Leica scams on ebay

[colyn]

A scammer has posted a number of fake auctions on hijacked accounts today trying to sell either M6 or M7 Leicas. I have flagged 16 today. He is using a gmail contact.
Beware.........

 

[Topdog1]

You have to se sooo careful bidding on eBay for late model Leicas. My rule of thumb is to assume all of those listings are bogus until I can prove otherwise.

/Ira

 

[colyn]

You have to se sooo careful bidding on eBay for late model Leicas. My rule of thumb is to assume all of those listings are bogus until I can prove otherwise.

/Ira

I agree..

A Leica M7 TTL new in the box buy it now for $1200 is obviously a scam

 

[AusDLK]

What's a M7 TTL anyway?

 

[Rico]

I have reported 254 distinct hijacked accounts this month, and 1922 for this year. My all-time daily record was 68 (Aug 28). Fortunately, I have this process computerized. Account hijacking on eBay is a criminal enterprise of industrial proportions. eBay doesn't see a dime from the millions of bogus listings, but they don't seem to care - doesn't help their reputation as a safe place to shop, either.

 

[reagan]

A scammer has posted a number of fake auctions on hijacked accounts today trying to sell either M6 or M7 Leicas. I have flagged 16 today. He is using a gmail contact. Beware.........

Thanks Colyn & Rico. Just out of curiosity, what does a "hijacked account" look like? Any links for examples? Please understand - no lack of gratitude or disrespect intended, but just telling us "there are scammers somewhere on eBay" isn't that much help. Especially for a dufus like me. I'm reeeeal slow, so I need things pretty clear and obvious. 😱

 

[Rico]

ManGo describes an artisan version of fraud, with each item lovingly crafted and each hijacked account preened for plausibility. The activity I monitor is massive in scale, with items that are completely ludicrous if one thinks about it for even a millisecond. Of course, one fool per 100,000 is enough to make the business model. Call it the auction version of spam. 🙂

The essence is a high-ticket item for a low price, and you're invited to go off-site to clinch the deal. There's only a finite number of ways to present this "deal", and I can smell one a mile away. Then one looks at the other items for sale by this seller: $10,000,000 of merchandise, 200 Canon 1Ds Mark II DSLR kits. Wow! And don't forget the three pairs of socks sold last week!

Here are some recent samples that didn't get axed by eBay Security. I recommend you disable Javascript, images, and CSS in your browser before visiting these links - just in case...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300057219857
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140062873595
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290063779983
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160064856666
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160064856564

 

[Chimera]

I put in a bid last night on a a*hole´s fake objects...darn, I instantly closed my account when figuring out it was not serios. Feels really unpleasant, knowing it can take up to 180 days for ebay to close it.

Hope the sob don´t get to use the account/info somehow.

grrr..

 

[colyn]

A flagging system similar to what is used on sites such as Craigslist would do wonders in terms of getting scam listings delisted very quickly by the community. Such a system would require a certain number of flags to be raised by a certain number of unique users to raise the level of danger associated with a listing and eventually delist it automatically once a certain threshold is reached. This would keep competing sellers from fraudulently attempting to delist legitimate competing items while simultaneously getting scam listings out of the system much faster than it currently takes Ebay customer care to individually review and delist things. Making it easier for users to get involved in policing is key (the current system requires you to actually send a message to Ebay customer support to report a scam after going through two other steps and dealing with all sorts of pull-down menus, etc. A flagging system would be a one-click method of participating.)

I don't know how craigslist operates where you are at but here I see many legitimate ads get flagged and removed by certain people for whatever reason. I've had several of my own listings flagged and removed for no reason. It seems to be a game with these people to see who can get the most listings removed..

As for reporting fraud listings on ebay... 3 simple steps which involve nothing more than a few clicks...no message needs to be sent. Takes less than 1 minute and the listing is gone within 30 minutes..I did it a total of 22 times yesterday..

A 1 click method would invite too many false flags..

 

[mongo141]

Even buying legit items off Ebay can seem complex for some people with little web experience and no experience with the site itself. If you think about it, Ebay does have a fairly complicated process compared to other commerce sites. It's easy to discredit this theory when you've been online since 199x but I know a few folks, mostly bookish sorts, who'd fall for any of these scams in a heartbeat.

