So we got a bid for our sword on eBay, and right after I was accepted it, I realized a message was in the notes. At first, Ethan thought the eBay user didn’t know how to use eBay, as you can message within eBay, so we had a good laugh and I messaged the person. However, their reply rang every alarm bell in my head!!!
Yes thanks for texting I would love to have it mailed to my Cousin in Oklahoma as a birthday gift,i want you to get a steam wallet gaming cardGift Card of $400 inside the package before you ship it and I will add $400 for the steam wallet gaming card, $30 for the shipping through UPS/FedEx and $50 for the inconvenience, are you cool with that?
I just want the gift card as an additional surprise with the package and besides I should have get this done myself but I work away from home with the US Navy?
Text message from scam user frawa-6710
I then noticed we had received a message x2 from eBay, transcript below:
MC098 Suspicious buyer for item
Hello travellin-treasures,
We had to cancel bids for the buyer, frawa-6710, because they aren’t registered on eBay:
313237300522 – Pakistani Samurai Sword Steel Red And Black
We’ve also made it easy to relist your item if it was removed. Although the item is no longer available in search listings, you will find it in the Sold section of My eBay. For more information, please visit:
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/relist.html
To help you avoid this situation in the future, consider setting a Buy It Now price and requiring buyers to make an immediate payment. For more information on immediate payments, visit:
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/pay/require-immediate-payment.html
We recommend you take the following actions if this buyer won the item:
– If you haven’t received payment, don’t complete the sale or send the item to the buyer.
– Don’t communicate with the buyer directly.
– Verify any payments you’ve been notified of by logging into your PayPal account (or other online payment service).
– If the buyer requests a refund or additional payments, don’t send any money without contacting eBay first.
– If you’ve already sent the item, try contacting the shipping carrier to find out if you can stop shipment.
In these types of situations, we may, at our sole discretion, decide whether to credit the fees for removed listings.
– We have credited any associated fees to your account.
If you have any concerns or questions, click “Help & Contact” at the top of most eBay pages.
We’re sorry for this inconvenience, and thanks for continuing to work with us.
Thanks,
eBay
eBay Document ID: 91722136000
eBay is committed to your privacy. Read our user agreement and privacy notice. Learn how to recognize fake (spoof) emails.Copyright © 2020 eBay Inc. All Rights Reserved. Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. eBay and the eBay logo are trademarks of eBay Inc. eBay Canada Limited is located in 500 King Street West, Suite 200, Toronto, ON M5V 1L9, Canada.
Another pattern I’ve noted is that if you don’t respond within the hour, the seller will retract their bid. This seems to avoid eBay’s automatic checks to see these aren’t real people, as I only saw the email above from eBay once I had accepted the bid without seeing the comment.
I also noticed we had a few more offers, details of scammers and numbers below:
Message from jegsan_88:one=question=regarding=on=this=item=kindly=text=me=on=720 623 5681
Message from frawa-6710:hello=seller-i- have=a=question=on=this=item=kindly=text=me=on=7204609767 thanks
Message from janmi-1869:one=question=regarding=on=this=item=kindly=text=me=on720 623 5681
Message from acm6687:
hello=seller-i- have=a=question=on=this=item=kindly=text=me=on=7207597382 thanks
With this newest slew of scams, it appears people are getting more creative in getting around normal security protocols, so I stress that all of you be on your guard!
Much love – SarahTonin
Things & Stuff 