If you’re a frequent online shopper, it’s worth knowing about this scam that tricks you to conduct eBay transactions outside its website, only for the product to never arrive…
Robert told us: I was looking to bid on eBay for a John Deere compact tractor, until it was removed from sale. I emailed the seller, who said that we could still buy it for £2,000 and went to great lengths to assure us everything was in order, and to protect both parties would only sell through eBay.
We received a genuine-looking eBay invoice, explaining the full terms and conditions and how we were protected under eBay policy. It instructed us to transfer the sale amount of £2,000 to an eBay ‘holding account’, and stated that the money would only be released once we had confirmed we were happy with the item.
It was only after I transferred the funds and the item didn’t arrive that I discovered the whole process was a scam and the money was lost. We have reported this scam to eBay and to the police. I feel this was a professional gang of crooks as the scam was so well presented and executed.
What we say on the eBay scam
We say: eBay actively encourages members to report offers to buy or sell outside of its website, because of the potential fraud risk. It runs a money-back guarantee to protect buyers against scams like this, but only on transactions made through its website, so there’s little hope of compensation through this scheme.
However, if you transferred the money using a credit card, you could get your money back through Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. If you used a debit card, you could also be able to reclaim your money using the chargeback scheme.
Have you been a victim of this scam or a similar one? Do you have any tips for spotting it?