails from various people in a 24hour period. What makes matters worse is that after being contacted by some of these potential customers they have said how they have been receiving these wonderful offers, I try and talk them out of what I am calling this as "the western union" scam - they will only accept payment through western union - I guess less traceable? People must be falling for it, and a lot of money must be being lost.
Scam number 2 is being contacted by people in, for example, Indonesia saying they really want to buy the item, and will pay more than the item is worth and the only way they are able to pay is by using a stolen credit card or www.qchex.com (or similar) using stolen bank details - not sure how many people are aware of this one, as it seems to me to be a newer scam....
2. Dino
A friend of mine fell for this scam a few months ago. Since he'd paid by credit-card, he assumed that he had some protection. The credit-card company were very helpful and refunded the money to his card whilst they set about tracking down the thief. So, money back in pocket, my friend buys a laptop elsewhere ... only for the credit-card company to get in touch a few days later to say that since his transaction was technically a cash transfer, there was nothing they could do so they were taking their money back from him!
3. Rob
I run a small ebay bussiness selling computer accesories, we have seen this for a few months now. I wish people would live buy the rules of if it looks too good to be true, then it most probably is too good to be true. And be suspicius, a genuine seller will always give you full contact detail in advance, as you may want to buy more. I gues what i'm trying to say is this, stop being so greedy!
4. Gordon Torbet
This eBay fraud is not new at all - I was a victim of it over four months ago, and I know for a fact that it has been going on for much longer. I think it just goes to show how slow eBay have been to honestly address the issue. Yes, they have guidelines for bidders - but they are pretty well hidden away. There are a lot of new visitors to eBay (as I was) who are not aware of the fraudsters, especially the ones who use the user IDs of reputable dealers, so when you try to check up on them (even e-mailing past buyers)all you get is positive feedback. eBay needs to be more proactive and should make part of every page of their site a banner containing a warning of potential fraudsters and telling buyers where to locate eBay's advice pages. Otherwise this sort of thing will only continue and get worse, giving eBay a bad reputation and affecting there profits.
5. Roberto
I don't think that this is ebay's biggest problem. Go and look at the amazing amount of fraudulent listings!!! they are everywhere. The phishers aren't just hijacking accounts in order to offer better deals to bidders. They are listing tons and tons of items for sale that they don't have at incredible prices. I've been watching ebay for a few weeks and no sooner does ebay remove a fraudulent listing than it is replaced. Obviously the phishers have a lot of accounts compromised. Look up things like RX-1, Rincon and many, many more.
6. anonymous
I recently signed up to eBay because I was looking for a plasma TV. I made a bid and no sooner had the bid been posted I received two emails offering the same make and model for over £1,000 less, outside the bid. To good to be true - this is a good question to ask when buying anything from any company on the net. If the answer you come back with is 'yes' - don't buy!
BTW - I reported both offers to eBay. Never got a reply.
7. Jack
I am a victim of fraud committed through eBay. The seller was presented by the eBay as good seller.
I lost over 1500 USD but eBay is not interested too much in helping me.
My impression is that eBay does not do too much to fight fraud and is ignoring victims of fraud.
I have been trying to contact eBay many times but they just avoid me.
I have sent Fraud Alert report and Fraud claim. Based on my experience they are a part of a kind of propaganda only and not a true eBay's afford to help victims.
eBay should do much more.
8. Mike Perry
Why are you all so STUPID??
I've read the comments here, and they're all "it's eBay this" and "it's eBay that".
It isn't.
It's your own idiocy for going outside eBay and doing things that you would never dream of doing in "real life". What is it about computers and the internet and e-commerce that cause you all to behave like utter morons?
If you bumped into a complete stranger in the pub one night, and he said 'I can get you this great deal on a 42" plasma TV for only £500. Give me the money now and I'll see you in the car park the day after tomorrow', would you hand over the cash?
No?
Them why the **** do you do it online?
I have NO sympathy with ANYBODY whose hard-luck story I've read here. You've all behaved like d***heads, and you deserve what happened to you.
9. anonymous
I was a victim of ebay fraud for a stuff worth £45, after pursuing a lot the ebay claim dept I got only £10 back as compensation, take care, we need to insist ebay authorities to make the system that the payment should first go to ebay first and when the stuff is delivered than only only the payment will go to the seller and all correspondence should be through ebay.
