So, in December I fell for a scammer on ebay selling an SD2. What the scammer does is hack someone's ebay account with long time status and 100% positive feedback. He had a Buy It Now or best offer, we went back and forth on offers and he accepted my offer and I made payment. The very next day, I get two messages from ebay, one stating the item shipped (with tracking) and a second later another saying it's been delivered. Then, he messages me a second later saying "please ignore the tracking, UPS make a mistake". I then smelled a rat but later that day he messages me a new tracking number. The two tracking numbers both showed "Orchard Park New York" (that's my town, but the tracking never shows the exact address. So, this guy obtains fake tracking numbers or ships bogus packages to another business in the town so it looks like it's coming to you. And, Paypal releases the money to him because he has tracking numbers showing "delivered" I just got my refund from Paypal today. I knew I would get my money back but the process was a huge PITA. The scammer is back with a new hacked ebay account - I've already reported this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Diagnostic-FERRARI-MASSERATI-SD2/132906505687?hash=item1ef1d855d7:g:u~0AAOSwj91cLPZE:rk:1f:0 These photos are the ones he uses - a friend of mine was scammed a year or so ago on the same item, same pictures. So if you see these photos, it's likely a scam. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Dave, I'm not sure I follow you on this. To get the money wouldn't he need to also have the PayPal credentials of the hacked account? Then he/she would have to transfer the money to another bank account he/she controls ("drop" account) to withdraw it. Recently, I got a letter from my bank that showed I added two new bank accounts. I didn't add them and after an investigation what they found was they were setup online as "drop" accounts. Scammers allegedly setup drop accounts that they control to move money into then withdraw and abandon the account. I thought the Patriot Act required people to show up at Branch offices to establish their identity before an account was activated....but apparently that has been rescinded. What concerned me was if a scammer had enough information to open a bank account in my name, what stopped them from having access to my other bank accounts? At least in this case, the bank assured me that they had security in place to prevent that.....which I seriously doubt.
JD a lot of banks are allowing opening of accounts on line. For example, on a daily basis I see ads from Capital One saying it is to save time etc. Makes it so much easier for hackers.
Dave..Thanks for the heads up...! In the end those people will never get ahead in life..Sorry just my 2 cents.
Sorry to hear that this happened. One useful tip for buying high value items online is to ask the seller to take a photo just for you. You can ask for a photo from a specific angle, a close up of a defect, etc. I've also asked them to write their ebay user name on a piece of paper, with the date, and take a photo of the paper and the item together. This can help foil the scammer (but only works if they don't actually have the item in their possession). You also must be very careful to examine a seller's feedback. There is a huge market of $0.99 items for sale. Scammers can start a new account and buy a number of these items for the purpose of only accumulating feedback.
Great advice - thank you. In this instance, the seller was a member since 2003. And, it would not have mattered as the scammer hacked the account of a real, good member.