The Fraud Squad

[westernstargifts]

I had a strange message from a buyer tonight. She gave me her name and said she was interested in my item but was confused because there was a similar item to mine posted. She had a big long string of numbers and letters listed that was supposed to look like the address in the web browser for that item and she wanted me to "have a look". Since she has feedback of 7 I figured she was a newbie so I sent her a reply (through My Messages) saying I would have a look at it if she sent me the Item number.

Later this evening I got an Alert from the "fraud squad" saying that this user might be trying to get my email address, conduct business outside of eBay, be participating in fraudulent activity, etc. and not to respond either through my email OR through My Messages. I used the Report button in the message from her and sent it on to eBay.

This is the type of thing you avoid like the plague in your email. Now it is coming through in My Messages. Scary! I'm glad I had the presence of mind not to copy and paste that fictitious number into the browser.
My question is why is this person "teecycle" still on eBay. After seeing Sell-ur-Stuff's posting about the threatening buyer he has had to deal with still being on eBay you have to wonder why they allow people like this to still be registered. It boggles the mind!!

I had 2 others awhile ago that 'advertised' through my listing. The usual thing you get in your regular email: "Attention ladies and gentlemen. We are a manufacturer....." They went on to tell me what they sold. I reported them as well.

[3jcc14]

Hi, I had the exact same thing happen to me regarding the confused buyer. I checked her user name in my community and it came back as an active account. I did send a report to Ebay Trust and Safety and got the same Fraud Alert back.

[eureka9988]

The same thing happened to me two days ago.
Renee

[cello10]

Some insight Judy...the email you received could very well be legit, ebay just doesn't want people using the contact member option to lead to sales outside ebay. In a way it's for our safety, but it's also because there are no fees in it for them. From our experience, although we are not 100% sure, we've concluded that the email you received from ebay is another cut and paste one from them, worded cleverly so as not to fully acccuse the sender and to kinda scare you into keeping your transactions on ebay. Personally my hunch is that ebay has an automated system of some sort that scans emails for key words, links etc. and when it gets a hit it fires off that email to the recipient. I understand what they are doing, but at the same time I think it is possible that legitimate customers can be collateral damage in this system as well. And while I appreciate any help I can get from ebay in terms of safety, personally I'll look out for my business myself first and foremost.

You handled it right by not using the links and asking to return the item numbers, to just to air on the side of caution. But this person, particularly since they have an active ebay account, could very well be a legit customer and their questions are worth answering.

As for the emails from the manufactuers with items to sell. That's just spam from China pretty much.

[grimsbygaming]

Judy, I doubt that email you received was legit. I have received countless emails like that in the past, and I just report them all right away....they usually say something like "Is this item similar to "

- Mike

[whoscloset]

I've been getting those daily. The way I know they are not legit is that the item number is the old style.

Since ebay implemented the new system, all my items start with 2600 or 2601. I don't know why that is...there has been great speculation as to how they are categorizing sellers...but I always look at the item number on an e-mail and immediately know if it is a phisher.

[westernstargifts]

I really don't think it was legit either because others have received the same type of message. I treated it as though it were but, not surprisingly, have not heard back from this buyer.

That is great insight cello. I never would have thought of them scanning emails for keywords but have wondered different times if they have bogus sellers set up just to test us to see if we would sell off eBay. I have had several offers but would not take them up on it for my own security and I don't want to get kicked off eBay either! The ones that ask about it never seem to buy anything from me on eBay so I wouldn't trust them anyway.

Personally I like knowing that they have security measures in place but I also don't like to think that 'big brother is watching".

[for_baby_and_you]

I agree with cello ~ it could very well be a legit customer and their questions are worth answering~

and about the manufacturers... what is wrong with this? they are looking for new distributors and we are looking for new sources... two years ago one of my wholesalers contacted me this way... I don't see anything wrong with offering your items to eBay power sellers- this is our business

[cello10]

I agree with Kasha, I don't think there is anything wrong with the manufacturers contacting potential customers. It's just business and Kasha's success finding a good supplier just shows that there is potential.

Just do your homework on them and watch for name brand knockoffs from Asia. You don't want to touch those with a ten foot pool, no matter how tempting. You can get in a ton of trouble, on or off ebay.

[treasure-pot]

Monique, if an item has been renewing monthly in an eBay store for some time it is still possible for it to have the old nine or ten digit numbers. For instance, in my store I still have an item number 4432300425.

Kasha, for every legitimate wholesaler that is trying to drum up business in this manner I'd be prepared to bet that there are many, many more that are scammers. Legitimate wholesalers or distributors looking for customers should avoid using the same tactics as the crooks. Too often people will apply the old adage "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck - its probably a duck!".

Bill treasure-pot

[whoscloset]

True Bill. I have a few of those. If in doubt, I usually copy the item number, paste it into the search box on ebay and determine if it is actually my item.

Whatever you do...don't click on a link in the e-mail and sign onto ebay that way. 😉

[for_baby_and_you]

Whatever you do...don't click on a link in the e-mail and sign onto eBay that way

I never do... but just wondering do any body know what will happen if you click it?

[treasure-pot]

Generally you will be taken to a spoof site that, to the casual observer, will look identical to the eBay (or PayPal) login page. All they want is your login name, password and (if they can get it) credit card info.

Spoofers send out millions of these emails daily. They only need to get a couple of naive click throughs a day to make it extremely profitable for themselves.

In some rare instances, its also possible that your PC will start to billow smoke and your car will disappear into a sink hole.:^O;-)

Bill treasure-pot