EBAY RED FLAG!!!! SCAMMER ALERT !! Updated 11/04/06

[Spitfire Reddie]

I just discovered how many people may be losing their ebay accounts to scammers.I just got a "question" about shipping.The question was only in my yahoo mail and not my ebay message box so that made me wreary right off the bat.Although the message looked official and all i decided to check their ebay ID out DO NOT CLICK ON ANYTHING IN THAT EMAIL !!!!! it said they 298 feedbacks but when i checked that exact ID on ebay it said they only had 3 feedbacks and they were from the UK (said they were from Florida in the email)and hadn't bid on anything since May 05 and the feedback was awful!!! Also the item number was non existent !
ALWAYS ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS THROUGH EBAY ONLY NEVER THROUGH EMAIL !! The fraud email will send you to a fake ebay sign in window and if you sign in there goes your account also if you click it you get a virus too ! Below is a pic of the fake ebay question email.Look that member ID up its all true !!

[Spitfire Reddie]

I just got a email from ebay confirming it !! if you suspect a email to be a fraud ebay email sent it to spoof@ebay.com make sure you forward it to them with full headers showing.

Also ebay will NEVER send you a email requesting sensitive personal info IE credit card # S.S. # or password its a fake ! Report it immediately

[Night Stalker]

Wow Spitfire, thanks for the ALERT! PPL are coming up with some very clever ways to bilk us out of our $$$$. I don't use ebay much, I printed this message and alerted wifey.... .

These ppl need to have their computer wrapped around their head. Thanks again for the heads-up.

NS

[Spitfire Reddie]

No prob Night Stalker .These people are freaking ruthless !! Always scheming against people to get their money or accounts ! It really pisses me off when i get these crack pot's emails ,they think they are getting my ebay account ?? I don't think so ! I have to warn as many as possible

[Spitfire Reddie]

Let me add that if its a true question about a item it will be in your ebay message box & your email,but only answer it through ebay no matter what.

[Spitfire Reddie]

I just noticed something else it says Location CA United States !! But they ask for florida shipping and the ID is based in the UK !! What idiots ! Their not even smart enough to do a proper scam !

[deepsix47]

Yea, my girlfriend sells leathercraft and Native American Craft supplies on EBay. If she doesn't get a dozen or so of these things a week she starts to feel unwanted....lol. The best one I ever saw come through was to win a new Viper. We actually know someone who fell for that one and his PPl account was emptied out within 24 hours. As already stated though, answer only through your EBay account and you're safe (for now anyway). Thanx for taking the time to post!!
Deepsix

[Spitfire Reddie]

Notice also that the feedback they received are from people that are no longer registered users !

[Antny]

Thanks Reddie,
It's good to know you are on the job!

[Spitfire Reddie]

heres a all new one that popped up on my email today the top pic is of the fraud email & the bottom is the ebay members actual stats on ebay see the diff ? He wants to know how much shipping is too California when hes not even from there ! He's from Texas not California and other diffs circled in red.Keep trying scammers ! Also notice the similarities between this email and the first one on this page like both started ebay membership on April 30, 03 !! Yeah right !!

[xupz]

This has been a known scam for many, many years. There's really too many to go into detail about. I've been on ebay since 99 so a couple suggestions:

1) as the OP stated, only communicate through the ebay message center. DO NOT LIST YOUR EMAIL ANYWHERE ON THE AUCTION. This is how many scammers "pharm" emails. Even if you're running a legit business on ebay, it's better to not include an email address, however, you can and should provide a link through to your business site.

2) Never fall for second chance offers. Sometimes you'll receive a message through a cracked account through the ebay message center asking for another item. The problem here is that they'll want you to conduct the transaction outside of ebay, or with a cracked paypal account. It'll look legit until those chargebacks fly in. Only sell through a legit auction with the actual buyer. DO NOT SHIP to any other address other than a verified paypal address. If a scammer has both a cracked ebay & paypal (because idiots use the same passwords), then the only way they'll get the item is if it's shipped to a location other than the paypal address.

3) Avoid selling internationally, and NEVER ship anything overseas. Apart from the shipping being way more hassle with customs and more expensive, the vast majority of scammers are overseas.

4) Check all links in email and never click them. Any good scammer can spoof an email address. The email address and contents will look exactly like an official ebay email. The link in the email will look like a legit link to ebay. Scroll over the link and view the actual link and you will see it does not point to ebay, instead to some other site.

If you keep you a look out for those simple conditions and follow the rules, you should have absolutely no problems with scammers on ebay, well except actual sellers / buyers who try to scam you through shipping (sign for an empty box or declare false damage etc).

It's too bad people end up learning about the scams after it's too late.


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Oh yea OP, because the addresses don't match doesn't always mean it's a scammer. I've had many auctions in my time where people have recently moved and just didn't update their ebay & paypal addresses. That is a scammer though you have there. Do you have your email on your auction listings?

[gollum]

There are some things to look for, if you suspect an Ebay email scam:

1. Look at the origin email address, it HAS to be from whatever@ebay.com Many times, what you will see is, whatever.ebay@sdlkncvanb.com or messages.ebay@sdlkhskd.com (you still have to be careful, because the better hackers can fake that origin address).

2. ANY message from ebay that arrives in your email box MUST be in your ebay mailbox. NO EXCEPTIONS!

3. When you get one of those emails, open ebay.com, and do a product search for the item# of the item in the email (99% of the time it is not real).

4. Don't be too hard on Overseas Shipments. I ship to Canada, Australia, Much of Western Europe, England (just stay away from Eastern Europe and Africa.

Best,

Mike