Whenever and wherever there is money involved; scammers are lurking around the corner…
The eBay Scammer – usually the eBay scammer will offer to buy the listed item from you even before the bidding has ended. He/She will offer you extra $$$ for the item, for example, if you have listed your item for $100, they will offer you $1000 or more! The scam is to lure you in giving out your personal information and in return wipe off your Bank account! They usually target buyers, first time sellers/occasional sellers.
These spammers will usually offer you more money (if you are selling) via some account, which is usually a ’sham’ account.
Personally, I am more of a buyer than a seller on eBay, but have come across these kinds of ‘offers’ when I had put up my laptop, home theatre and cell-phone for sale. It does look attractive, but you have to ignore such “lucrative offers”.
Sometimes, eBay detects these scams, and will notify you immediately. Well, for my “Home Theater” – that was not the case. The “buyer” placed a last moment bid and “won” the item, and when I received the email on “how to proceed with transaction” from the “buyer” – I immediately knew it was a scam.
Anyway, the day after, I did receive an email from eBay, which notified me about the scam email and removed the listing and deactivated the buyer id. Surprisingly the buyer had 4 positive ratings!! Not sure, how he/she got those ratings?
Well, when I want to buy or sell something on eBay I always prefer to conduct transactions via PayPal, which I believe to be the safest.
Here is an example of spoof email – (exactly as it is written)
“Dear seller,
I really want to buy this item and i need a seller who is ready to sell,i will be paying 750euro for this item and you will ship it to my client in Nigeria.
(1)I will be paying you by western Union Auction Payment(Bidpay).
(2)You will ship the item by FEDEX,DHL,UPS,EMS.
(3)You will ship the item to my client immediately you recieve my payment
approval from the western union.
If you agree with these stated terms,send me your full name and address so
that i can go to the western union office immeidately to make payment for
the item.
please please scammers stay off!!!!!!!!!!
Robert Dallas”
So, please…
NEVER deal international from known high fraud areas!
NEVER give your personal and banking information to the “Nigerian” scammers!
