Shit…I can’t believe how close I was to giving a total stranger my full name and address, plus $105 for an item I’m currently bidding on ebay. This is what happened…
Email 1:
from: gaozmurdar@aol.com
Dear [my username]
You expressed interest on this item. I’m the seller of this item on which you’ve recently bid on through the eBay system ( Item # itemnumberhere ) and I’ve contacted you because I need to know if you are still interested to buy … Email me as soon as possible with your answer because I must to know if is necesarly to find another buyer or if you can buy the item(i need to know your final price)…If you accept this offer the eBay policy automatically proclaims you winner. The transaction will go strictly according to eBay’s RULES and POLICY and will be supervised by eBay Trust & Safety Department. If you are interested just reply to this message.
I am waiting a fast response!
Thank you!
>>>>> I replied saying I was still interested, thinking it was the actual seller.
Reply from: gaozmurdar@aol.com
Hello,
In order to make the transaction legit so we can be able to exchange feedback once completed I will have to get in touch with eBay Department. I will need to confirm me the following details:
* your complete name
* your complete shipping address
I’m located overseas for the moment, in Romania because my mother is ill, and we are here for an operation. She has a heart condition. I have to stay here for at least two weeks. Must inform you that I have the item in the custody of the shipping company who helps me every time to ship the goods to the buyers addresses. A 100% serious company and I have a contract with them. Regarding the shipping insurance, who protects my items from any damages on the way to the buyer, I can inform you that they are already paid. Shipping is covered by me so don’t have to be worried to pay extra charges for delivery.So the final price will be US $105.00
Once you will provide me the requested details (full name, address) I will contact the eBay Department and they will do the rest. They will send you the rest of the instructions and info regarding this process. You need to follow the instructions exactly so we can be both protected by their Purchase Protection and Refund program. Positive feedback is assured once everything is fixed up.
Thank You and along with the requested details email
>>>>> I didn’t reply to this one because I got suspicious about when this person talks about another shipping company being a 100% serious company. I also looked in my email account and realized I just received another email about this item.
Email 2:
from: ktmlive77@aol.com
Dear [my username]
You expressed interest on this item. I’m the seller of this item on which you’ve recently bid on through the eBay system ( Item # itemnumberhere ) and I’ve contacted you because I need to know if you are still interested to buy … Email me as soon as possible with your answer because I must to know if is necesarly to find another buyer or if you can buy the item(i need to know your final price)…If you accept this offer the eBay policy automatically proclaims you winner. The transaction will go strictly according to eBay’s RULES and POLICY and will be supervised by eBay Trust & Safety Department. If you are interested just reply to this message.
I am waiting a fast response!
Thank you!
>>>>> Obviously this appears to be the exact same email. Then I did a search on the web and found that these emails are fake and I would of been out the $105 for the camera I was bidding on. I even contacted the seller and asked if they emailed me about the item but I already know the answer.
I can’t believe I was this close to getting scammed. Thankfully intuition played a role and saved me from falling into this trap.
[EDIT:] I just received a quick reply back from Ebay saying this.
Hello,
The message that you received is not a real Second Chance Offer. It is a
fraudulent email from someone attempting to sell an item outside of
eBay.
How can you tell if a Second Chance Offer email is legitimate?
You can make sure that a Second Chance Offer is legitimate by checking
your My Messages section of My eBay. All legitimate Second Chance Offers
will be forwarded from eBay and will appear in My Messages. Real Second
Chance Offers will never direct you to email the seller or contact them
at a different email address.
***Important***
For future reference, you should be cautious if you receive an email
with the following subject line: “Message from eBay Member.” We do not
use this subject line when we forward official Second Chance Offers to
you from the seller.
What should you do now?
We recommend that you *do not* respond to the email you received or to
any email that asks you to complete a transaction outside of eBay. eBay
prohibits offers to sell items outside of eBay, and such offers put you
at risk for fraud. For more information, go to:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/rfe-spam-non-ebay-sale.html
***Important***
Always use caution when purchasing high-priced items, especially if the
price seems too good to be true. Do *not* pay for your items with cash
or cash wire transfers such as Western Union or MoneyGram. If you use
these methods of payment, you are not covered by the eBay Standard
Purchase Protection Program, and you’ll have little or no remedy for
transaction problems. For more information on paying confidently, go to:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/payment-ov.html
We appreciate that you took the time to let us know about the email you
received, and we value your participation in the eBay Community.
