We sometimes receive several phone calls per week from people asking
us about a questionable transaction they are either about to get involved in
or are already involved in.
Major Signs of a Scam
- Even though you've come across the item on Craig's List (or another site) it
somehow turns into an EBay transaction and you start receiving e-mails that
look like they are from EBay.
- The scammer claims he can not discuss the business with you over
the phone, he's on a "secure military base" and can only communicate
via e-mail.
- The person cannot give you a valid EBay Seller ID, Name or Item number.
All legitimate EBay transactions can be found by going directly to www.ebay.com and looking up this information. Any sellers location, date of
becoming a member and rating is all there along with recent feedback.
- Scammer is requesting payment to be made through via Money Gram or Western Union. DO NOT SEND - you will never see the item or your money again.
- When a scammer wants to buy something from you, they want to send you a cashiers
check ahead of time but want to make it out for more than your asking price and request
you to forward the difference on to a scammer associate. The cashiers check turns out to
be counterfeit and you are out of any money you forwarded on.
The above mentioned points are in virtually every scam we get calls about. Why won't the local police do something? Jurisdiction maybe, internet based frauds out of their area? What about the F.B.I.? We've been told that they do not have time to deal with scams of less than $100,000.00. Your local news wants to know? Not really; they can get higher ratings by embarassing a roach infested restaurant, reporting on a drive by shooting or a house fire with lots of police cars and flashing lights in the background. Think on your own and verify AHEAD of time - before it's too late.
Marc Helmer
AVP Marketing
EBay Services of Texas
Here are actual fraud e-mails sent to potential victims and you can see just how realistic
they appear. Click on Scam 1 & Scam 2 below to see these e-mails.