10. anonymous
beware also of atv quad bikes at ridiculous prices to good to be true .they are easy to detect they usually say secure bidders only and only ridden for a few hours . try asking for a frame number or say you will travel to pick up the item its just a big con .check out their feedback its all crap cds vhs nothing of any value .
11. anonymous
You cannot cheat a honest man - Read below.
I am a online auctoneer (a struggling and genuine one), I sell the highest risk item, there is, which is Laptops.
I am a expert at detecting fraud and protecting the cash in MY wallet.
I am British, but that makes no real difference, (French, German, American, we are all the same.)
When we purchase a product in the street, worth £100 and we see it for £50. Alarm bells ring in our heads saying :
1) Why is it so cheap ?
2) Will it do what it says on the tin ?
3) Is it stolen ?
4) Why would the retailer sell it at this price ?
Now, take the internet and what do we do, we bid and bid and bid !!!
We want the cheapest price regardless.
We want the fastest delivery.
We want to pay by credit card and, so what if the merchant incurrs charges as long as we dont pay, and if I have too pay, then I will find an auction listing that doesnt charge me and are even cheaper.
STOP !!!!
Stop right where you are. I credit most people I encounter, with a bit of common sense.
Look at this seller equation =
(product price + ebay listing + ebay final value fee + VAT + sellers profit = A FAIR AND HONEST PRICE)
Now lets put that in perpective :
(£376 laptop buying price) + (£2 ebay lising fee) + (£17 Ebay Final Value Fee) + (£100 Profit) = £495
£495 would be typically what most sellers retail on ebay for. This is what I term a fair and honest price.
Now, think you see a listing saying
Laptop Sale = £395 No Delivery Costs, No VAT. Pay by Wire Transfer and get 25% off final price.
Is this example listing real. I think not. Why ? Because it is impossibe !!!
If you honest, you must know, that the seller is making no profit at all and still has to pay fees right, so why bid.
GREED !!!!!!!
We are all victims of it, especially me. But if you want genuine advice.
"Pay only what you think the item is worth, and not what your greed tells you can get away with"
You see, a honest price for a laptop is £500. If you a honest person, whoich 99% of my customers are, then you know this is a good price.
You cannot cheat a honest man, because he will pay for products, what the product is worth.
Everyone, the scamster, scammers or whatever you wish to label them, they are waiting and they will get you, with a scam sooner or later.
Your time is almost up.
Be honest and let genuine sellers, earn their money, by selling tpo geniune customers at genuine prices.
Thank you
12. Mike Vosler
At this moment there is someone contacting me from Indonesia who wants to buy a laptop from me, and then see if I can begin a business routine with him (where I find laptops and he buys them monthly). I was suspicious of his motives so I decided to do some research. Would anyone have any advise for me in the position I'm in? Thanks
13. Sandy
I came so close to making this mistake. My dad was trying to buy a laptop for me on e-bay. Some guy sent him an email saying that he could sell him the same one for $550 USD. He said that he wanted us to Western Union the money. Stupid me knowing that it was too good to be true, took the money to Western Union. I got home and found your website and not a minute too soon. I called Western Union, and they are returning my money to me. Thank God he had not picked up the money yet.
14. anonymous
i am a vitim of ebay fraud. I was sold a laptop which I never recieved. Got no help from ebay or the police, They say it is not a crime!.
15. anonymous
I lost $2400 to a 2nd chance offer thru ebay that led to a spoof ebay page. The same week I lost $2800 to coin dealers who got kicked off ebay and never delivered. No more ebay for me!!!!
16. anonymous
a week opr so ago I saw Mac G5 listed on ebay an incredible spec at a ridiculous price. i sent an email and received a reply telling me the stock was bankrupt stock and if i bought 2 there would be a 25% discount and 30% if i bought 3. I advised him Arthur Klingsman that I wanted the money in escrow, he replied this was too difficult. I suggested i have my lawyer pick it up from their supposed London address. I have not heard from him since.
The items were listed onebay australia again at the weekend different nam Jan somethin same ISp earthlink.
Tried to contact ebay no luck so far, also advised the fbi site