Ebay Scammers

[Jamoe]

Over the last few months my father in law has been after a nice sports car and has been looking on Ebay. He has seen a few absolute bargains that he has asked me to look into. On both cases they turned out to be scams. (£20k cars selling for £5k-£8k)

I just want to share the info that I researched while looking into it.

1. The first tell tale sign is that the auction will suddenly end, usualy after you have sent an email enquiring about the car.

2. The seller will have some reason for getting rid of the car, usualy they have moved country and claim they cant get the car registered.

3. They seem keen to send the car and pay for transport costs and will usualy have an escrow service they want to use.

What you need to be aware of is that the ebay accounts are usualy stolen through phishing schemes. so even if they have lots of positive feedback it oculd be fake.

There are also lots of fake escrow services. They just basically steal your money. DO lots of research and make sure its you who decides on the escrow (//www.escrow.com).


The first email from this guy.

Hello ,
 I appreciate your interest for my car. First of all, the car will be shipped from Verona, Italy where I`m located. My wife is from here and we have decided to move here. Since I reside here now, I have recently been informed by the italian police department that I need to change the registration of the car from UK to Italy, which also involves a very expensive duty tax, a lot of paperwork, lots of lost time and so on. All this must be completed by 03/NOV/2005 or i need to return it to UK after that, so I `m forced to sell it fast. Also, it is very difficult to drive a right-handed car in Europe, but my lost will be your gain.
The car was bought new by me from the Drayton Mercedes-Benz of Stafford dealer. It has only 18500 actual miles. There is no outstanding finance on the car. It has not been stolen, has no damage, no scratches or dents, no hidden defects. It is in immaculate condition, meticulously maintained and hasn't been involved in any accident. The motor runs awesome. The tires are like new. On a scale from 1 to 10 it is definetly 10. The car meets United Kingdom DOT and EPA guidelines so there will be no problems regarding UK Customs policy on receiving the car. The car comes with log book, HPI cleared, it is free of encumbrances and liens. You will get from me the keys and all documents to register the car into your name.

The main thing i need to know if you have the means to complete this transaction and if are serious about the purchase, as i only deal with cash buyers. Buy it now price is £4,500 with shipping/handling included. If the car is not how I've described it, I will offer a full refund, upon the return of the item in original condition (return postage at my expense). It will be insured during transportation and will be
delivered in front of your door.

The payment will be made through eBay and only after you will receive the car I will receive the payment. If you agree with these terms, please email me your full name and address and I will be more than glad to start to complete the transaction with you.

Mail me soon,

Seems reasonable, so I ask about guarantees, how to pay and that I would want to choose an escrow service.

Hello ,
Thanks for the fast reply. The car comes with original invoice, owners manual and all the documents to prove its ownership. You won't have to pay any import taxes because it's a UK car, not an import. The car will be delivered to your home address in 5 days since your payment has been confirmed.
I have registered the transaction with eBay so they should contact you shortly with the payment instructions. Let me know once they have contacted you so i can get the car ready for you in time. I will appreciate your positive feedback if you feel the transaction has gone well.
Mail me soon

He seems to ignore my desire to use an escrow service of my choice.

and soo after

Thank you for contacting eBay's Customer Support team!

We have verified seller's information, all the details of this transaction and we concluded that they are accurate. Our verifications confirm seller's contact info and his ability to deliver the merchandise advertised on our site. There is a limited group of sellers on eBay which we can recommend and James Andrews is one of them. Please follow our instructions to complete the transaction safely.

Seller: ddogw1@aol.com
Seller information: James Andrews, 62 ,##### United Kingdom
Buyer:jamesporter@leonard-web.co.uk
Item title: CLK Cabriolet Avantgarde 200 2003 Mint One Owner
Item location: Verona, Italy
Total price: £4,500.00
Shipping: Samskip Insured
Status: Ready to ship
Payment: Western Union    
Status: Pending

Complete your eBay transaction in 5 easy steps:

1. Buyer and seller agree on the transaction terms and a selling price. Seller contacts eBay with the transaction details;
2. eBay accepts the transaction and offers purchase protection to the buyer (if the transaction is declined, no further action is required from either the buyer or the seller);
3. The buyer sends payment. After the payment was sent, the buyer must notify eBay. The seller has three business days to send the buyer and eBay the tracking number of the shipment. If no tracking number is provided, a full refund is immediately sent to the buyer;
4. Buyer receives the merchandise and has 7 days to inspect it;
5. After the inspection period is over, the buyer must contact eBay with the result of the inspection. If it is complete and as described, the buyer should accept the merchandise. If he refuses the merchandise, the buyer must ship the merchandise back to the seller within 3 business days, on seller expenses and the refund will be sent to the buyer within 3 business days.


Payment must be sent by: Western Union Money Transfer
Next step to be taken: The buyer must send the payment

 It is recommended to send the payment as soon as possible, because your purchase protection is valid for 90 days only. Sending the payment by any other method of payment will void this transaction and your right to refund.

