Lego Star Wars Ebay Scam

[Holly]

I've thought hard about posting this here - I'm very new to this forum and this makes me look a bit dumb - but I can see more listings on ebay tonight that resemble the scam one I fell for last night so I'm posting this in the hope that nobody here will fall for it like I did.

Basically if you see a newly listed very desirable set listed for a too good to be true Buy It Now price - then it probably is too good to be true.

What these sellers are doing is choosing a seller with 100% feedback and registered in the UK and somehow accessing their accounts in order to set up an auction in the reliable seller's name. The one's I saw last night and this evening are sellers who don't sell regularly - I suppose that's so they are less likely to notice immediately that someone has accessed their account.

Anyway I saw a Republic Gunship for

[Zane]

Thanks for the heads up. I was going to get a Snowspeeder soon, but I'm not sure I will. I'd expect this is also one of them...or is it only BIN?

[Kikuichimonji]

If you paid using Paypal, you can file a complaint and with some luck, you'll get your money back.

[Holly]

Thanks for the heads up. I was going to get a Snowspeeder soon, but I'm not sure I will. I'd expect this is also one of them...or is it only BIN?

I'm not sure about that one, Zane - the one's I've seen that have been removed have all been very cheap buy it now's - if you look at this evening's new listings you will see several - until ebay remove them.

If you paid using Paypal, you can file a complaint and with some luck, you'll get your money back.

I have done this - I need to wait five days to upgrade to filing a proper claim.

One small piece of luck - I'm a bit broke as I bought two big sets last week - so I used my credit card - I've contacted the cc company and I may be insured for stuff like this. I usually use my paypal balance or bank account.

Holly

EDIT - another tip is that all those I've seen are 24 hour listings - I suppose that's so that the criminals doing this have less chance of being spotted by the genuine seller who's account they've accessed ( I presume through "phishing" emails).

I'm a bit annoyed at ebay - I feel they should be warning people about this - by removing the listings and leaving that page I linked to above they are effectively removing any evidence and genuine bidders are in the dark about this. I think the folks doing this must be making a fortune.

[Holly]

Oh no! Someone has just used BIN on a new, sealed Death Star - for

[Holly]

Sadly I was right - ebay have removed all of tonights listings that I was suspicious of - an AT-AT, several Millennium Falcons, a sandcrawler, a UCS Tie, etc etc etc

I just hope they did it before anyone else bought one.

Holly

[JINZONINGEN73]

I've seen this with computers and many other high-priced items.

The Chinese have TOTALLY ruined eBay.

On any given night, they swarm eBay with fake auctions from hacked accounts.

Another great scam on eBay is after an auction ends, you get an email saying you have a "second chance" at the item.

Needless to say the links lead to things already closed and whatnot... and you're supposed to paypal them outside of eBay.

Another fun trick is having a bunch of OBVIOUSLY similar accounts all give an account great feedback, to jack up it's reliability ratio... right before they go on a fake auction spree.

Yeah... I hope Google gets in on the auction circuit.

I don't know HOW, but I'm confident they have their crap together enough to accomplish the security that eBay can't.

Edited September 30, 2006 by JINZONINGEN 73

[Holly]

There are a whole load more of them this morning!

Sadly they've all been snapped up - I have to go out so I don't have time to email all the buyers and warn them not to pay immediately :-(

Here are a few of them - watch the links disappear (along with everyone's money) when ebay realise:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lego-4483-AT-AT-Star...1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/STAR-WARS-LEGO-4504-...1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DARTH-VADERS-TIE-ADV...1QQcmdZViewItem

I'm disappointed - but not surprised - at ebay - they have a communication system - why are there no warnings????????

Holly

[dunamis]

Definitely file a claim with your credit card company and dispute the charge. Also, file a claim with Paypal and they can refund your money as well. I bought some LEGO on Ebay (~ $65 worth) and the guy never shipped the stuff. I filed a claim and got all but $25 back because the seller had already cleared out his account. The $25 is Paypal's "deductable" and they covered the rest.

[Turaga of Force]

Thanks for the warning. Those 3 auctions ended with BIN and I contacted the buyers warning them I hope they get the messages in time. *prays that they get the messages in time* (I really did pray that they will)

This is so agrivating!!!!!!!!!!! >:-( >:-( >:-( >:-( >:-( >:-(

[Jipay]

You wander why there's no communication about this from ebay ? You are kidding, I hope :-/

[Turaga of Force]

I don't think that he-or she- is kidding, Jipay... :( What paypal account(s) is(are) the scammer(s) using?

[imperfect-illusion]

There are a whole load more of them this morning!

Sadly they've all been snapped up - I have to go out so I don't have time to email all the buyers and warn them not to pay immediately :-(

Here are a few of them - watch the links disappear (along with everyone's money) when ebay realise:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lego-4483-AT-AT-Star...1QQcmdZViewItem

This was bought by me :)

I saw the price of it and thought it was too good to be true and bought it at BIN. Thought it was strange the BIN price was the same as the starting bid, and that it was only on for 24 hours.

