Scam watch: how £2,000 was lost to an eBay scammer

I think one of the worst things eBay has done is remove identities of buyers.

I once considered buying something from a seller with low feedback as a seller. When I checked their feedback and previous “bought” and “sold” items, several eBay ids had been set up all bidding and selling to each other known as shill bidding.

Removing identities of buyers and not being able to check out previous sales and purchases of a seller has made it harder to spot scams.

Whilst I agree with the statement that eBay encourages members to report “off site” trading by email, I have to point out that eBay DO NOT offer buyer protection for vehicle sales. One of the main causes of victims being caught out is that they receive an official looking but FAKE email from eBay convincing the buyer they are protected – see http://www.scamaccounts.co.uk for examples.

We see hundreds of fake listings put on eBay, Gumtree & Auto Trader every day and publish them to warn others here http://bit.ly/1LuzHqA

The one single piece of advice is NEVER send money for a vehicle you have not physically been to see, even if the seller tells you the vehicle is abroad, in storage or other excuse, IT IS A SCAM.

These scammers do not take credit or debit card so there is no protection under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. There is also very little chance you will ever see your money again. We work very closely with the banks fraud departments to get these Mule Accounts closed down, if you receive an “invoice” for a vehicle, assuring you of buyer protection DO NOT SEND FUNDS.

[Sorry Julian, we don’t allow contact details to be posted on Which? Conversation. However, we really appreciate that you’re happy to help Michelle so perhaps you could share some of your advice here? – Thanks, mods]

One frequent con that takes place on ebay is as follows: You bid for an item and place an upper limit as to what you will pay [this upper limit is only known to yourself] for the product/item. The bids are low so you’re hopeful of picking up the product/item at a bargain price – only to find that at bid closure your not the highest bidder and that the item was sold to another bidder. You then receive an ebay message a day or so later to say that the winning bidder had not paid and as you were the second highest bidder do you want to purchase the product at your upper limit price? Ignore these requests- I’m sure that a friend or relative of the seller is working with the higher bidders to push up the product bid price. with no consequences to the seller for the highest bidders non payment.

if ebay gives you a details of a account that they had known had been hacked into can I claim my money back from them for wrong doing

I have a new scam ongoing for a horsebox. I work for a bank so am fully aware of the tactics. I went through all the motions to get as much info as I could and then advised the seller to arrange delivery as they said I did not have to pay up front which rang alarm bells.

Low and behold, an invoice came through from Ebay (the box was advertised on horse and hound) saying I paid up front into a holding account. I have contacted horse and hound and the police to advise them and obviously will not be progressing the sale any further.

Seller called Victor lists expensive (can sell for £10000) camera. Withdraws it after a couple of days. When contacted says it is still for sale and will send an ebay invoice for an agreed price. ‘Ebay invoice’ arrives giving bank transfer as only payment method. Looks fishy so look at the email source code. Says it comes from a site registered at a farm in Cumbria (from ‘whois’ website) but pretending to be ebay. Certain now it is a scam and look up address of seller. It is a boarding house! Should have been warned – first time seller with 100% feedback but as buyer only.

I have been the victim of a Chargeback scam.
I sold a Cartier watch on eBay for £935 which the buyer paid for by Paypal.
The buyer emailed to say she loved the watch and was delighted with the “as new” condition etc.
Just after 3 months later I received a notice from Paypal saying that she was demanding a refund as the watch was not as described…
3 months is the period that eBay allow for items to be returned if not as described…hence the Paypal route which extends to 6 months.
Basically her reason was that the watch bracelet was too large for her wrist….it took her 3 months to decide this….don’t laugh!
Paypal correctly sided with my evidence in the form of emails from the buyer, that proved I was in the right beyond any doubt.
So she went to Visa her card company and they are now claiming a refund for her.
I have since read about this scam and what happens next is that she will get the refund from my Paypal account and keep the watch, as seemingly the card company will always side with the refund policy…..even when the 120 Days limit is exceeded according to the Code 53 claim and even when presented with definitive evidence of my innocence in this ridiculous scam.
Paypal initially said they would act in my defence against the card company as the claim was ludicrous, but after a week or so, changed their minds, so the ball is back in my court…no reason given.
I am awaiting the decision of the Visa card company, but assume I will lose a total of about £1150 including my eBay/Paypal fees….
Having spoken to Paypal several times it became apparent that this is a very common scam, but no-one seems to be interested in resolving the issue or helping the victim…
Any suggestions for a proper resolution would be most welcome!