SPOT THE FRAUD!!
The purpose of this blog is to help you spot fraudulent listings on eBay's site so you don't fall victim to these scams . Every few minutes tons of fraudulent items are listed through hijacked accounts. Once you learn how to identify them, you may be able to spot the fraudulent listings just from the search results. When you look at these listings you will notice some or all of the following:
-1-day listings starting at very low prices without a reserve for expensive items. (Laptops, Professional Cameras, Plasma TV's, High-end Computers, Expensive Speakers, Car Audio receivers, professional audio equipment & more).
-They tell you to send an email to a specific address before bidding on the auction. It will say something like this "before bidding email me so i can approve your bid and give you details". Some may also advise against using the eBay emailing system for whatever reason (The real reason might be that the real owner of the account might also receive the message and he or she might not be aware their account is being used for fraud purposes).This is probably the first thing they will say on the listing, they want you to email them and they will clearly let it show.
-Although the listings are in auction format they will say something like "you can have one for ###USD". Stating to email them for a bigger discount and offering free shipping with it. Usually the price is a lot less of what you might expect, and they want you to email for this buy it now price.
-Most of the listings have the featured, bold, subtitle options. They usually appear featured at the top of the search results, with subtitles saying things like "special offer", "x-mas offer", "lowest price ###usd" and more.
-They usually say they have more available. "5 units available", etc.
-Bidders ID's kept private. (Not always, but these might be to prevent bids being displayed from eBay members like this one: account_hijacked_do_not_email_or_bid)
-If you look at their other items, they will be selling more of these expensive items, with the same "email me" story.
-Shipping prices are not stated, never mentioned, or they are free or just $1.00 ( Just another reason to get you to email).
-Payment options also not mentioned or might be bank wire, western union transfers and Paypal sometimes. But beware you may find all the Paypal logos depending on the hijacked account.
-The listings layouts are usually the same or very similar. You will find the same pictures across different fraudulent listings from different hijacked accounts. And also note that most of the time the pictures are very detailed and show the real item, real box, etc.
-The scammer may have more than one hijacked account. You may find the same layout and email me to address on diffrent user accounts. They may have more than a few hijacked accounts but you can easily tell they all come from the same scammer by this one email address that is listed on each and every one of these auctions.
-Category where the item is listed is not always the correct one. You might see plasma tvs, laptops and others under the "dolls" category or any other category that has nothing to do with what the person is auctioning off.
I may add more information as it comes to mind, If you have something to add post a comment and I will post it here as well.
-1-day listings starting at very low prices without a reserve for expensive items. (Laptops, Professional Cameras, Plasma TV's, High-end Computers, Expensive Speakers, Car Audio receivers, professional audio equipment & more).
-They tell you to send an email to a specific address before bidding on the auction. It will say something like this "before bidding email me so i can approve your bid and give you details". Some may also advise against using the eBay emailing system for whatever reason (The real reason might be that the real owner of the account might also receive the message and he or she might not be aware their account is being used for fraud purposes).This is probably the first thing they will say on the listing, they want you to email them and they will clearly let it show.
-Although the listings are in auction format they will say something like "you can have one for ###USD". Stating to email them for a bigger discount and offering free shipping with it. Usually the price is a lot less of what you might expect, and they want you to email for this buy it now price.
-Most of the listings have the featured, bold, subtitle options. They usually appear featured at the top of the search results, with subtitles saying things like "special offer", "x-mas offer", "lowest price ###usd" and more.
-They usually say they have more available. "5 units available", etc.
-Bidders ID's kept private. (Not always, but these might be to prevent bids being displayed from eBay members like this one: account_hijacked_do_not_email_or_bid)
-If you look at their other items, they will be selling more of these expensive items, with the same "email me" story.
-Shipping prices are not stated, never mentioned, or they are free or just $1.00 ( Just another reason to get you to email).
-Payment options also not mentioned or might be bank wire, western union transfers and Paypal sometimes. But beware you may find all the Paypal logos depending on the hijacked account.
-The listings layouts are usually the same or very similar. You will find the same pictures across different fraudulent listings from different hijacked accounts. And also note that most of the time the pictures are very detailed and show the real item, real box, etc.
-The scammer may have more than one hijacked account. You may find the same layout and email me to address on diffrent user accounts. They may have more than a few hijacked accounts but you can easily tell they all come from the same scammer by this one email address that is listed on each and every one of these auctions.
-Category where the item is listed is not always the correct one. You might see plasma tvs, laptops and others under the "dolls" category or any other category that has nothing to do with what the person is auctioning off.
I may add more information as it comes to mind, If you have something to add post a comment and I will post it here as well.
posted by AdMiez at
10:18 PM
1 Comments:
Thank you so much for what you're doing on ebay. I report, report, report, but nothing is usually done until those fraudsters have already made thousands. Doesn't do a bit of good to end an auction after it's already closed and been paid for. That just leaves the bidder who won & paid with no proof of what he did.
I hope you will get a new id and continue your good work after ebay gets rid of this id. We need more people like you.
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Anonymous, at 10:14 PM
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