eBay scams - this one got a 2nd and even 3rd look from me!

Compa

I've been around computers since long before the internet ... I was on the internet before it was the internet ... I've seen all sorts of scams, from people simply misrepresenting themselves to the latest of fake websites.

Many of the the spoofs we see now days are fake emails that try to direct us to a fake site and get financial info from us. This email was different.

It really was from ebay - it was a second chance offer on an auction I had really bid on - only thing is that the bid I placed was just a place holder bid ... to remind me of the auction - no way I could buy the item for the $1,100 I had bid. For that matter I would be very very surprised if they had a second such item for sale!

The combination of price and availability of the item got me to look before I ever clicked on a link in the email. The links were all real - they really led to ebay ... Like I had said, the email was from ebay and real. The seller of the item has feedback of 2317 with 99.4% positive.

Where the scam came in was in that the user making the "second chance offer" wasn't the original seller! The original seller was silvertownelp the user offering the "second chance offer" was 8420marie.

Ebay needs to tighten up on some of their software ... If you weren't the orginal seller, you shouldn't be able to offer a second chance deal.

Stay alert!

mamooney

Forward all potential Ebay scams to ebay at spoof@ebay.com
Include the original subject in the header and make no changes to the initial e-mail.

This will help them tighten the reigns on the scammers.

theboz11

I've had several of those and they were always for items that I had bid over $1000, but often I was the 4th or 5th bidder down. No way was I going to sucker into that, I sent it to SPOOF@ ebay and they confirmed the fake. I had checked with the original seller first though to assure it wasn't real

Converse

Yep, this one is fairly new, to me at least, and as far as scams go it's a nasty one. I've been using eBay for 4 years or so and this one's the worst one yet, technology wise. It's ingenious as far as scams go.

I sold an item on eBay about 3 weeks ago for over $3500. The winning bidder/buyer paid for the item and was picking it up a week or so later (farm vehicle). During that week, the buyer (who had paid for the item) received an e-mail from another eBay member stating that they had received a 2nd chance offer and wanted to know why they, as the winner and buyer, had backed out of the sale. Well, let's just say that the buyer, and now owner, was a bit thrown off and worried.

Luckily, I had been in ongoing and constant communication with the buyers through out the auction and afterwards, so they called me immediately and we cleared things up. But it sure was an uncomfortable call for a few minnutes, convincing them that I had NOT offered THEIR item to someone else.

The scam/2nd chance offer e-mail is very real looking with all of the bells and whistles of an eBay e-mail. As you mentioned though, the individual offering this 2nd chance offer has a different name and e-mail than the real seller. Also, if you read one of these bogus e-mails, it states about 2-3 times to respond directly to the individual, at a specific e-mail address, and NOT through the eBay system. Another red flag.

These scammers have programs that automatically send out hundreds (if not thousands) of these each and every day. That's why even lower bidders, who weren't even in the range of the final selling price, receive the offers too. They only need 1 to bite and they've made some money.

For now, the feedback system on eBay is one of the only things that can really help a potential buyer feel good about a transaction. But, someone will eventually figure out a way to rig this too and post some bogus feedback, even if only temporarily for one or two bogus, high priced auctions. They will be long gone by the time eBay, or the individual who got scammed, catches them, and someone will be out some serious cash!

Be careful out there!


-Tim
Boston, MA

satootoko

When I get a second chance offer if I have the actual seller's email from post-sale correspondence on another transaction I use that to query about the legitimacy of the offer. Otherwise, I use the EBay "Question to Seller" link from the original auction to make the query. If a seller doesn't respond, I'll assume it was a phony.

So far I'm batting .750 - three legitimate offers (I accepted two of them) - and one phony.

ccrdragon

One other thing to note - all legitimate 2nd chance offers will show up on your 'My ebay' page as a watched item. If you get a second chance offer and it doesn't show up on that page, then it is a SCAM.