# ebay fraud



## mangrove jack (Aug 30, 2005)

Just thought I'd let you guys know what happened to me last week as I was out bid on a kayak on ebay.
I recieved a email 2 days later saying that the original bidder was unable to meet the commitment, I was being offered the kayak at my last bidded price as this was on a ebay web page and looked legit.
I responded saying I was interested.
They then asked for my details in regard to the shipping address .
Then came ebay secure looking site with all the kayak details and the photo that was on ebay and his so called address and mine plus the requirements for payment. As he was in Sweden on a business trip could the money be sent to him via Western union and his brother was going to do the shipping from this end on his behalf.
It also said his ebay account had been locked by ebay for 30 days giving me the buyer a chance to recieve the goods and 5 days to inspect it. We complyed with the instructions .
Recieved email regarding the shipping instructions were being sent and that was the last contact we had with him I emailed him a couple of times but no responce.
I then contacted the ebay help and sent them a copy of the instructions sent to me they replyed saying that it was not from them and it was a fraud and as this was done as an outside transaction their was little they could do. All legit ebay correspondence is done through the ebay site and you have to register each time.
I was pretty gutted by this stage.
I have reported it to the police who are saying as this is an international scam and the $ involved is of a small amount compared with most fraud cases they would be limited to what they could do apart from report it to their CIB and internet fraud team. 
This was the first and last time I will ever use ebay so buyers beware.
I have bit the bullet and put a wilderness Tarpon 120 on layby instead, at least I know it may take longer but at the end I will have my kayak.


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## hairymick (Oct 18, 2005)

G'day Murray, welcome board mate.

I,m real sorry to hear about this. I can understand how you must feel. Thank you for sharing this information with us.

On a similar note, about 12 months ago, I thought I had bought a kayak that was advertised in the Trading post. After contacting the seller, in Brisbane and negotiating a fair price that we were both happy with I told him it was sold and would be there at a certain time the following day. I left here the following morning and drove the 31/2 hours to Brisbane to complete the transaction. When I got there, no body was home so I rang him on his mobile to be answered by his girlfriend. She told me it had been sold that morning and that he was nowhere to be found. (probably a good thing) :evil: :evil: :evil:

Good luck with your Tarpon mate. All the blokes that have em are very happy with them.


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## paffoh (Aug 24, 2006)

Murray,

I am sorry to hear of your plight, it was an unpleasant read...

As a regular ebay bidder i have almost come unstuck with a very similar scam and no longer even consider using second chance offers. The problem with ebay is people able to publicly see your bidding name and therefore have a point of reference to negotiate outside of ebay with you, im sure there is a way to hide your registered name from view... even when bidding publicly.

I hope people learn from your mistake ( No offence mate, ok? ) as i have definately taken it on board, im glad this hasnt put you off yakking mate... 

Anything we can do to help?


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

Never pay for something you've bought online by Western Union. A direct transfer to a local account is more secure, but will be a lot of work to recover money. Credit card usually offers some cover in case of fraud. Best is Paypal.

Sorry Murray, but the Sweden story is an obvious fraud. A seller who normally resides in Aus can use any of the local payment methods and have access to the funds, no matter where they happen to be.

The other error you made was just following links from an email. It is always safer to log onto ebay independently, then go to My eBay to get your payment instructions etc.

Thanks for letting us know of your misfortune. Hope it stops others making the same mistake.


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## PeterJ (Aug 29, 2005)

Gives you the s&^%s eh , One thing ebay does say is that it does not support western union cash transfers because of this reason.

We buy so many things from ebay and touch wood have not been scammed yet . We only use bank transfer and paypal


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## Guest (Oct 24, 2006)

Hi Murray,

Thats really rough mate.

I would be immediatelyvery suspicious of anyone requesting payment via Western Union, as it is completely untraceable. When using eBay I always buy from sellers who offer PayPal, I get peace of mind knowing I am covered by PayPals insurance (up to the limit, whatever it is, I cant recall atm)

Its not really much consolation mate, but the Tarpon 120 will be good to you, they are a great yak......its just a shame this had to happen before you decided to lay-by one.


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## HiRAEdd (Nov 12, 2005)

Perhaps a better tactic to writing off Ebay would be to spend a little time in the Education section of Ebay (http://pages.ebay.com.au/securitycentre ... aying.html). I have a lot of sympathy for you because no amount of ignorance (no offence intended) justifies some low-life scum ripping anyone out of their hard earned money. But it does press home the point that you can't do too much research when making a purchase, whether that's on or offline.