Regards,
eBay SafeHarbor
Investigations Team
[EDIT #2:]
I still can’t believe this. I get yet another fake email from…yes exactly like this: “member” to me and it’s in reference to the same item. Geeze…
Email 3:
from: “member”
Dear [my username],
I have for sale: Item Number: itemnumberhere
My price is negociable.
If you are interested just give me a fast reply on this email address and you will find all the info that you want.
Thank You For your Time
>>>>> I can’t believe the amount of people trying to scam me because of one item I bid on ebay!! It’s crazy!!!
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9 Responses to I ALMOST got scammed on Ebay!!!
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*shakes her head* Ebay… things like this make me so weary to actually use it. I’m not afraid to buy stuff online, but I like to know I can trust the site with my information. I always check my VISA afterwards, just to be sure. I always think about using ebay for something, but then I hear about stories like this xD
It’s a good thing you caught on early though. The funny thing is that I was actually thinking about selling a camera on ebay, now I don’t think I will lol. I’ve sold a few things off facebook actually… in their market place. I think my camera is listed there actually O.o I put everything up there one day lol. Ah… boredom!
That is just frightening! I haven’t used ebay in a long time and have little desire to ever use it again.
I too received an email from “ktmlive77@aol.com”. This person sent me an email for an item that was still in active auction. When the item was at $100, I offered $150 to end the auction. Two days later the item is at $250, he sends me an email saying he’ll take $150 for it and pay shipping lol. I told him that I would send a Money order first thing in the morning and all I needed was his name/address. I might send a dead fish in a box to his address :p
They also tried scamming me as well. I got the same scam email also from ktmlive77@aol.com (and found myself on to this page by googling that email address
). Also, I got a couple of days later similar scam email from stefan.gaspar.82@gmail.com.
The email started by addressing the bidder, that I call here abcdefg. I searched the item on eBay know that I had not done eBay bids (and thinking that someone is bidding using somehow my information – after all, I got the email from the seller). There actually was a bidder on eBay bidding on that item and his username was abcdefg. He was maybe 10th highest bid. I think I got the email because I have gmail address that happens to be a.bcdefg@gmail.com.
Bottom line, I believe that the scammer has mass mailed also ab.cdefg@gmail.com, abc.defg@gmail.com and the sames for @yahoo.com and @hotmail.com hoping that one of them would reach the real abcdefg user.
My 2 cents.
Another example; I got this after I replied to the first one. I responded saying ‘sounds like a scam; couldn’t you just put a ‘buy now’ thing on ebay?’
Hello,
Thank you for your e-mail.
You have the opportunity to purchase this item at US $90.00.
So, if you are really interested, now all you have to do is to send me exactly those info:
First name:
Last name:
Address:
City:
Country:
Zip:
Item Title:
Item Number:
I need the details exactly like I have requested , because I have to forward the email to eBay and Square Trade.
In short time, they will contact you with an Invoice in order to complete this transaction!
I am dealing only thru eBay and Square Trade.
Thank you!
These are all email addresses I’ve been hit by since I bid on ebay. I’ll NOT be using ebay again. This is insane. I’ve got about 20 spam messages in 2 days.
Kevin Roberts (kroberts40@gmail.com)
hlmotls45@aol.com
danielconstseller77@gmail.com)
Dear modarator please accept my appology about my last 7 post. I have just cleared and summerized what I wanted to say in one post; Here it is:
lucabal23@aol.com
puffy2rs@aol.com
masmen7@aol.com
inelspart@aol.com
bibiloi81bibiloi@gmail.com
eBay@ebony.propagation.net
stelian.pandelica@gmail.com
From those 7 email addresses I got identical 11 emails
Also got spams from danielconstseller77@gmail.com as Moo mentioned.
In additon to that “opreste33@gmail.com” sends fake ebay pages and asking for your info.
This has nothing to do with bidding on ebay. I got same emails eventho I have never used this email address even once. I have only used for storage. So noneone is aware of the existence of the email address other than gmail and me. The spammer might be using sequence mail wordlist creater alike thing Orrrrr orrrrr and an orrrr I have to blame google by giving away email lists (which I doubt).
My email address had the word “janissary” in it. [Janissary = Elit Ottoman soldier(Historical)] And the identical 11 spams I got was about bidding on an Historic Ottoman coins. Perhaps the spammer (or pammers) are using some kind of word generator.
I too just got 2 spam emails- I cant believe it either I order some items from ebay about a year ago and everything went smooth-not I have tons spam emails ect…I dont think I’ll be shopping there anymore! that dead fish idea sounds great! :p
Just a little update!!! I’ve gotten almost 40 spam messages now!