Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Online Auctions, eBay Craigslist Petroliana An Ebay scam I haven't seen before

One of my auctions ended last night with a "buy it now". I sent the buyer an email with a total and get this email in response:

From: XXXXXXXXX [mailto:XXXXXXX@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 12:17 AM
To: 1morgan@cox-internet.com
Subject: Answer my question below and mail me your full name and address and your mobile# asap today

I agreed to pay the amount you want as buy it now any any aditional money for the shipping.but i am using this opportunity to infomr you that the amount that will be on the moneyorder will more than ur item fees.i don"t realy know the exact amount it will be.bcos it will be issue by my client.and the reason of the over payment is that.the amount on the moneyorder has been signed,and it is more than ur item fees.so once you receive it.you must deduct ur item fees and westernunion the balance money to my client manager in africa.and the item is going to africa.
there will be no problem about the shipment.i want you to responsible for it.also make sure you deduct ur item fees and westernunion anyaditional money on the m/o once you receive it.Here will go.i wolud have end the auction but i don"t know how to do it.so i want you to go and end the auction for me asap.to asure you that i am realy intrested in ur item.i will add extra $5.00 in ur payment if you end the auction for me asap.and email me ur phone# asap today.
Below are the questions i have for you.

1)is the item in good condition?

2)is any westernunion location where you to send the balance money arround you?

3)can you make sure you get the m/o cash at ur bank the sameday you receive it?

4)can you allow me to send DHL for the pick up and complet the transaction the day you receive the moneyorder?

If yes too all my questions.kindly email me back asap today so that the moneyorder can be send asap,
Thanks,


So now, this scumb has cost me my listing fees, is able to leave me negative feedback if I don't respond and has my email address!

I'm almost to the point of resigning from ebay. I sent the email to spoof@ebay but I'm sure there is no way they can catch him. Hopefully, they will refund my listing fees.

Be careful!

You're right, that's a new scam. The money order scam has been around for a while but using "Buy It Now" to initiate the scam is new.

eBay should take care of your fees, get rid of the offender and prevent the feedback. Probably only time lost but still frustrating!! Good luck.

Paul

thanks Paul, this guy is "no longer a registered user" at ebay. That was quick.

He had zero feedback but had used buy it now to end several auctions. Some were gas related. There was a nice Shell sign he was high bidder on also.

I went ahead and started the dispute with ebay even though it was only ended last night.

Morgan,
THANKS FOR THE HEADS UP

Non registered users CAN NOT leave feedback.
ADD buyer to your BLOCKED SENDERS/BIDDERS LIST

Send buyer a Link to you local F.B.I. OFFICE, you'll probly never hear from him/them AGAIN.
DB

[This message has been edited by Dick Bennett (edited 07-13-2006).]

Thanks Dick, good tip! yeah, I added him to the blocked bidder list before relisting.

I saw where I could leave him feedback, it hadn't occured to me that he couldn't leave feedback either.

Anyway,he probably has a new ebay name by now anyway. LOL

IF he was a registered bidder, he could have done the BUY IT NOW & that would have stopped the auction.
db

I was telling my husband about this and he said something like that happened to my brother-in-law recently, only he had listed his truck for sale on some kind of car sale site. He was contacted by someone who said they would send him an amount $5,000 over asking and that he could send the "change" to a third party. Luckily, he didn't fall for it either.


Trudy

Thanks for the heads up Morgan, I thought I heard them all .These guys must be sitting around all day just thinking of ways to rip people off.

I had a buy it now just a few days ago on a fry 73, exact word for word senario, ebay refunded fees and relisted. True you are just out the time but the buyers watching to bid, will probably get scared off thinking something isnt kosher with the item disappearing and then being relisted.

I was bidding on a Shell sign and I got the "EBAY" notice that the auction ended, ect. I was looking forward to winning that sign. Brady

I think Ebay should tighten up on its Buy It Now. I think you should have to have at least 10 or 15 feedback before you can bid on buy it now. Not fair to the honest new guy and the dishonest guy could still build a positive rating, but it would take some effort before they could try to scam.

Hang in there

seems like I heard of some guy getting in trouble with bank of america with something like this. Sold a bike on ebay got a check for more than the amount went to the bank to see if it was legit or had the funds and ended up in jail. Clark Howard a radio personality pushed for a boycott of bank of america over it

Yea, Bank of America will call the cops on you and send you to jail if you try to cash a counterfit money order. That is there "policy". Jerks...

If you get the money order - do not touch it anymore then you HAVE to and take it right down to your local FBI office and talk to them about it. I do this everytime I get one that I think might be counterfit, and most of the time they are. My local FBI office is in the Federal Building in Downtown Topeka Kansas. They will check on the money order for me and let me know if it is good or not at no cost.

The last time I did this I got a letter 5 months later from the AG's office in Chicago that they caught the guy and they are taking him to court and HE IS IN JAIL. He went with GUILTY thanks to the finger prints on the counterfit money order. With those they got a search warrent on him, and nailed him with the counterfit blanks. He is doing 30 years in a federal pin because of the prints on my money order he sent me for of all things "condoms". Gee, it was a 50.00 money order for a 5 dollar item off of ebay, and he wanted me to send the rest of the CASH to him in Chad.

HA HA - true story... Nail those pricks every chance you get.


Travis E. Towle
Topeka, Kansas

785-357-1004

Yup......

Clark Howard, www.clarkhoward.com

True story about BOA. Poor guy did nothing wrong and ended up in jail. Over 30M has been withdrawn from BOA since Clark went on the air with this.

Interesting reading. Good show. You can listen to the show directly from the website for free.