Ebay/Fraud experts

[CRX B16B VTEC]

If you list mobile phones for sale on ebay, why do you get so many people from Indonesia / Philipines asking you to sell it to them? And they say credit card / personal cheque...

OK, its obvious if its a scam they are going to use a stolen credit card or something, but if they pay by Paypal, and its confirmed, is there any dangers?

 

[PHOEN$X]

You're from the U.K., where the GSM phones use the same frequencies as in Asian countries, I believe. Maybe they're hoping to buy your used GSM devices cheaply, and either use them or sell them for a profit after using unlocking the phones. As long as they've been confirmed by PayPal, I think the risk is minimal. If you don't feel comfortable selling to foreign buyers, or don't want to deal with the hassles of international shipping, just say so on your auctions.

You also might want to try asking your question in the eBay Communities.

 

[CRX B16B VTEC]

Here are all the emails, what is odd is they are all for friends and are having birthdays. Phone business is real good in Indonesia ??

-------

I have been see your listing in ebay market place, so i really
interest to this item, I think i will buy this item , do you sell two
or tree items...? cause i will give some item to my partner as a
is brith day , If you can so please calculate the total price and I
will pay your item using my creditcard , please email me back aboutyour
respond, Thank's

--------

how is the shipping cost using fedex express 24-48 hours to indonesia ?
and for the payment, can i pay you using personal chq through Qchex or paypal ?

---------

I has been opening the new store Phone cell Indonesia,
and i need to some item phones for sample and stock in Cv.Cakra Inspiran, my store maybe : Nokia,Sony Ericsson,Samsung,etc.
I hope you can shipp to my shop which in Indonesia.
and you can help and understand me.Let me know.
Thanks you.
Reply me asap.

----------

i interest with your item and i want to buy your
Item,i want you give
your best price for me and i will pay all the
additional cost include
shipping cost By EMS(Global Mail Express)to
Indonesia because i
have store In Indonesia.i want to pay with My credit
card
because my payment only credit card charge directly by
Merchant account and not through Paypal or online
payment and also i
don't like western union and MO.do you Have merchant
account?
I hope you can reply my email Quickly and i appreciate
if You can
business with me and I appreciate if you can charge my
credit card
directly.

Reply me Quickly

--------------


I've see your item at ebay and I'm really interest on it. Can you sell it to me and for the payment I use my own personal check from Qchex.com to your account. If you deal reply me total cost include shipping charge by FedEx international priority or UPS to my close friend address at Indonesia 20143. And also I can be wait until my cheque arrives to your address.
Tell and give me your response


---------------


I am interested with the item, but can you ship it to Philippines? I'm having my vacation here in the Philippines. I'm willing to pay for the shipping cost because I want to give it as an birthday present for my cousin. I will be in charge of the shipping and handling. I would purchase this for $500 ,and I will pay you trough Pay Pal using my credit card. Thank you and Keep in touch

--------------


I am so interest with your item.I hope you can shipping your item to me in INDONESIA. I wanna you shipp from FedEX. Let me know you have the calculate this item and you can make charge my credit card, cause i'll pay you with my
credit card, Pls mail me back as soon as if you agree.

----------------

Hi, Dear ebay seller, I'm currently looking for a present for my friend who lives in Ukraine. I really enjoy your unit and I'm ready to bid on it but there are several questions to be answered before that. Unfortunately his address is unconfirmed with my paypal account so I would like to inquire if you could ship to him directly to Ukraine. Will that be ok if the shipping address will be mine (confirmed) when I send paypal payment but you will ship to him to Ukraine directly? Please respond asap so that we will have a great deal! Let's make this transaction successful! Have a nice day.

 

[Lud]

Credit card fraud is rampant in countries like that. They are using bogus/stolen credit card numbers, it's that simple. This will almost always end up being charged back to you once it is discovered.

Then of course there are the stolen PayPal accounts, etc. It is harder for people in third world countries to get the cash out of a stolen PayPal account so they buy stuff with it instead.

You can also scam through PayPal withouth having a stolen credit card or stolen PayPal account. Here's one way to pull a scam like that:

You live in Third World Country X.

You list something for sale on eBay that is the amount of money you need to buy something you want on eBay. In your ad you specify that you only accept PayPal. You can limit it to PayPal verified accounts or just run several auctions knowing that most people are PayPal verified, and limit shipping to US buyers.

Next you find what you want to buy. If the price matches you bid on it, if the item you're buying is a bit cheaper you e-mail him a high offer and tell him you'd like to do the transaction outside of eBay. Either way, you tell the seller that you're overseas and to make things easier your friend in the US will send payment via a PayPal verified account.

You tell the buyer of the bogus item you listed to send funds via PayPal to the address of the seller of the item you really want.

Now the seller has the buyer claiming he was ripped off via PayPal for something he bought on eBay, and the seller has shipped the item he was selling overseas to some third world country.

Since it's a "friend" sending the PayPal funds, the seller of course is going to ignore that shipping address and use the overseas address the scammer e-mails them, tell buyer to use a specific subject line that will not look suspicious to the seller, etc. Sure some people figure out it's fishy but they get enough to make it worth while.

 

[len3.8]

I just had a guy pay with paypal for an item.
I just had "that feeling" so I waited a day or so before shipping.
Paypal didn't show a problem, the funds were just waiting to go into my account from the paypal account. The next day I get this notice from paypal, basically saying that the funds were sent to me fraudulently. They were not authorized to use the credit card that they were using. That technically the person who owned the card could charge it back and they would then take the $$$'s from my paypal account. I was glad I didn't ship the product.
So many scams, so little responsibility of ebay and paypal (same company) I's hard for me to say what would have really happened, because I cancelled the transaction and never sent the product.
Len

 

[PHOEN$X]

Wow, good point Lud. As a seller I would hesitate to ship to any address other than the "PayPal verified" one, or deal with buyers who send me emails from addresses different than their "PayPal verified" email address.

