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Message: <blockquote data-quote="71ProjectJunk" data-source="post: 408442" data-attributes="member: 7655">Okay. So maybe I can cover a few of the rules I learned dealing with Ebay. First, if you are going to cut a deal with a seller on Ebay before the auction ends, try to get them to list it to you through Ebay with a "Buy it Now." Second, try to do most or all of your communications with the seller through the Ebay messaging system. Also, if you want to confirm a deal is legit, call Ebay and ask them to link the correspondence you have available with the Ebay user ID. This might allow you to pick up if someone else's Ebay account is being "hijacked" by a criminal. Next, if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. Also, scammers now can be incredibly sophisticated, using technology that never existed years ago. I was victim to an incredibly elaborate scam where an ad from a website was copied and transferred with all the relevant photos and description to an Ebay auction, but the VIN numbers in the pictures were photo shopped and changed so that running a search for the VIN would not show the car on the internet. I had long conversations with the seller whose area code showed up as the region where the car was being sold, but I in fact was talking with some guy in Russia or somewhere else overseas. I asked for a copy of the Washington State title for the car in the sellers name and he was able to send me a forged title that was somehow generated from a blank Washington State title. It looked incredibly real and legitimate, with all the correct terminology and descriptions of the car utilizing the bogus VIN. I made sure I was wiring the money to the person whose name was on the title using his bank account and address. My bank had no indication the money was going to a criminal. The supposed owner seemed legit from all of my communications with him. He answered questions about the car and "promised I'd be very happy with it." He even offered to help me arrange shipping for the car. One thing that is key to mention is that I had doubts all along the way, but the "seller" was able to provide me every piece of information I requested about the car. When I asked for something, he would contact a third party who was able to produce the documentation I wanted. I don't recall exactly how I came upon the ad, but the auction had actually ended when I contacted the "seller." I think I had the ad saved on my watch list and saw that the auction had ended with a "no sale," so I sent a message to the "seller" asking for his contact information. There was no ongoing auction when I was talking to the "seller." It turns out that this same scam was going on at the same time with thousands and thousands of cars, and the investigator told me that this scam had cost victims in the neighborhood of $20 million. The smart thing I did was to get the "seller" to re-post the car on Ebay with a "buy it now." I clicked the BIN and followed Ebay's instructions after that. It was actually someone on this site that noticed the photo shopped VIN. Luckily, Ebay insurance paid me back the $25,000 I paid for the car. The bank had video of the guy going to the bank and walking out with the money, but he, to my knowledge, was never caught.</blockquote>For them to catch someone like that they have to do this dozens and dozens, if not hundreds of times. It's like with credit card fraud, no one in law enforcement really cares. You were really lucky on that one. I have been selling on eBay for 20 years, and I have seen all types of scams, I have also been in business most of my life. When we get scammed with a credit card, no one ever gets caught, unless it is a local deal at the store where we can personally trace the guy and basically bring him in to law enforcement. When you own a business and you get a fraudulent credit card transaction, the credit card company gives the owner of the card their money back, and you as a business owner are left holding the bag. The owner of the card does not care as he got his money back, and the credit card company does not care as it has lost nothing, in fact they charge you $15 for the fraudulent transaction. Same thing happens with eBay scams, the bank you used, or the credit card company have not lost anything, eBay usually does not loose anything, and you are left holding the bag. You can call local law enforcement as a business owner or as a private citizen, but the most you will get from them is a "report". Usually these scams are from out of state, so you local law enforcement can't really do anything. Most of these scams are not for thousands and thousands of dollars, like on a vehicle, they are for smaller stuff under $1,000, and in reality, we as a business don't even waste our time anymore calling the police to do a report, and I would be willing to bet most sellers or buyers on eBay don't report this stuff either, and even if they do, no one will look into it anyways. So, you could probably do this all your life and never get caught. The only way they will go after these people is if they are constantly stealing on eBay and eBay is actually loosing money, or they are stealing directly form the credit card company, where the credit card company is loosing money. If the big businesses are loosing money time and time again, they will look for you, they will find you and you will end up in jail. Or the scammer has to do this to such a big degree that someone in law enforcement eventually, because of all the complaints, has no other choice than to look at it. Here is a guy in South Florida that scammed over 5,500 buyers on eBay of over $717,000 before they caught him...[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2010-02-23-fl-e-bay-scam-south-florida-20100223-story.html[/URL][/QUOTE]

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