I got scammed on eBay with a Noctilux auction

Go to the police and report the fraud. In their hands, the IBAN/SWIFT data used for the transfer is as good as a ID card.

Not a smart way to defraud people, BTW. He/she should have asked for a money order.
 
Sorry for your loss, for sure.

Regarding listing in native language and IBAN payments: I sell through eBay occasionally, and almost always list my stuff in English. No use listing in Dutch, not enough Dutchmen around to have the listing ending as profitable as possible.

Recently, eBay Germany has put a rule in place that forces PayPal users to have a business account with both eBay and PayPal. And you have to fill out a lot of stuff before they grant you one. I decided to not sell through eBay Germany anymore, but I think the number of IBAN/SWIFT-only listings will increase with this new policy, so eBay Germany has gotten a lot less safe recently. Just so you know.

In general, if this kind of money is involved, send a message containing your phone number and ask for the sellers number. Spend some bucks on a long distance phone call. If they will not talk to you on the phone or the country code differs from the registered seller or item location, you'll know what the deal is.

Thanks for sharing this, so we all are a bit safer.
 
I am sorry to hear that and I hope you got your money back.

Usually scammers would ask for Western Union also, using IBAN could be a good thing for you, at least, the bank knows who the recipient is. I thing the police and bank would be best to handle this as oppose to Peebay. Whenever I get Telegraphic Transfer of money from overseas, it always say who the recipients and where it was from are in my detailed bank activity, I hope IBAN provide the information too.

Good luck.
 
Vic said:
I'm sorry to hear of this. It is unfortunate that evil still exists. And we call ourselves civilized.

I don't know about European logistics, but I would recommend:
(1) Use your credit card when paying via PayPal. This is the only protection you have if things go bad. Unfortunately, I have had to use it twice, in over 100 transactions.
(2) PayPal and eBay protection is random. Often they side with the seller. They have improved, but I don't use eBay now, so cannot speak about the current status.
(3) Even on RFF, send money with your credit card via PayPal. You won't get burned.
(4) Repeat: CREDIT CARD via PayPal. Only send cash to people you know. It doesn't matter if the person has many postings on RFF, some of these people have scammed on this site. There is a lot of history here.
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Those are all very nice hints but we are talking about German/European selling habits. You just won't find a lot of people using paypal because bank wire transfer is the most common and cheapest way of money transfer here. It's not possible to open an anonymous account here but with trojan/virus attacks criminals hijacked bank accounts and they can use these accounts to transfer the money further on to an account in another country. They have to do this because normally they don't have the credential to withdraw the money directly.

When I buy on ebay I buy either at a shop or at a private person who offers direct payment/pick up. When I buy at a shop I compare the Bank Account Information on ebay with the information on the shops website.

Too bad with this lens. That's a lot of money you lost. When the police finds the bank account owner and his account was hijacked, probably the banks insurance will pay for it? In Germany it's quite common that an insurance pays for the damage caused by hijacked bank accounts.
 
What did we learn: Never pay in advance to private sellers you dont know.

Concerning IBAN and wire transfer: Like others have posted, someone owns the bank account and it should be easily possible to track that person. Ask you bank for help.
 
I buy and sell on eBay fairly frequently. However, my risk limit on eBay is no more than around $1000 USD, and that's rare. I try to keep my transactions to less than about $600. The reason is that all the so-called buyer/seller protections don't protect anyone, but eBay and PayPal (just read the fine print). Scam artists, deadbeats, and other unsavory types (both buyers and sellers) become rampant at about the $1000 level on eBay, but they don't fiddle with small change.

If I have an expensive camera item in mind to purchase, my preferred venue is right here on dear old Rangefinder forum. Honest sellers, honest buyers!
 
I have bought 3 Noctilux on ebay with no problems. I even bought one from a hacked account. I used paypal to pay and the money was refunded to me almost immediately after i paid.
 
Hey Ep,

That sucks. I feel for your loss. But keep your chin up; there will be another Noctilux in your future!

I have had success on eBay with little tid bits, but I would never use it for big ticket items. I was scammed once, but since i had paid with PayPal, I was able to get my money back.

On RFF I have had my best deals and worst deals; now I am very careful about dealing with members who I know or someone whom I trust knows.

My favourite guy to buy gear from is Tony Rose. When I hear your story, it confirms in my mind that buying from a reputable dealer is always a safe way to roll.

I hope that your money can be retrieved!

Sincerely,

Thomas
 
If I want to buy something more expensive on eBay I usually will only buy from someone I have saved as a "saved seller" and have had the chance to track for a while online and check their feedback over time. Usually these are people running eBay stores where I figure they have a lot invested in their good name. I suppose that someone could still impersonate them online but it seems unlikely if you are searching from a saved link of their store. This has its own problems - limited options for purchase and as well, many charge a lot for postage and handling but its about peace of mind.
 
I am sure 90+% of online sales are legit. I bet my luck is to pick a bad one.

Somehow the idea of sending money off to an unknown party in hopes of getting goods shipped to you seems wrong and no legit business buyer/purchasing agent would operate this way. It is foolish and irresponsible. Honestly my computer does not even know where e Bay is.
It is a bad business model for customers and sellers both. The only one who always makes out is e bay.
 
About one year ago, someone hijacked my ebay account trying to sell a car on ebay motors. I have never sold on ebay motors! Ebay intervened quickly and had me change my ebay password. I think they make a good effort, but to keep up with all the scoundrels, antisocial personalities, and slimeballs of this world may be too much to ask.

Condolences. Makes me think twice about buying anything else on the bay.
 
Really sorry for you getting scammed.

But the Scammer did a mistake, because with the Swift/IBAN code money bank transfer, the owner of the bank account can be found, just go to the Police, and report the fraud.
 
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