Re: [Thinkpad] Possible hijacked Ebay account

Look at the guy's other auctions. 195 auctions all ending AT THE SAME TIME.
Figure that 20-30 buyers go ahead and pay. You only need a day or two to
collect the cash then disappear.

At 06:40 PM 9/6/2004, Ellis Weiner wrote:

>Can I ask some touchingly stupid questions? What's so obvious? I've
>never bought anything on Ebay (or sold it), but, aside
>from the fact that this guy has NO feedback from buyers, what's the
>giveaway that tells you all he's bogus? I ask this so
>that everyone one else on the list who is too embarrassed to ask, doesn't
>have to. Thanks, guys.
>
>Ellis
>
>Bruce Markowitz wrote:
>
>>This guy is probably in Spain or Nigeria or someplace, hence the private
>>bidder thing.
>>Very good computer skills, although you may notice that the photos and some
>>of the specs are wrong. Notice also that the one live feedback is where is
>>supposedly bought a Sony desktop for $10.00
>>R I G H T
>>I know desktops, especially Dells, are cheap, but look at the specs. That
>>was probably either the "real" buyer, or some kind of setup to generate
>>feedback without paying any substantial Ebay fees.
>>
>>----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Bell" <electrosoft@comcast.net>
>>To: <thinkpad@stderr.org>
>>Sent: Monday, September 06, 2004 6:02 PM
>>Subject: Re: [Thinkpad] Possible hijacked Ebay account
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>The trick with these types of hijacks are to give the guise of offering
>>>multiple payment options
>>>to present the air of security. They also take the time to steal somebody
>>>else's HTML or
>>>have the skill to create a decent looking ad themselves.
>>>
>>>With the low feedback of the original owner, he probably fell victim to
>>>
>>the
>>
>>
>>>millions of
>>>phishing requests sent via email. My wife, who has a feedback of over 500,
>>>fell victim
>>>to a similar situation not once but twice on eBay. A lot of it is end user
>>>naivety. First
>>>time, she was phished. But when she got her account restored, she restored
>>>it with
>>>the SAME password (ok, that was kind of stupid <g>). Both times, they ran
>>>
>>a
>>
>>
>>>lot of
>>>high end items. I had to sit her down and spend 30min explaining basic
>>>
>>security
>>
>>
>>>across the board and now if anything looks odd, she asks.
>>>
>>>The object is to get as many winning bids as possible, and offer a
>>>
>>discount
>>
>>
>>>for paying with
>>>lesser and lesser secure means of payment (ie, send me a money order, and
>>>I'll give you
>>>20% off!). You will notice they didn't offer PayPal as an option, and I
>>>
>>can
>>
>>
>>>almost 100%
>>>guarantee there is no Visa/MC/Amex/Escrow option at all at the end. The
>>>idea is to get those
>>>few who are happy with what is already a killer deal and want to save even
>>>
>>more
>>
>>
>>>and get the "ultra" killer deal which is only available via Western Union,
>>>Postal MO,
>>>or if they are smart, even wire transfers.
>>>
>>>I especially like the, "High bidder: User ID kept private," LOL. In some
>>>instances, it is
>>>valid, but here it is clear it is to prevent others from warning the
>>>
>>bidder
>>
>>
>>>of the potential
>>>scam.
>>>
>>>Whenever I purchase something rather expensive from eBay, I always:
>>>
>>>A> Check their feedback and the types of sales they've done in the past.
>>>
>>If
>>
>>
>>>they
>>>have primarily been a buyer and suddenly list a lot of high end items,
>>>
>>that
>>
>>
>>>is a red flag.
>>>
>>>B> Get their real contact info and CALL THEM.
>>>
>>>C> Make sure to use a more secure method of payment (PayPal, V/MC/Amex,
>>>Escrow).
>>>
>>>D> In one case, I contacted the last winning bidder of an auction to see
>>>how it went along with
>>>the contact info they conducted the transaction with.
>>>
>>>E> Lastly, trust your instincts. If something doesn't feel right, don't
>>>
>>let
>>
>>
>>>the specter of
>>>a killer deal override common sense.
>>>
>>>
>>>At 05:29 PM 9/6/2004, Bruce Markowitz wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>Anyone see anything odd? Hint- look at his other Ebay auctions, and his
>>>>"recent" feedback
>>>>
>>>http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=31554&item=670618338
>>>
>>1&rd=1
>>
>>
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>>
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>>
>
>
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Received on Mon Sep 6 18:44:42 2004