The mythos of Ebay as the sort of place where perfectly great items fall through the cracks and can be purchased for half (or less) of what they should cost seems to confuse the reflexes of some people who do possess tried-and-true common sense but fail to put the pieces together in time. And then of course there are just plain greedy people who don't/can't/won't learn their lesson without being burned to the 12th degree four times over.

I really blame Ebay for most of this at this point. Their security policies are limp-wristed at best and they are infamous for taking little to no action when deals go sour. Whether you use Paypal or not, customers are basically on their own in 9/10 situations and yet Ebay constantly market themselves as being nearly as safe as shopping at a store. They're not.

A flagging system similar to what is used on sites such as Craigslist would do wonders in terms of getting scam listings delisted very quickly by the community. Such a system would require a certain number of flags to be raised by a certain number of unique users to raise the level of danger associated with a listing and eventually delist it automatically once a certain threshold is reached. This would keep competing sellers from fraudulently attempting to delist legitimate competing items while simultaneously getting scam listings out of the system much faster than it currently takes Ebay customer care to individually review and delist things. Making it easier for users to get involved in policing is key (the current system requires you to actually send a message to Ebay customer support to report a scam after going through two other steps and dealing with all sorts of pull-down menus, etc. A flagging system would be a one-click method of participating.)

I have very seldom been burned, Well once for a large amount very early on. But you are right about eBays PayPal "security" being worthless. I spent a month trying go from a dispute to a claim with no luck. I kept getting a "Msg 3005 error" and even after playing a long session of phone games the situation is still unresolved, Feebay just doesn't care. The jerk is still listing the same stuff, collects the money and never ships. His feedback is down to 90.2% and falling like a stone. I don't think I don't think I can publish the user name here without incuring the wrath of some legal type S**T getting involved but anyone wanting his user name just PM me. Dave

 

[colyn]

As for the current Ebay system being easy, I don't consider a process that takes 1 minute to be very incentive-laden for the casual user. I applaud you for having taken 22 minutes out of your day to help but I don't how many others who are as dedicated as you.

Any flagging system that gives instant results is too easily abused so 1 minute should not be too much to ask for.

I have reported several items and always find that step 3 asks me to send a message to customer service to complete the report (I then get a form email five or ten minutes later thanking me for my input.) At any rate, it's clear to me at least that the current implemenation is not working because scams have increased 10 fold in the past six months alone as have reports of people being scammed.

I have never had to send a message in step 3 nor have I been asked to. You can but it is not required. I have not received any emails asking or thanking me for my input either.

The reason scams have increased is because many ebayers have fallen for the "you need to update your info" emails and because people are stupid enough to fall for obvious scams.

There is no system that can automatically sniff out possible scams and delete then before they get posted so ebay, craigslist, etc has to rely on people to report possible scams. I don't go looking for scams but when I see one I report it..

Even when things go bad by mistake, their process is painfully drawn out and designed to force both parties to jump through innumerable hoops before simply cancelling the transaction.

In order to protect themselves they have to be sure which party is being truthful. Therefore rules have to be implemented to determine who is right and who is wrong.

I once had a foreign bidder snipe someone else to win a camera I was selling even though my listing made it very obvious that I did not ship overseas. It took days and days to sort the problems out and even then the only way I could do it was with the cooperation of the buyer. If he had decided to be a jerk, I would have had to ship it whether I lked it or not or risk the loss of MY reputation on the site simply because a lazy bidder refused to read my terms before bidding. Furthermore, the bidder lives in a country with a reputation for having a very, very flakey mail system so I would have had to put my item at risk of being lost in the mail, too.

This is simple to fix.. When you check box the countries you will ship to scroll to the bottom before clicking submit there are some filters which you can setup which will block bidders from countries you did not check. You can also block bidders with certain negative feedback issues and anyone who does not have a paypal account.

 

[reagan]

Okay, my mind is just kinda buzzin' here.....
(a) What's to stop some competing seller from flagging someone who has a similar item listed for less money?
(b) Or what prevents some sour-grapes-jerk-wad from flagging sellers who may have sniped him on other items?
(c) And do you think that ChumpBay may look at members who send them 10-20-30 flags a day as witch hunters and simply put them on their "ignore list?"

Interesting thread. Thanks folks!