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## Jesse_Ape (Oct 17, 2006)

I got scammed by a guy here.... I paid money, the goods were never sent and his ebay account closed. Because the individual items were less than 30 each ebay won't follow them up. He got about 100 people's money then just didn't send the goods. He had over 300 feedback (99%) so i thought he was a good seller... three weeks later i emailed etc and checked his feedback and there were heaps of negative feedback left. So yeah i got scammed too :x :evil:

But in the end I only lost $50 of all the things i have got of ebay i have saved at least a $1000. I only ever pay in paypal and inter-australia bank transfer.

Ebay is still good, don't let one experience wreak everything. Only buy from reputable sellers or ones with paypal. Avoid sellers from asia with hardly any feedback. Always email the seller, If they don't reply to emails, don't bid.

Cheers


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## Jesse_Ape (Oct 17, 2006)

Also don't bid on the Espri kayak on ebay I heard the seller is a scammer   :twisted:


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## Peter_M (Oct 30, 2005)

What a scam.
Thanks for alerting others.
Well done on not giving up on yak fishing.
Regards
Peter.


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## Loonatic (Jul 4, 2006)

Hi Muarry,

Similar thing happened to me also last week, but fortunatley for me I smelt a rat when i noticed the second chance offer was coming from the United States. It seems that whenever there is a quick buck to be made these low lifes appear out of the woodwork.

Best of luck with your lay-by.

Chris


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## JT (May 25, 2006)

Call me naive but the one thing that strikes me and makes me feel kind of dispondant and bummed out is that there are people in this world who are prepared to profit from what can only be described as others misery. How can someone like that look themselves in the mirror and feel any form of self respect?

I feel for you Murray.

Jt


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## Kevin (Aug 29, 2005)

Murray,

Bummer. However look forward to you having a fish with the Melbourne Mangoes when you land that Tarpon.


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## troppo (Feb 1, 2006)

Wow :shock: Mangrove Jack, what a shocker! It woulda been like a kick in the guts. Money can be too hard to come by for it to disappear over the horizon. But, your experience will help others. I got an email from Ebay the other day to say don't use Western Union. So now I know what's happening.

Your new yak is gunna be a beauty!!


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## wongus (Feb 12, 2006)

Thanks for sharing.. I feel your pain.

Yes, it's amazing how some people can go through life doing such things and still sleep at night without their conscience keeping them awake... Oh well.. maybe the kharma train will catch up with him eventually.


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## Nod (Jul 5, 2006)

Sorry to hear you got conned, as others have said, the scammers love Western Union so avoid that like the plague!.
On a lighter note below is a link to a Ebayer who scammed the scammer and posted the emails on a website. Its worth a read and may give you an insight into what to do next time.
http://scooterbbs.com/board/DCForumID1/26718.html


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## Magicrik (Jul 12, 2006)

Dont write ebay off........you can get some really good stuff on the at a even better price. Ive been using ebay for about 2 years now and were got loads from there and only had one problem.


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## Les Lammers (Nov 9, 2005)

PeterJ said:


> Gives you the s&^%s eh , One thing ebay does say is that it does not support western union cash transfers because of this reason.
> 
> We buy so many things from ebay and touch wood have not been scammed yet . We only use bank transfer and paypal


Sorry about the scam. Never use W/U. If I am interested in an expensive item I will e-mail the seller and request a phone number to discuss the item. If the seller will not do this I will not bid. Also, I use http://www.esnipe.com/AbouteSnipe/ it removes all emotions from bidding and protects you from schill bidders. ( if you put your max bid in
the normal way it can be bumped up by a bidder that has not intention of 
buying the item) I have had this happen and when I confronted the seller and refused to pay he backed off.

Les


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## Salty Dog (Sep 18, 2005)

Yeah, that's a bummer Murray.

Ebay can be good but for big money items, it's cash on delivery for me or nothing. Most genuine sellers are fine with that.

Makes you wonder how many other people they got as well, huh?


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## PeterJ (Aug 29, 2005)

I have bought 15 reels from ebay in last two weeks plus two rods from the same seller and the service has been great and the reels even better. 12ball bearing absolutely magnificent things they are. don't give up on the ebay experience, but it was a harsh way to learn though.


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