The Anatomy Of A Scam! How to Avoid Losing Your Hard Earned Cash

[retroman_studios]

I often go on eBay in search of scams. Not because I have any desire to be scammed, but it is amusing and slightly scary how well they work.

In this example, I will take a look at a seller who has in the last few months suddenly started selling high ticket items at at least 75% off. He has also changed his feedback habits which is a cause for concern, and the type of things he sells.

In this example, the Tablet he is selling also sells on Amazon for around $100. He is selling the tablet for $25. Free shipping. Of note is that this tablet has fairly good specifications namely, a 1080P Screen, which adds to the BOM (Bill Of Materials) cost. This is a current product, so it's hard to believe that he can get it at this price. Also, as we look into the sales history, we'll see some "fishy" stuff too.

If we look at the sales history for this item, we can see 112 units were sold in 24 Hours. The average feedback of the buyers was 0-250 with just a small percentage being in the 300+. Most buyers bought only one unit, but a few were extra greedy and bought two. It's quite interesting how the zero feedback buyer bought two, and the 2,976 feedback buyer bought two, just to name a few.

Now this seller has sold before, mostly Crew Socks and old TV Box Sets. In the past, he always left feedback for his customers. Now, he is leaving zero feedback. However, he is getting feedback from customers (with last 60 days) for his listings, some of which include our lovely discounted tablet. I have a feeling those feedbacks are not genuine. One of those feedbacks even mentions a shipping address, so I wonder/fear that some sort of weird things going on.

What is even more odd that when you add the item to the cart, it has the option to select "Other: Card payment by phone/in person". I had thought that option was long since retired. So either they have figured a way to add this to the listing or they found a userid to hack that used to support that. (Unsure) I fear if people use that option and call in the card number, it's gonna end badly.

So, in looking at this listing the first red flag is the price. Anything that is 50%-75% off retail pricing is a sure sign something is up. If you look at typical sales of even refurbished goods, Very rarely do these prices reflect 50% off of an item's going price UNLESS the item is quite old and considered older and thus why it was refurbed and for sale. Remember, this tablet is still being sold on Amazon.

Second, these units are supposedly new. So nothing that would indicate a valid reason why the price is so low. I could understand the reasoning if for example, the units were no longer sold on Amazon, were a bit out of date and had issues, thus the low price. But no, these are all new items. Plus, he has over 100+ of these units. 

Our third red flag is the feedback. Both what's there and what's not. Our seller went from carefully giving reciprocal feedback for every transaction, to not giving any feedback at all. All within a span of 3 months. Plus, he already has feedback from customers saying what an awesome deal. One reason I can give (given the assumption of scammer) that no feedback is given, is that for the feedback that is fake, if he were to give feedback, it would be easy to connect the user id's used, as you would have a trail to follow. Because if fake feedback is given for this account, surely there are other accounts that have fake feedback too.

So, what's the morale? Don't get suckered into a fake transaction. If the price is too good to be true? IT IS TOO GOOD, IT AIN'T REAL.

[femmefan1946]

The changes in product line and that he no longer leaves feedback, do indicate a hacked account.

When was the account originally opened?  And how long is the gap between the last crew sock sale and the first tablet sale?  (I guess for the tablet you'd have to go to the Buyer FB.)

"Other: Card payment by phone/in person".

Might this be connected to the relatively new Guest Account option?

Although that is an odd way to put it.

[pjcdn2005]

Have you reported the listing?  You might want to send Tyler a pm

with the item number.

i have no idea how they would be able to set up the payment by phone option... very odd.  But even without that, the price itself is a red flag.

[rcrawford34]

Years ago when I was active helping on the boards  a poster posted a thread for help about an item he had bought  and felt it was  a scam . He had bought a Violin and afterwards checked the Sellers other items and there were a number of the same one listed.  Looking further at Sold Items there were  about 5 or 6 of these sold in about 3 or 4 hours

I Checked the sellers History and  there had been no activity on that account for about 2 years.  Feedback showed he had sold  items  completely unrelated  so realized there was a significant  chance a scam was taking place

At that point I knew some of the ebay staff members personally having been down to Ebay's Office  in Toronto a few times  for a program they invited ebay customers to.  There were a few I stayed  in touch with on a regular basis and  had their phone #'s   so contacted one of them by phone right away. Explaining what was going on and what I suspected  she told me she would call me back shortly.  When she called she thanked me they had checked it out,  the account had not been used in yrs and the info given on the listing  for payment was in Europe not in the U.S.  where the seller was.  Because of Privacy she did not give me any further details  other than that but ebay blocked the account  and was able to block the payments going through

That one was a case of  being to Good To be True.  The Violin was listed well below what that they usually  went for and some jumped at it

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