Our department require the payment to be done through Western Union transfer service directly to our eBay agent from Rome, Italy(//www.ebay.it)

eBay Agent Details
Name : Edgar Laycon
Street : 5 Via Deligiani
City : Rome
Zip code : 10432
Country : Italy

Paying Safely and Protection Programs eBay Protection Policy
This policy was last modified on Jan 1, 2005.

Payment instructions:

To submit the payment with Western Union Money Transfer, you have to pay for the transfer with cash at a local Western Union agent. Click here to locate the agents in your area http://www.westernunion.com/info/agentInquiryIntl.asp.

Make the payment with cash using the above listed details of our eBay Agent available in Italy

Western Union Money Transfer is the only service that has ultimate authentication of the identity of the receiver of funds. Several IDs and utility bills are required before the funds are paid. Sellers from Italy are not yet eligible for the PayPal Buyer Protection, which means you are not protected against fraud if you pay this seller by PayPal.

However, Western Union Money Transfer is designed mainly for sending cash to friends and family members in need, so telling them you are sending the money as payment will prevent your money transfer to go through and you will be unable to complete this transaction.

Once the payment was sent, send us the following information:

- 10 digit MTCN (Money Transfer Control Number)
- Exact sender's name on file with Western Union
- Exact receiver`s name on file with Western Union
- Your street address on file with Western Union
- Amount sent
- Fax the Western Union receipt to our fax number : +44 (207) 681-2156

Once we receive the payment confirmation, we will contact the seller to start the shipping process. We will hold the payment in a trust account until you send us your confirmation that you are satisfied with the product. As soon as we receive your confirmation we will release the payment to the seller.

Within 3 business days, you will receive the tracking number for your merchandise.


Thank you for using eBay!

Thank you,
Customer Support (Trust and Safety Department)
eBay Inc

(sorry abit long all that)

Some bits pop up in here that are most alarming. First the use of Western Union, this is almost a damn cert that its a scam. The other dodgy thing is that the image url for ebay points to pic.ebaystatic.com, registered by netservices and not ebay.

A couple of links that I found usefull.

http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/mrkt_...shtransfer.html
http://www.carbuyingtips.com/fraud.htm

So just a little warning to everyone. If its too good to be true, it's probably an ebay scam. Please also note I never lost any money, only a small amount of time sending emails and googling.

[Doris]

Jamoe..  you might wantr to edit that as it has your address on it...

[TeaLeaf]

Just so you are aware, the scam bit occurs in the Western Union step.  If they have your name and the MTCN then usually within 24 hours someone will appear at a Western Union office with a passport in your name and withdraw the money you have paid in.  It's a well known scam.

TL.

[Jamoe]

thats not my address lol, its the fake sellers, its now gone

I hadnt known the scam befor this, its only becuase we queried 2 cars that were both being sold from abroad. The first car was being sold through square trade (which isnt an escrow service). The second car as per above was going through WU.

[TeaLeaf]

Originally posted by Jamoe@Oct 22 2005, 08:03 AM
The first car was being sold through square trade (which isnt an escrow service). The second car as per above was going through WU.

What tends to happen is that you are emailed by either Ebay or Square Trade and told to use Western Union, so both routes end up at Western Union usually, although there are a number of variants fo the scam.

Tips to Avoid Car Buying Scams

TL.

[Thulsa Doom]

How can you be guaranteed that if you buy a car from eBay it is as the seller says?
On smaller items i.e. DVDs etc it's not such a big loss if the item comes in a scratched case, but on a car it can be a serious amount of cash.

[Jamoe]

Originally posted by Thulsa Doom@Oct 22 2005, 08:56 PM
How can you be guaranteed that if you buy a car from eBay it is as the seller says?
On smaller items i.e. DVDs etc it's not such a big loss if the item comes in a scratched case, but on a car it can be a serious amount of cash.

[post=99629]Quoted post[/post]

[/b]

Go see the car and hand over the cash. Thats the only gaurantee that I'm aware of.

I wouldnt buy a car from abroad via ebay, usualy the auctions dont say where the car is, you get that after you email them.

[Penfold]

Originally posted by Jamoe@Oct 24 2005, 09:04 AM
Go see the car and hand over the cash. Thats the only gaurantee that I'm aware of.

I wouldnt buy a car from abroad via ebay, usualy the auctions dont say where the car is, you get that after you email them.

[post=99689]Quoted post[/post]

[/b]

Now I wouldn't buy a car from anyone apart from the registered dealer - I know you pay a bit more for it, but at least you're guaranteed that's it's not going to be dodgey and you'll get a decent warranty with it. If you have a good local 2nd hand dealer then that's probably OK but I'd never buy from anywhere else.

Interesting stuff though.. good reading

PEN

[suicidal_monkey]

Originally posted by Thulsa Doom@Oct 22 2005, 09:56 PM
How can you be guaranteed that if you buy a car from eBay it is as the seller says?
On smaller items i.e. DVDs etc it's not such a big loss if the item comes in a scratched case, but on a car it can be a serious amount of cash.

[post=99629]Quoted post[/post]

[/b]

most of the time car sales on Ebay are dnoe under a "you won the auction, you go meet the seller and view the car to make sure it's as they said it is, only then do you part with the cash!".