I've got some other items to buy first before this one and would have had the cash next week so I wasn't going to buy it anyway, just yet.

Two people have contacted me, thanks to them, sorry for the first one, just suprised from what was sent and kind of bit their head off about it.

I've tried to contact ebay about this but their 'contact us' procedure is awful and nothing related to it. What should I expect to happen?

[Holly]

I'm glad you haven't paid yet, imperfect-illusion (I wish I'd waited but hey - I still hope to get my money back!).

I noticed tonight that every one of your seller's unsold auctions have been cancelled - I think the real seller has realised someone's accessed their account but I don't think they've got hold of ebay as yet.

If you look at your seller's completed listings they've sold almost

[Jipay]

I was more refering to the fact that you can't be really suprised by ebay not communicating on this. It would just be like recognize the fact their system isn't 100% secured.

[Turaga of Force]

What paypal address(s) are used by the scammer(s)?

[gylman]

I have some knowledge of how eBay operates from friends who work there. They are VERY aggressive about pursuing this type of thing, because it undermines their credibility, which threatens their existence.

However, look at it this way - they probably conduct several million auctions at a time. I read somewhere that fraud occurs in about 0.2% and is actually less common than credit card fraud (meaning if you use your credit card in restaurants and gas stations 1000 times, you will likely have someone lift your number and misuse it more than 2 times in a thousand).

Although it's a tiny percentage, it still means tens of thousands of single fraud events a day. They receive thousands of reports daily. Some are false - they can't just close down every alleged fraulent seller. They have to investigate. They look for patterns of fraud more than single events. It takes a a bit of time for patterns to emerge. It takes time to pursue complaints which span the globe (buyer in US, alleged fraulent seller in UK, very different time zones).

However, they do eventually get it, and they do shut down the fraudulent sellers. Also Paypal will usually return your money, and if it does not eBay will return it less 25$. In some cases they return it all, simply to avoid the bad press. I don't deny there is some hassle involved to the buyer, but frankly compared to hte hassle of losing your wallet, or a credit card, it is trivial. Just a bunch of emails back and forth, and a form that needs to be filled out. I went through it once.

Given its size, eBay moves reasonably quickly. By comparison, my impression has been that Bricklink does not actually do nearly as well in policing its auctions for fraud (the members do their own policing, which is kind of a vigilante justice that sometimes works and sometimes does not).

What amazes me is that givne the nature of eBay, fraud is not rampantly more common.

[Jipay]

That's just becaise some people are just too lazy. I've never received my item twice and Ebay don't take this in consideration because it was under 30$. And guess what is the price range of most of the auctions...

Seriously, you can make statistics said whatever you want |-/

[Holly]

What paypal address(s) are used by the scammer(s)?

My payment went to hetangzhise@hotmail.com ...of course, I didn't know this before I paid as I paid using the ebay invoice.

Since paying I've received about a hundred spam emails (all with attachments I've been careful to delete without opening) as, when you win an auction, your email address is given to the seller :-(

It's ALMOST enough to put me off ebay for life....

Holly

[Jipay]

You shouldn't leave ebay for this. First, wait for the refund, and then only buy from our Eurobricks Straightshooters list X-D

[Holly]

You shouldn't leave ebay for this. First, wait for the refund, and then only buy from our Eurobricks Straightshooters list X-D

Unfortunately (for my bank account) I'm an ebay addict and something like this would never REALLY put me off - I've been ebaying for 4 years and have completed well over 1000 transactions, the vast majority having been a positive experience. I'm careful anyway - his will just make me more cautious.

If I DON'T get my money back I'm not going to be happy though!

Holly

[Jipay]

And unhappy women are the most dangerous thing on earth ! Beware ! ;-)

[Holly]

And unhappy women are the most dangerous thing on earth ! Beware ! ;-)

Yes indeed - funnily enough I've been daydreaming about taking my revenge on the scammers. I've got it all worked out. What I'd do - if I was going to do it - is re-register on ebay using my hotmail account. Then, next time they list a load of sets, I'd use BIN on all of them - and obviously not pay for them. That would remove the listings before any unsuspecting genuine bidder could bid on them. I could just keep doing it until they get bored........

I've even got my username worked out - revengeissweet >:-)

Holly ;-)

[imperfect-illusion]

I recieved an email from ebay about the problem and didn't once say what they were going to do. Just told me to contact my seller (yeah, doesn't help if they don't actually have access) and ask for a mutual termination.

It does seem really easy to do what was done, and it is a major flaw in the security of the ebay accounts.

I've sent a reply back to ebay and let you guys.

@ Holly - Hope things get sorted out okay

[EXO-CHAMP]

I've even got my username worked out - revengeissweet >:-)

You go girl. *y*