Warning about new eBay scam - seller with 100% positive

I uncovered this new eBay scam this week. I'd never seen this particular one before but here's how I spotted it. I was looking at some GPS units when I noticed a guy selling some very high end Garmin units with a low starting price. I saw one about to close when I began to smell a scam. Seller had 12 feedbacks - 100% positive BUT all feedback was received on Dec. 9th from users often using the same wording in feedback. And all items were very low dollar and had either nonexistent descriptions (or possibley Chinese that was not translated in the ad) AND all users leaving feedback had eBay names that were all in the same format: 3-5 letters followed by one or two numerals. And if you checked their feedback you eventually found that most were no longer registered users, AND they had only been registered a very short time, AND eventually as I kept clicking on feedback it became obvious that all 12 users had left feedback for each other. No buys or sells outside this little group of about 12 people - all very low dollar items but now this guy is selling Plasma TV's and other high end electronics with $45 to $75 shipping fees even on small items. I caught the buyer of one of these just as it closed at around $300 on a GPS. I got a great big thank you from them the next day. I reported it to eBay and that buyer. Buyer said eBay notified them later it was a scam (maybe because I notified eBay) and she avoided sending any money on it. Well I thought this guy was shut down but now I see another nearly identical situation on eBay from a Chinese seller. Another bunch of random names but without the numerals - all have feedback from each other, all of this one I'm looking at are 'no longer registered user', most using identical wording for feedback, and each of those have 9 or 10 feedbacks all originating on Dec. 15th or 16th and of course all lead to the others in this group. Also this guy says because he's in China he can't accept PayPal outside of China (since when?) so he can only accept Bank transfers or Western Union! There's probably more you can find but if that isn't enough to trigger the 'Big Scam' bell I don't know what is. Be careful this time of year - I think most eBay sellers are okay but this isn't one of them. Search on item number 5843708743 to see an example of one of these scammers.

Thanks for the notification. Very good of you to pick up all those "clues".

Yeah, that one is bad. They even go so far as to say that their e-mail address will look hoaky and not to worry about it. Talk about brass!

Daniel

I have 100 percent feed back watch out for me. Prejudice to a new level based on 100 percent feedback? Other CPF'ers have 100 percent feedback however I will not tell whom they might be.
thump118

"The seller of the honesty, the product is friendly, price cheapness"

Peter

BTW, if you have an ebay account it might be a good idea to check it for accuracy. Ebay has been having some major security problems, when a registered user logged on, some were logged into other member's accounts and had full control, including being able to bid, see paypal accounts, etc. Some folks are now trying to correct bids that they did not make.

It is being discussing on their boards, here is one link:

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=1000161485&tstart=0&mod=1134827286630

LMU

Were U looking for a Garmin nuvi 350? I got mine for a great price. PM me if you need info.

I've been hearing about people gaming the feedback system for a couple of years now, so I always read the first page or two of feedback to make sure the the seller isn't obviously shady.

A few days ago a person with 100% feedback, but with only about a dozen feedback entries, was selling a Surefire M6 for $300.00, with free shipping, via "Buy It Now".

I don`t need another M6 (for I have *several* of them ), but I was tracking this particular Seller and his auction for the fun of it.

Before the auction ended, the auction site was removed...and I think by Ebay.

Did anyone else notice this besides me?

Uh might be my fault. The model number was for a 8NX not a M6 so I got a little ancy and sent an email or two and it got jerked real quick and they are not a registered user any more. I have 2 M6's but the price was nice so I was looking. Oh I have no intention of losing my 100 percent rating so I gain trust with those of you guys that have a problem with 100 percent.
Topper
thump118 on eBay

5843645531
5843655364
5843666749 <- looks like he had his account jacked!

i see a lot more too!

Thanks for the insight, Topper!

(100% here too. "Strength-and-Honor")

thanks for the tip about unauthorized log-ins

seems there's loads of folks this has happened to and posted on ebay forum. pretty scary, when you think of how much damage this can do.

It looks like ebay may have quite mess on their hands this time, which they seem to be handling in their normal fashion--pretending it's nothing to worry about. I think I'd worry if I found out I'd bought some item I never heard of. They have so far issued 2 statements about the problem, here is the second one:

"Earlier this evening, we received reports from a few members who were experiencing issues with Sign In. Our engineers have rolled back some newly released code that may have been related to this issue. We are continuing to monitor this situation closely, and we appreciate your patience."

I wonder what "a few" members means to them? So far I have noticed over 70 posts from members saying that either they had won auctions they had never seen before, or that someone had won one of their auctions and the buyer sent them a message stating that it never happened. If there are at least 70 folks that have posted about this, how many more are there that have not posted or have not yet even discovered that they have been zapped by this bug?

LMU

ebay support is among worst I've ever experienced.
no telephone contact available. only slow canned email response.

example: I've had problems with giving feedback due to glitch in software.

have send in three request for help on this issue. ebay has only given me canned responses that will not fix issue.
result is I still cannot give feedback.

Nice detective work on the scam! I can't say I would have caught that.
I too am experienceing a problem with Ebay service, my account is current but I keep getting emails about a $12 invoice, Ebay pulled an auction of mine (electronic muscle stimulator) and waved the fees.. Now my account shows current in "My Ebay", but I keep getting the email.. I can find no way to contact them..

Hi Guys...

As far a telephone number for Ebay, AND speaking to a warm body rather than a canned telephone menu, try going to the website www.paulenglish.com/ivr/ for the info listed there about Ebay.

For a wide variety of corporations and organizations, this website gives the "secret" numbers to use to talk to an actual person.

I haven`t tried the numbers myself, but give it a try....and please let me know if it works.

Good luck!

Thanks for the info & good catch. We need more people like you to help prevent decent folks from being cheated of their hard-earned money. One clear warning bell is when the seller says he will only accept bank/wire transfers or Western Union.

thanks for ebay contact number. I'll be calling...