Ebay scams - how do they work?

Adam

Adam

Adam

Soldato
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I've been looking for a couple of new iPads and have noticed on eBay there appears to be a scam which fits a pattern.

An iPad is listed at a very good price, could be used or new. The seller always has an _ and a number at the end of their eBay ID with low feedback and registered recently. These get snapped up constantly very quickly.

There is absolutely no risk for the buyer, they pay via PayPal and raise a dispute to get the money back. A bit inconvenient if anything.

How does the scammer benefit though? They have a PayPal and eBay ID which I would imagine gets shut down quickly and locked. PayPal accounts also tend to have restrictions on them so I imagine in many cases they can't touch the money. I could be missing something very obvious but it doesn't seem very likely they can profit from this process but it seems listings are being created very frequently.

Edit: Here is a good example: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Apple-ipa...=220576593&hash=item4b1b97cca1:i:322585480353
 
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Simples

You buy it and pay via PayPal. The seller instantly withdraws the money into their bank.

You raise a dispute, ebay refunds your money and collects it from the paypal account moving into negative balance, where it stays like that forever.
 
glen8 said:
Simples

You buy it and pay via PayPal. The seller instantly withdraws the money into their bank.

You raise a dispute, ebay refunds your money and collects it from the paypal account moving into negative balance, where it stays like that forever.
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That makes sense but I'm sure there are restrictions on new PayPal accounts and surely PayPal will investigate and pass the matter to the police? With the amount of ID's I have seen in a short amount of time this can't be a single individual running this.
 
glen8 said:
Simples

You buy it and pay via PayPal. The seller instantly withdraws the money into their bank.

You raise a dispute, ebay refunds your money and collects it from the paypal account moving into negative balance, where it stays like that forever.
Click to expand...

Not that simple normally, If you're a seller than anything other than a good paypal standing (zero disputes, chargebacks, fully verfied - more than 20 transactions) then they'll place a temporary hold on any payments, so you can't withdraw the money until the buy confirms they've received it, or 30-60 days have passed..

The only way around this I can see, is that they're using compromised paypal accounts

Edit - the reason they're insanely cheap could be stolen goods - there's an epidemic of phone/ipad theft right now, they could be legit devices that do exist, but are simply stolen - they probably have their IEMA numbers blocked
 
I noticed the same thing before when i was buying a 2nd hand GTX 970, loads listed for sale as new, good price, all sellers were newly registered with same format of name, text_numbers, and all were within the same area. stayed well clear and reported it to ebay.
 
Paypal is a great insulator against scams, I bought a hex core Skylake Xeon from a seller in Hong Kong for £50 knowing I would get the money back if it never showed up, was dead surprised when it did lol.
 
ubersonic said:
Paypal is a great insulator against scams, I bought a hex core Skylake Xeon from a seller in Hong Kong for £50 knowing I would get the money back if it never showed up, was dead surprised when it did lol.
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It's probably a fake one that will burn your house down lol.
 
Screeeech said:
The only way around this I can see, is that they're using compromised paypal accounts
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Thats pretty much it. That and/or compromised eBay accounts (much easier than building up a good f/b before starting the scam yourself). Usually this was achieved via a phishing email.

Its been a good few years since I took an interest in this but thats how it was done back then. The amount of scams was staggering and all done by the same team of scammers judging by the identical replies they gave to enquiries on their listings. I used to report a dozen or more a week to eBay before I got tired of it.
 
Adam said:
I've been looking for a couple of new iPads and have noticed on eBay there appears to be a scam which fits a pattern.

An iPad is listed at a very good price, could be used or new. The seller always has an _ and a number at the end of their eBay ID with low feedback and registered recently. These get snapped up constantly very quickly.

There is absolutely no risk for the buyer, they pay via PayPal and raise a dispute to get the money back. A bit inconvenient if anything.

How does the scammer benefit though? They have a PayPal and eBay ID which I would imagine gets shut down quickly and locked. PayPal accounts also tend to have restrictions on them so I imagine in many cases they can't touch the money. I could be missing something very obvious but it doesn't seem very likely they can profit from this process but it seems listings are being created very frequently.

Edit: Here is a good example: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Apple-ipa...=220576593&hash=item4b1b97cca1:i:322585480353
Click to expand...

You can obtain disposable maestro debit card, and pre-paid credit cards that will auto verify any name and address.

You simply sell something, withdraw the money and send the guy nice emails about how you will ship it, or that you've shipped it, just to keep him feeling happy to not complain before the money is withdrawn.

Then the account is burned, and you need to start again, getting feedback from 1p recipe ebooks and hope nobody checks the feedback.

From you paying via paypal and the money being withdrawn from a cash machine used to be like 3-4 days. If that is extended the situation is fixed.
 
In the good old days you could set up new ebay and paypal accounts, sell something, buyer would pay and you could withdraw the money from paypal to your bank account straight away. Now paypal hold onto the money for like 28 days unless they get proof from the buyer that it has been received. The only way the scam would work now if the buyer forgets to claim and paypal automatically release the money to the seller after 28 days.
 
I'm actually amazed anyone still uses eBay to buy or sell anything of value.

It's an absolute vipers nest of scammers.

It's not even as if there are any genuine bargains to be had. Whenever I have had a look at prices I have always found I can buy the item I am after for a similar price from a genuine retailer.
 
i still use it for low priced items and have little bother
sometimes things dont turn up but i get a refund or replacement
there are a lot of scammers but if it's too good to be true.... i'm sure ebay and paypal have a lot more restrictions in place to weed them out
 
IvanDobskey said:
I'm actually amazed anyone still uses eBay to buy or sell anything of value.

It's an absolute vipers nest of scammers.

It's not even as if there are any genuine bargains to be had. Whenever I have had a look at prices I have always found I can buy the item I am after for a similar price from a genuine retailer.
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I buy 90% of my stuff off ebay. Its fine if you know what you are looking for. Make sure the user isnt new, has lots of goos feedback, and pay by paypal and your covered if it doesnt arrive.
 
IvanDobskey said:
Do you actually find anything is considerably cheaper than proper retail channels though?
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Yes. You are perfectly protected buying unless you pay by bank transfer or something stupid. So long as you arent in a hurry you can get a bargain esp if it finishes at a silly time and they didnt put postage due to no box.

A few years ago I bought a full 5.1 surround sound speaker set made up of Wharfdale Diamond 8 series with two floorstanding speakers, two bookshelf, centre speaker and the subwoofer which was set to finish at 9.30am on a Monday morning for £50 as the only bidder. Was worth the hour's drive to collect them as well.

All my camera lens have come from Ebay as well as my previous camera body which when I sold a year or so later only lost £80 on.
 
Simple happened to me 10 years ago on a brand new Xbox 360

Guy had 10 listed at around £100 cheaper, bought one and then got a message back saying his PayPal was not working so to do a bank transfer into his account. Been young and thinking I got a bargain been scammed was the last thing I thought, anyway transfered money and that the last I saw of it.

I think they will used other payment types not PayPal.
 
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