EBAY second chance offer -BEWARE!

S

shnaek

Registered User
Messages
599
I almost fell for this, and I am one of the most spam/phishing conscious people I know!

I got a mail from ebay about a laptop I had lost out on. They were offering it to me again at the same rate as my top bid. They had my mail addy, and my bidding history, and the mail looked official. I responded with no details, just to say I was interested. They responded with more VERY OFFICIAL looking mails. I have bought from ebay before and these mails were spot on, including links to my own bidding history.

The thing that didn't add up was the western union money transfer (which I always avoid) to a guy in Germany - even though the laptop was from Dell in Limerick! I mailed Dell, and I mailed Ebay. Neither confirmed it was a hoax. But I did some research on line. Here's a link to an article on the scam:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/05/ebay_scam_ruse/

Just thought I'd inform as many people as possible. These guys are getting smart.
 
It's not just high value items that they do this on either. I've had the same kind of mails for lower value items as well, last year though.
 
Ouch - don't like the sound of this at all.

Got a similar mail but from an address which I assumed (now perhaps niavely?) that it was eBay "SecondChanceOffer@ebay.co.uk". Thing is that I accepted it and paid through PayPal. Think I should contact eBay and if so would anyone have an actual contact mail address - I find this menu driven contact function abysmal.

Roy
 
ring Paypal/Ebay in Blanchardstown. They will refund after a month if pressurised.
 
Thanks 2Pack, will do, I live in hope that my seller is genuine but I'll do that as a last resort. Thanks for the advice.

Roy
 
If you went through paypal then you are probably okay. As far as I can see the scam uses mainly western union money transfers. I sent all the details, including the address provided, to ebay so the fraud can be reported to the authorities. Ebay sent me the following email address to which you can forward suspicious mails from sources pretending to be 'ebay' - you can't contact anyone on this address, and it takes forwarded mails only: spoof@ebay.co.uk
So if you want to check if yours was genuine you could forward it here.
 
I dunno, maybe its just me, but I think eBay as a brand has really lost a lot of its sheen. With so many scammers, outrageous postage rates and shoddy sellers (and buyers), the site seems simply not to be worth it. Personally I try to avoid eBay, other than to check products and prices, and to shop elsewhere...
 
Im getting best value from the online shops. It seems the more a shop sells the cheaper the delivery rates (from UK anyway). Last week, 3 identical items, closely matched on price from the UK, 1 private seller and 2 in different shops had shipping at 100, 40 and 15 sterling respectively. No contest for the customer. Obviously the more a shop sells the better the rate they can demand from the courier, but where there isnt the choice youre stuck. I do find the irish market hasnt a lot of penetration with these online ebay shops yet.
 
something similar happened to me and i got scammed €800 for a 7 string Ibanez universe guitar that didnt exist.
I was a regular ebayer and trusted their security. I got ripped by a guy in England for €100 and paypal refunded with no questions asked.
However since the €800 rip off i dont feel ebay as safe as was as most scammers use ebay as a base for potential clients.
I know people in paypal/ebay who could not do anything for me as the €800 was passed their limit for refunding and therefore my case was void.
For every genuine transaction, there are at least 20 fraudulant.

There are so many ways to get caught out lately, Ive stopped using ebay and stopped buying anything on the net. Used to like getting stuff from abroad that couldnt be got here etc but its waaayyy to risky and nearly every week theres a story of a friend being ripped up on the net, credit card details stolen etc..
Theres a new scam in England now with the ever solid chip and pin security system so nothings safe anymore. Just be careful who your giving your details to and how you use them yourself.
 
7up said:
For every genuine transaction, there are at least 20 fraudulant
Click to expand...

Although I don't think ebay is perfect by any means, I have been using it for 5 or 6 years now, and would say the proportion of fraudulent transactions is much less than 5%.

However, as always, caveat emptor
 
You might like to read the tale of the man who bought a broken laptop from an ebayer, but managed to fix it and recover the sellers old documents....
Click to expand...
Class

Love to know if it had its desired effect.
 
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