I WAS ROBBED! or another eBay story

[Anonymous]

I recently had a email asking for information on a new screen claiming that I was a non-paying bidder and that a dispute was opened.

I opened the email with full headers and forwarded it to [e-mail] and had them look into it. If they determine it's fraud, they will have the origin IP and will be able to use that to hopefully complete thier tracking down on the offending ebayer.

REAL Ebay messages will be duplicated onto your messages console inside your account page on ebay.

Anyone with a little HTML or Java can whip up any webpage made to look like the real thing in a few minutes time complete with fake certificaces and links. Heck I can do it and I failed a college course on HTML due to math problems with tables and cells within webpages.

I either win or dont. I dont do second chances or respond to anything that I dont expect in email. Thank you for describing your story here and hopefully it will be another tool to teach those who are not as careful on ebay.

 

[laz 57]

Thanks, for the info.  What a scam.

Sorry for your loss.

laz57

[njalb1]

TCA  buy sell site suppose to be up the first week in May ???

   Thats what they said when I visited last week during the open house ....

[Anonymous]

Chief,
Thanks for the info!  I used to visit Train City in Erie, PA when I was going to college (and for a few years after I returned to Pittsburgh).  So I'm very familiar with ChooChoo Auctions (never bought or sold anything with them though).

[ChiefEagles]

Brent, I use OGR Buy and Sale and SVC.  No problems there so far.  You can also sell on Choochoo Auctions. 

[Anonymous]

I tend to only buy items from people on EBay that identify themselves as TCA members or shops.  I have only purchased a couple items off non-TCA/shop members and those have been completed without fail.  However, my seller account has been the target of a number of scams and it really jerks my chain.  I have vowed to never sell another train related item on EBay.  I had a ZW, that I has just had serviced, that I sold.  The buyer emailed me 2 weeks later and told me the ZW was smoking when they plugged it in, that they had taken it to a repair shop and they told the what was wrong with it and they only do work on their own stuff... the guy wanted a full refund.  I told him that had he contacted me as soon as the item had been received I could have offered a refund once the item had been returned to me.  He never contacted me again.

That was the third issue with something I had sold and I'll never sell again.  In the EBay realm it does not pay to be honest.

[envfocus]

I am very sorry about your experience.  I have nervously purchased some items on ebay and so far so good, but I'm sure I would have followed the same path as you if this had happened to me.  So thank you for the detailed post and I hope that you can somehow get your money back.

[ChiefEagles]

WHY I DON'T LIKE EBAY!!!  I finally registered for EBay due to a NS Box car that was in one EBay Store [in Portsmouth VA].  Now I'm getting messages [that look originally from EBay] about disputes and etc.  These I know are SCAMS as I have completed the transaction and received the boxcar.  Both the seller [a hobby shop] and I have completed the feedback portion.  Now I will have to put up with the EBay trash that come through.  Its like Choochoo Auctions.  I mainly bid only on Train City items unless it is a person with lots of outstanding feedback.  PayPal, I do not like either.  Get lots of scam things from them too.  I think I have let my Paypal account lapse.  Thye all have gotten so big they are unmanagable. 

[ben10ben]

I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience.

I have sucessfully bought a few items by second chance offers. The important thing is that as soon as you receive one, log out of your e-mail and log onto Ebay. If the offer is legitimate, it will be in your "my messages" folder. Also, if you click on "items I've lost" and find the item, you'll see a yellow band underneath it that says "you have received a second chance offer on this item".

If you do not see anything like that when you log onto Ebay, you can guess that someone is probably trying to scam you.

Situations like you describe are the exact reason why Ebay no longer displays bidder names on items above $200.

[fwright]

Thanks for posting your experience.  I think (hope!) I would have backed out when the request came to transfer funds via Western Union.  I might have been suckered in had it been the auction said USPS money orders only form the beginning.  But many scam artists don't want to be committing mail fraud.

I have seen some very good phishing e-mails announcing PayPal charges for an auction I had allegedly won (usually an unlocked cell phone).  I never click on links in e-mail for eBay or PayPal, but go to the sites via my bookmarks to check things out. 

The only second chance offer I have ever seen came when I was the high bidder, but the reserve had not been met at the end of the auction (a low end brass engine).  I had given up, deciding the reserve was higher than I was willing to bid.  The seller offered to sell it to me for the high bid showing on the auction, and the transaction was completed successfully (and legitimately).

just my experience

Fred W

[traindaddy1]

Comment: First of all, thanks for your post.

I recently took advantage of a "second chance" offer.  The seller told me that he had an identical item that he was willing to offer at my 'out-bid' price. 

The difference was that this seller had immediately listed the item for my price under a new "Buy It Now" listing thus making it a clean transaction.

For me, the "Second Chance" worked just fine.

Again, thanks for keeping us alert to possible problems.

[Jumijo]

Dennis,

Sorry to read about your bad experience. Just for the record, and so others will know, eBay does not e-mail anything regarding transactions of this kind, no matter how official those messages look. They also don't e-mail you with problems about your paypal account or other such things. All of that is done through your My eBay account. If this ever happens to anyone else, contact eBay first and ask them if the deal is legit.

I hope you get satisfaction, Dennis. If you paid with a credit card, you might have some recourse. 

Jim 

[dwiemer]

I will try to include all the details so that perhaps others won't fall to this or any other scheme.  I had bid on a MTH Wabash Hudson.  I was soon outbid and did not think anything more about it.  A few days went by and I got a message from "EBAY" saying that I had a "Second Chance" for this item.  It said that the person who outbid my was unable to complete the transaction and that by default, my high bid would be the amount to pay and that I would get the engine.  This offer included the shipping and insurance as well.  All I had to do was contact [e-mail] and let him know that I am interested.  I did and he soon responded with a message stating that he would like to complete this transaction but that it had to be done through eBay, and that he would contact them.  I later recieved a very authentic looking message from eBay stating how to conduct the transaction.  This message had all the things you would look for, security rating, link to original eBay listing, link to Western Union (he said he was out of the country for business and to send it to him).  This message even had links to eBay's home page.  Now, I may be somewhat nieve, but I did go into this with the thought that it was only $123.00, and that if worse came to worse, I was not put out that much and it was a lesson.  After the money was sent, I got a message that the engine should be here Monday and to please let him know when it arrived. 

Monday came and went, I sent him an email about it and no response.  I did some searching through the eBay web site and finally found the area where you can check the authenticity of a Ebay message.  By the way, it is [e-mail] .  They responded that the had not sent the messages.  I also checked the original listing of the engine and followed the seller's information, he has 100% and the third item down was for the engine and the guy who outbid me saying he got it.  Funny, the timing was such that the guy got the engine the same day the money was to arrive at the person selling me the engine. 

Please forgive the long post, but I really want everyone to be aware and not fall victim to such a scam.  I have had many Ebay transactions, but this is the first such experience.  If you do use ebay, be aware. 

One after thought, this guy was able to know my email and the max bid I had put on this engine.  In some ways I feel Ebay is culpable in this.  This is what made this seem real.  I have never been able to get someone's email from ebay, they would just forward the message.  Also, how did this guy know exactly my highest bid?

Good Luck,

dennis