BEWARE of eBay scam targeted to RF Want It Now

[Avi999]

Hello all

I wanted to share with you my experience with a new scam I
was exposed to lately.

1. I got a reply to eBay "I Want it Now" ad I posted for a RF camera.
email was received through eBay messaging system from an "Anonymous eBay Member"
so I can't tell who is the eBay user that sent it.
2. the reply offered me in general the RF I was looking for and asked me to contact him directly and not through eBay.
(first Red light turned on...)his email address was a yahoo mailbox.
3. I contacted the seller and asked for more details and photos.
4. I got a reply with few small images of the RF and information that
shows that "seller" is not so familiar with what he is selling, a thing that can happen.
Careful review of images showed signs of eBay gallery logo retouching
(Red light still left on...)
5. I asked for some more information on iris, shutter etc. and for some more images.
6. after 3 days without any reply, I wrote to seller again reminding that I didn't get a reply.
7. I than got a reply from him apologizing for the delay with information similar to his first mail
and no new photos. (second Red light turned on...) he also wrote that he'll send me
a legit eBay sell note.
At the same time, I got a spoof email with subject "Your invoice for eBay purchases".
(third Red light turned on...)
This email looks like an eBay page with instruction of transferring payment to a Western Union
address in Romania. I must say that it shows as a lot of time was invested in designing and
creating of this page with eBay graphics, text etc.
8. since I'm not new to eBay, I felt right from the start this is a scam and of course I didn't sent him a thing other than my "blessings"...

Again and again, I want to point out for you to be VERY careful, be suspicious of every
small detail that is weird and always conduct your activity only through eBay system.
The world is unfortunately full of scammers looking for you...
Nevertheless, there are still other millions of decent eBay users out there...
so don't lose hope !

Have fun
Avi

 

[sf]

Forget it. I've received these scams too - got one about the 100mm lens for the RF645 - had some guy with poor English skills tell me that he had "the product I am looking for" and would sell it outside of Ebay to me. No mention of what I wanted, even.

If any red lights turn on at all, even momentarily, forget it.

 

[kathytoth.ca]

Anything that tries moving you off the intended site and from *legitimate* sources of payment such as paypal are almost alway sscams. Anyone can get a paypal account and I have found that people who use the excuse " I hate paypal" and then offers you western union off site is scamming.

This is far more common on lists such as craigslist.😱

 

[varjag]

Anyone can get a paypal account ...

Can't be further from truth. The list of countries whose residents eligible for PayPal account is in fact quite short.

 

[varjag]

The lists of people with cousins in countries whose residents are eligible for Paypal accounts is probably quite long.

Not really. Not too many people, say, in FSU or China have close enough relatives in EU/EEC or America. The eBay merchants from these countries though often trying to use accounts of proxies for a fee, but that alone scares off many prospective buyers as possible scam.

These scams are becomming quite rampant. The camera sector and particularly Leica auctions have become heavy targets recently. I was shopping for a 35 Lux ASPH and just kept bidding until I got one at my price. For the ten I didn't get, I got at least four so-called "2nd Chance" ebay offers.

Yeah, it is especially fun to get "2nd chance" offers when your bid was like #5 in the list.