From: m.o.davis_at_gte.net
Date: Wed Apr 19 2000 - 17:50:17 EDT
** Reply to note from "sehh of H.I.C. & D.B.S." <sehh_at_altered.com> Wed, 19 Apr 2000 14:14:41 +0100 (BST)
> what is this 'circle' scam
In this case, it appears that there are 10 user IDs involved. They may all be
the same person. What I suspect is that a bogus auction was set up for each
user involving multiples of an item. For each auction, the 9 other users bid
high enough to win at least one item from the auction, then posted positive
feedback about the seller. So each of the 10 users has positive feedback from
each of the other 9 users, giving them a feedback rating of 9 (actually, 4 of
them only have ratings of 8). Now one of the users sets up another auction
of multiple items, but the other 9 don't bid. You now have a seller who has
been rated highly by 8 or 9 other people, so you are supposed to feel
comfortable about sending cash to Canada.
Looking at the auctions that were won by the participants in this suspicious
deal, it is interesting to note that all of them started between 7:52 PM and
8:10 PM Pacific Daylight Time on April 14. Most of them ended within 90
minutes or less. All feedback for all auctions was posted 2 days later. I have
bought many things on ebay; the fastest I ever received any item was one week
>from the close of the auction.
Everything about this deal says "scam". The circular part is the posting of
positive feedback by all the users involved regarding the character of all the
other users involved _as sellers_.
Mark in San Angelo
m.o.davis_at_gte.net
04/19/00, 17:50:15
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