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EBay Scammers Working Hard Against Sellers
David Utter
Staff Writer
2007-07-20
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Beware of aggressive attempts by Nigerian scam artists who work somewhat sophisticated ploys to separate people from their merchandise without paying.
 | | EBay Scammers Working Hard Against Sellers |  |
If anything, the scammers have a good understanding of human nature. They play on greed to entice people into handing over their goods in exchange for a richer than expected payday. It's also the reason why 419 scams persist to this day: people still fall for them.
An example of how fraudsters misuse eBay played out on the McAfee Avert Labs blog. Research Seth Purdy put an item up for bids, and was delighted when his $250 asking price ended up with a winning bid of $395.
Joy turned to frustration quickly as an eBay takedown notice hit Purdy's inbox. EBay picked up on fraudulent bidding that took place without the account owner's authorization, and canceled the listing.
"I didn't think much of it, other than being mildly frustrated at later having to relist the item and wait for another auction to complete," said Purdy.
That was just the start of the scam. The persistent criminals sent Purdy a fake PayPal confirmation email. A greedier person may have been tempted by the bonus "paid" by the winner - an additional $100 in shipping.
The message contained a few easily spotted inconsistencies with typical email correspondence. It also listed a delivery address in Nigeria.
It gets stranger from here. The auction that Purdy placed on the US eBay site had been duplicated on eBay UK. He believes the criminals did this in case the original auction ended up canceled by eBay, which is what happened.
However, eBay canceled the UK auction as well. After that, Purdy received emails from the "winning bidder" advising payment had been made and demanding immediate shipment of the item. The scammer goes as far as threatening to involve law enforcement if the auction isn't fulfilled.
Naturally, no payment had ever been made for the item. Purdy recognized the scam for what it was, but other people might not have done so. Until more people start taking the time to recognize a supposed windfall as a criminal deception, scams like these will persist.
About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
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