(Adapted from the post by jenny_lake on the eBay International Trading Discussion Board post Bidders - Red Flags Warning of Fraudulent Transaction.)
Most people who are defrauded are victims of their own greed. When a transaction appears to be too good to be true, it likely is. If three or more of the following relate to your transaction, applying common sense can preserve your money.
1. An expensive item is usually involved.
* Often an electronics item, a computer, a camera, fitness equipment, event tickets, a car, motorcycle, ATV, snowmobile, or other automobile, and other big-ticket items.
* Often, it is listed at auction at a significant discount off fair market value. Multiples may be offered in fixed price format.
2. Western Union or Moneygram Instant cash wire transfers are the only accepted payment methods.
* Western Union and Moneygram Instant cash wire transfers are not to be confused with bank wire transfer, which is the preferred payment method in most of Europe.
* W.U.-style cash wire transfer was created for sending money to someone you know and trust.
* Money wire transfer is untraceable and unrecoverable after the thief picks up the money, which is typically very soon after it is sent.
* In an attempt to provide the illusion of safety, the prospective buyer is often told to send the money to a fake name or to use a secret password, which the buyer will change only after receiving the item.
* Report fraud involving a Western Union money transfer to W.U. Customer Service at 1 (800) 634-1311 or customerservice@WesternUnion.com.
* Also avoid any auction which requires payment by e-gold. No legitimate seller would pay the exorbitant e-gold fees.
3. The item is no longer listed on eBay, so the deal will be an "off-eBay" transaction. A buyer who transacts "off-eBay" forfeits all fraud protection offered by eBay.
* Often, the auction is removed by eBay after being identified as fraudulent or if the seller is guilty of an infraction. Inability to locate the auction by searching for the item number indicates that eBay deleted the listing and purged the auction from the eBay database.
* At other times, such as when the seller uses a hijacked account, once a buyer indicates serious interest, the hijacker may end the auction early in order to reduce the opportunity for the authentic account holder to detect the fraud and notify eBay.
4. The bidder was an unsuccessful bidder on an expensive item and subsequently receives an emailed offer, customarily from a person in a country thousands of miles away, offering to sell an identical or similar item off-eBay for a huge discount.
* Often, tickets to US sporting events and concerts are offered in this manner. Stop and think—why would a person in a far distant European or Asian country have tickets to a Disney park, NASCAR race, NFL or NCAA football game, World Series baseball game, etc?
5. The bidder is required to be pre-approved. When pre-approval is sought, seller offers instant sale (usually off-eBay) at significantly less than true value. Also, some "private" auctions are fraudulent. After placing a bid on a private auction, the bidder receives an emailed offer to sell the item "off-eBay."
6. A bidder/buyer who is doubtful and undecided receives email, typically containing poor or unusual grammar, appearing to originate from eBay.
* The email vouches for the seller and the security of the transaction, advising the buyer to complete the transaction.
* Recent variations of such emails assert that the buyer is fully protected by the Square Trade buyer protection program. Square Trade is not a division of eBay, and Square Trade does not initiate emails to prospective buyers.
* The introduction of genuine Square Trade buyer protection spawned a remarkable number of fraudulent Square Trade look-alike sites. Apparently, buyers are told to look under the buyer protection section and enter the seller ID and auction number. The fraudulent sites indicate that auctions listed by this seller are covered for a more than sufficient amount, and the buyer is advised that Square Trade sanctions a wire transfer to the seller.* Genuine Square Trade buyer protection is limited to specific auctions and amounts, usually up to $250 in addition to eBay buyer protection.
* Other variations have claimed that purchase protection is guaranteed by the eBay "Safety Board," "Trade Secure Division," "eBay Transactions," or similar non-existent division.
* The email may assert that the seller has placed a security deposit of thousands of dollars with eBay.
* Some further claim that the item will be shipped from the eBay warehouse in San Jose, CA, although various other locations have been claimed.
* If an email appearing to originate from eBay has any of these traits, it is a forgery. eBay is not a traditional "auctioneer," only a venue. eBay doesn't hold security deposits, and it doesn't confirm or guarantee the safety of transactions. Since eBay doesn't ship merchandise, it doesn't own any warehouses in which merchandise is stored.
7. An item is listed on a hijacked account. Some characteristics of hijacked accounts:
* Seller has excellent feedback acquired solely from buying or from selling items unrelated to the expensive item being offered.
* A long-dormant account is suddenly listing expensive items.
* The seller is registered in the US, UK, or Canada, but the item is shown as located in a different city or country. The location city and country may be bizarre, such as Bucharest, Canada, or Madrid, USA.
* Prominent mention on the auction page that email contact through the conventional eBay "Ask seller a question" link is unavailable (various excuses are used), consequently you must email the seller by using an unconventional "email me" hyperlink embedded in the auction. They may claim that they have already reached their email limit. The real reason is that a hijacker doesn't want the account owner to be tipped off by receiving an email about an auction the owner didn't list.
* There is no authentic "Buy It Now" button, but the auction terms state, "Please email me for the Buy It Now price," or there is a phony Buy It Now button embedded in the auction.
* Payment terms for an auction listed from a US location include the customary PayPal, money orders, and checks. But when the seller contacts the auction winner, the seller claims to be in a country thousands of miles away on a business trip, vacation, or some other excuse, and wire money transfer suddenly becomes the only accepted means of payment. (Sure. Most sellers take along a few plasma TVs when traveling to Europe on vacation, don't they?)
8. The seller offers free shipping from distant countries, often premium (e.g. very expensive) shipping such as FedEx Overnight. Imagine the cost of overnight shipping for a horse trailer from Romania, a tractor from Greece, or a motorcycle from Spain, to the US.
9. The auction has no actual photo, or a generic photo or illustration of the item is taken from a catalog or website.
* This is inconclusive in the absence of other red flags.
10. The auction is a one-day or three-day auction, often ending on a weekend.
* This is inconclusive in the absence of other red flags.
11. An email, supposedly from eBay, contains uncharacteristically poor or unusual grammar and/or spelling, indicating that English isn't the user's primary language.
* This is inconclusive in the absence of other red flags.
12. The seller recommends an escrow service other than escrow.com.
* Escrow.com is eBay's only approved US escrow site.
* Fraudulent escrow sites are created daily by thieves for the purpose of attempting to defraud unsuspecting users.
* How to spot a fraudulent escrow site: https://www.escrow.com/fic/ficspot.asp
13. Second Chance Offers (SCO):
A legitimate Second Chance Offer will arrive as an email containing a link to a new, different auction page offering an option to Buy It Now (BIN). The item number will be different from that of the original auction.
The introduction of Second Chance Offers has provided criminals with a different approach to defrauding buyers. The following are characteristics of fraudulent second chance offers:
* The email address of the sender is someone other than personaloffer@ebay.com, although even that could be spoofed.
* The seller's ID is different from the seller's ID on the original auction.
* The email offering the SCO fails to provide a link to a BIN auction page, or the email provides a link to the original auction.
* The payment options differ from those listed on the original auction.
* After completing a SCO, the transaction fails to appear on your "My eBay" page.
If you receive an offer from a "seller" to transact off the eBay site, please report it by using the embedded link in this eBay help page: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/seller-solicitation.html
Please report a fraudulent second chance offer by using the embedded "Contact eBay to report an off-site email offer from a seller" link on this page: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/rfe-spam-non-ebay-sale.html
Wednesday, 1 March 2006
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