eBay buyers beware!!! BRAND NEW Kodak DCS Pro 14n for $1600??

eBay #2956576634. Attempts to contact the seller (indicated to be in
the Seattle-Tacoma area from the feedback) resulted in a reply from
Italy, asking for payment by Western Union.

Why is it that eBay makes such an effort to protect these fraudulent
sellers, yet at the same time requires nearly 30 minutes of hassle to
report such activity? The problem here appears to be that scammers
are fraudulently hijacking user IDs and feedback information, so
beware of eBay's camera ads until things get under control.

 

ebay has been quite responsive in investigating suspected frauds. I reported
three cases in the last month, and every time resulted in cancellation of
auction in 24-48 hours. In all cases, the ebay accounts were hacked. The
original owners were victims rather than fraudsters. This is likely to be
the case here.

 

GREED!!! People see a multi-thousand dollar piece of equipment for 10% of
it's real value. Their brains turn to tapioca! Then they send a wad of their
hard earned money off to eastern europe, making some warlord rich....

 

Yeah, well I think that most anyone's brain (including my own) would
turn to tapioca if they thought they could actually buy a 14n for
$1600. The point here is that a more careful thief could now hijack
an ID and feedback history that more closely agrees with what one
might expect. For example, what if this camera had been priced at
about $3200 and the seller had feedback showing several successful
big-ticket camera sales? This implies that you cannot depend on eBay
feedback, and if you can't do that anymore you don't dare use eBay for
any purchases you can't easily afford to throw money away on.

I'm pretty disappointed with both eBay and Yahoo auctions for their
exceptional effort in protecting sellers at the expense of unwary
buyers. This policy may serve them in the short term, since their
money comes from seller's fees, but in the long run could result in
strict federal controls (long overdue IMHO).

 

Greed is not the right word. Everybody is looking for bargains or better
deals. If you have a chance to buy something at 10 cents on the dollar, will
you refuse it? The problem in this case is, some of the people are either
too naive or do not have sound judgment. There was a segment in 60 Minutes
interviewing a previous ebay fraudster. A good portion of our population is
just too naive and too kind to ask the necessary questions and take the
necessary steps to protect themselves. They got cheated regardless if they
were greedy or not.

 

Very likely...I got an email today alleging to be from eBay asking me to
confirm my account/password/name or the account would be "restricted".
Looking at the source (HTML) code, the reply wouldn't go to the eBay domain.

 

Federal? What federation? Is their a federation of the internet? Who elected
them?

 

Only a complete & utter idiot would think one of these deals was legit.

Mark

 

Well then, here's another for you: eBay #2956831922. Compare the two
ads and you'll see it's the same scam going on. They're also doing
this with laptop computers and other expensive in-demand items. If
eBay is to continue to be successful, they need to consider the other
half of the seller/buyer equation. It's not just the profits they get
from sellers that's at issue, it's the whole future of on-line
auctions. I should add that after reporting these auctions to eBay,
they are still posted, so must assume they have not been investigated
after at least 12 hours.

Interestingly, eBay just recently opened their office in Italy, and
this appears to coincide with the recent epidemic of fraud from perps
asking for money to sent to Western Union offices in Rome.

At what point would YOU consider one of these auctions to be legit?
When the 14n was priced at $3600? $3800? That's not the problem here.
These ads are simply copied from earlier legit ads, with a few items
changed, usually insisting on payment other than PayPal, or requiring
"pre-approval" to bid. Non of this is anything unusual by itself.

So to be more constuctive about this, can anyone suggest a few
questions to ask the seller in order to weed out this epidemic of
fraud artists?

 

Most of these auctions (not just DCS-14n's, but
plasma TVs, LCD monitors, laptops), are done
using hijacked eBay accounts with perfect
feedback.

If you look at the recent transactions, they
are often someone who was buying Beanie Babies,
and now has a 14n for sale? Right. Sure.

The scammers got the password via one of those
spoof emails.

The scams are 3-day auctions (because that's how
slow eBay's crack anti-fraud squad is), have
a BIN at a too-attractive price, email usually
goes to someplace like Spain (.es) and payment
goes via Western Union to someplace like
Romania (.ro).

They'll tell whatever they think you want to
hear, but here's one:

Can my cousin Emilio, who lives near you, come
pick up the camera and pay cash?

--
Regards, PO Box 248
Bob Niland Enterprise
mailto: Kansas USA
which, due to spam, is: 67441-0248
email4rjn AT yahoo DOT com
http://www.access-one.com/rjn

Unless otherwise specifically stated, expressing
personal opinions and NOT speaking for any
employer, client or Internet Service Provider.