Len: If your buyer was using an unauthorized credit card then the PayPal CC verification system should not have allowed them to add the card to their profile. I wonder what happened..

 

[len3.8]

He was using his wifes card. (X wife's) He was taking advantage of the fact that it was still on his paypal account before the divorce. They have nothing that prevents this from happening.
So unless they actively check the registered cards for authorized users, which you would think they would, someone could scam you. The address matched, the guy had set the account up 1 year ago. If I hadn't asked them to check out of my own paranoia, I would have been out big time. I would have shipped the product.
Len

Wow, good point Lud. As a seller I would hesitate to ship to any address other than the "PayPal verified" one, or deal with buyers who send me emails from addresses different than their "PayPal verified" email address.

Len: If your buyer was using an unauthorized credit card then the PayPal CC verification system should not have allowed them to add the card to their profile. I wonder what happened..

 

[PHOEN$X]

He was using his wifes card. (X wife's) He was taking advantage of the fact that it was still on his paypal account before the divorce. They have nothing that prevents this from happening.

Hmmm. If the ex-wife had closed the account or removed him from the card, then PayPal should not have been able to get an authorization number from the credit card company from the charge. If she hadn't taken any action to prevent him from using the account, then she is liable for any charges incurred and would be responsible for the bill. I didn't think PayPal "floats" money to its users?

Anyway, for high dollar items I would use an escrow service to avoid these kinds of problems I guess.

 

[CRX B16B VTEC]

another question...

that escrow thing, I've never used it. But there is a trial petriod right. So, the buyer receives the goods and can test it for a while. If it is not to their satisfaction they can return the goods and ask for refund. How do they know that they've returned it for that reason? I mean, say they bought a game. Then they copy it or something, and decides he want to send it back...

 

[PHOEN$X]

I mean, say they bought a game. Then they copy it or something, and decides he want to send it back...

Many retail stores have return policies stating they won't take back opened games/CDs unless defective, and will only exchange for the same item (no cash refunds) at that point. I guess you could have the same policy on your auctions.

 

[len3.8]

What action do you have to take for someone using a stolen credit card from you? She had no idea that he had the credit card on the paypal account. Paypal just processes the card that are on the accounts. At one time he was an authorized user I am sure. As far as floating money for it's users, if you are talking about me not taking their money, I am verified. I just didn't accept the transaction into the account. Paypal wouldn't let me reject the transaction for 3 days. Now if you are talking about , wether they would have been able to get the $$$$'s back from me? I wasn't going to chance it.
I agree escrow services are good to use as well.
Len

Hmmm. If the ex-wife had closed the account or removed him from the card, then PayPal should not have been able to get an authorization number from the credit card company from the charge. If she hadn't taken any action to prevent him from using the account, then she is liable for any charges incurred and would be responsible for the bill. I didn't think PayPal "floats" money to its users?

Anyway, for high dollar items I would use an escrow service to avoid these kinds of problems I guess.

 

[PHOEN$X]

Maybe this page will be of some help:

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y203/m10/abu0105/s02

 

[CRX B16B VTEC]

OK, so here is the update.
In the end, a guy from Ukraine won my auction. He also suggested he pay by Paypal but send to his friend's address. I'll paste his email at the bottom.

Anyway, it turns out that he bought 5 different mobile phones on the same day. So, I emailed all other sellers and asked them how they got on. One of the guy left a good feedback as soon as auction finished (may be this is his friend). 2 of the sellers said dont deal with him. One had already sent the item and Paypal was cancelled because of credit card fraud. So, I am not dealing with him...

--------

Hi, I would like to send the payment for your unit
via paypal, but I
have to receive the answers to the following
questions from you:
1) My total price with shipping via Royal Post UK
(air post) or parcelforce if you're shipping from
UK and with PayPal surcharge and
your paypal account for the
payment. (NOT UPS NOT FEDEX).
2) Please confim you are ready to ship to my
partner to his address in Ukraine
directly upon the payment receival.The shipping
address in Ukraine is
unconfirmed with my paypal account.
3) Please confirm you will declare it as $80 in
value and mark as a gift.
DO NOT INSURE THE PACKAGE!!! I ASSUME ALL THE
RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE DELIVERY!!!
YOU CARRY NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE PACKAGE HAVING
SHIPPED!!!
4) Please tell me the exact time the package will
be shipped at. I would like
the package to be shipped ASAP of course.
Looking forward to your answer to send the
payment!!!
Have a nice day!!!
country: Ukraine
name: Aleksander Podgayniy
street: 160/1 Petrovskogo street apt.# 38
city: Cherkassy
zip: 18020
phone: +380472459607
P.S. I will need your exact paypal address to send
the payment.

 

[martin]

Hi

I read all post with interest since I use Paypal now and then to buy things from USA.

The post about how they do it with that "friend" and all is good to know. I used a friend of mine in the US when I bought from Steven here on Prime. The friend thing was done because of additional cost for Steven to recieve funds from me since he had no mercent account and I used my CC.

I understand now if people do not want to deal throug a "friend" eventhough the "friend" is a real friend if you know what I mean.

About the Ukraina guy..does we have some big NSX guys in Ukraina that could go and kick his ass?

Regards