Beware of recent scam involving eBay

[Bleacher Bum]

Hello,

This past weekend I was the target of a scam and was able to figure out what was going on prior to sending any payments. I was contacted last Friday by an individual who said that I was given a second chance offer on an item I had bid on recently via eBay. The individual stated that I was given the chance to purchase the item at my last high bid and that if I was interested, they would conduct everything through eBay.

Well, the next day I received an email seemingly from eBay stating that I needed to submit payment to this individual via Western Union. The scammer stated that they were on a "business trip" to Italy and that PayPal does not protect transactions that take place between the U.S. and Italy. The original seller on eBay listed their location as Milwaukee, WI. Although the email was very convincing, this raised a red flag to me!! I contacted eBay and they confirmed the email I received was not in fact from eBay and that it was a spoof. Here is what eBay stated:

"If you ever receive an email that looks like it's from eBay about a
problem with your account or requesting personal information, check My
Messages first. If the email is genuine, a copy will also be found in My
Messages. You can also forward the email to spoof@ebay.com and we'll
investigate. Don't respond to the spoof email, or click any of the links
in the message. Please don't remove the original subject line or change
the email in any way."

Knowing this, I sent emails back and forth with this individual all weekend asking when they would be returning and if we could complete the transaction then? The emails become much more "snippy" and I eventually stated that I knew it was a scam.

I have never encountered anything close to this on eBay in the 7-8 years I have been buying and selling. I just wanted you all to be aware that this is going on in case a "Second Chance Offer" comes your way. eBay notified me that all communication will show up in your eBay Summary page. In the case with my situation, all of the emails came directly to my hotmail account. Luckily I was suspicious from the beginning and did not disclose any confidential information.

This was a learning opportunity for me as I was able to learn the security policies that eBay employs and what signs to watch for in the future. I would recommend you do the same if you haven't already! Be careful out there!

Thanks!

Brad

[mudman]

There are a lot of scams on eBay these days. You gotta be really careful and pay close attention. I get at least 3, most times more spoof emails a week concerning some type of eBay transaction. They really ;ook convincing and as if they were sent from eBay. I just forward them to eBay so they will be aware.

Also just another heads up. I am now getting these same bogus emails from Pay Pal. They either say I won a item and please pay now, or my account has been put on hold or suspended because they need to up date my bank or credit card info.

[ebbets55]

These are happening a lot lately, which is why Ebay took steps to conceal bid histories. In addition to the many second chance offers I use to receive, I recently received another one I was actually interested in. I contacted the seller to make sure it was legit. Brad, you are right. In order for it to be a legitimate second chance offer, it has to appear in My Messages in My Ebay. The transaction actually worked out well.

On another note, I get spoofs from PayPal related scams stating that I buy a Dell computer every week. I just ignore them because I get them so often. I never respond or click on links. However, recently, I went to PayPal someone for a glove and PayPal wouldn't let me send the money stating that they suspended my account due to suspicious activity. This made a lot of sense to me since I get so many PayPal spoofs as well. This e-mail was legit as I couldn't send money. I went to the PayPal site and fixed the problem directly. I had to reset my security questions and passwords but did it directly from the PayPal site.

NOTE - NEVER UPDATE ANYTHING FROM THE LINKS IN THE E-MAILS. Always do everything from My Ebay or the PayPal site directly and everything should be fine.

Great topic guys.

JD

[Hrking4675]

I report these to Ebay all the time. I find it funny sometimes how if you click the links, it does not take you to an https..... ect ebay link, it will be some scam website like 34.987.ebayw3.... ect. I have not recieved as many emails lately since I no longer include my email address in my listings (I conduct everythign through ebay msgs now) and changed my email address.

[Mike**Mize]

Just this past week I received one of these bogus second chance offers. Man, did it look real. This was for the white Cobb, so there was a lot of money involved. I just wanted to say that it didn't take long (a few seconds) for all the alarm bells to come alive in my thinking about this offer, thanks in part to these postings. It was easy to check out the offer and realize it was a fake. A few years ago I might have been drawn in.
Keep up the good work, everyone.