The irony of eBay is that as it grows to be ever
more successful, it draws the unsavoury element of the internet towards
it. I'm talking about people who make it their business to attempt to
defraud you and I in our eBay and PayPal transactions.
Of course, not all dodgy dealings on eBay are fraudulent. Some are just
mischievous. Others are by chancers, who perhaps reckon their victims
won't be bothered to pursue them.
Whoever causes it, it's left to the targeted buyer or seller to try and
sort out the problem. All that we as users can do is to be extremely
vigilant and cautious in all our eBay and PayPal activities.
Here is a list of practical steps, in no particular order, which buyers
and sellers can take to help avoid becoming the next victim.
Hopefully you are already aware of some of these. It doesn't
necessarily follow that if one of these applies the auction or person
is fraudulent. But if you use your head, and build up a view of the
overall transaction based based upon a number of these factors, you
will reduce your chances of getting conned.
a) Stock photos and descriptions
Because they don't have the item they are "selling", some fraudsters
use a stock photograph of the item. And they will probably use the
manufacturer's product description too. So, stock photos and no
original description might be a sign. Search for other auctions by the
same seller, and see if they are brazen enough to advertise the same
item more than once.
b) A price too good to be true often isn't true
A fraudster wants your money quickly, so you may find they offer to
close their auction early with you as the "winner" having bid a price
which you know to be somewhat of a bargain. Why would anyone close
their auction early if the price hadn't reached market levels? I'll
give you one guess.
c) High value or high volume, newly registered sellers
Although the vast majority of new sellers are genuine and honest, be
cautious of buying from people selling high value items in bulk, very
early on in their eBay career. This pattern isn't quite normal. Think
back to your own first sales. You would have been tentative, and
probably have tried single, low value items initially. So, a new seller
fitting this profile may be someone who has perhaps been previously
suspended and has registered another ID.
d) 1 day listings
Although 1 day listing are used by genuine sellers who have more than
one item or who want a quick sale, unfortunately this duration is
attractive to fraudsters too. They sometimes use a 1 day auction
duration to gain a quick sale before their actions can be reported and
acted upon. So, be extra wary on auctions with 1 day listing.
e) Invitations to trade off-eBay
This is a classic ploy of fraudsters. Having made some kind of contact
with you, or you with them, they will invite you to purchase or to sell
off eBay i.e. without using eBay's auction services. The attraction
here to the fraudster is that they can drive the transaction along the
lines they prefer, whether that be escrow, PayPal etc. Another reason
why trading off eBay is not a good idea is that you have to keep your
own formal records of the transaction, and you forfeit any cover from
eBay buyer protection and PayPal buyer protection. Plus, and this might
be a minor point, but you will not be able to leave feedback to let
others know your experience with this seller/buyer.
f) Payment methods with no recourse
Fraudsters prefer to chose payment methods in which the buyer has no
protection, like wire transfers where the buyer has no way of tracing
where the money is going. Western Union Money Transfers and BidPay are
favourites and should be totally avoided. Postal orders are similar
although they are a popular payment method among the genuine sellers as
they require no clearance time. Bank transfers and cheques can only
provide the possibility of your bank investigating the details of the
account the money was transferred into. For the best protection use
Paypal and fund with a Credit Card. Note there are limits on eBay and
PayPal protection, and you should make yourself aware of what these
are.
g) Unusual sales pattern
If your seller's feedback indicates that they normally deal in
collectables, DVDs or other specific items, be suspicious that they are
suddenly listing laptops, plasma TVs or other high value items. The
change may indicate that this seller's account has been hijacked.
h) Bad english gives you a pointer
Some fraudsters operate from abroad but pretend to be in UK or USA. As
they aren't particularly adept at the english language they might use a
translation tool like Babelfish to create their emails to you. So,
watch out for emails that are not good english. In itself, it doesn't
prove anything, there are plenty of genuine eBay sellers for whom
english is not their first language. But it might add to further
evidence you have.
i) Location Location Location
In the case of lazy fraudsters you might find their locations don't
match up. By that I mean the auction says the goods are in the UK, but
the seller's ID details show their location to be, say, Ukraine. This
is not a good sign. Often in these cases if you contact these sellers
you will receive an excuse as to why the item is not in the UK, and
therefore can't be collected in person. In short, if an auction says
the item is in the UK and the seller says that it is not, I would avoid
the auction. And don't forget to cross check with their PayPal account,
and see in which country this resides.
j) Ask questions
Always, always ask your seller a question. Any question. Their
response, if you receive one, will help you judge how genuine the
seller is. Beware auctions that carry a message asking you to contact
the seller via a given email address as opposed to via the 'Ask seller
a question' link. This could be an account hijacker trying to prevent
buyers from 'Asking the seller a question'. They want to stop this from
happening because such questions could be routed to the real account
owner.
k) "eBay can vouch for me" email
A warning about a relatively new tactic used by fraudsters. If you are
proving hard to land as a buyer/seller, they may claim they can get
eBay to email you proof of their validity so that you can trust them.
eBay, of course, will NEVER do this. The email sent out, however
authentic looking, is fake and is designed to get you to part with your
money or your goods. This applies equally to Square Trade and PayPal.
They will never email you certifying the genuineness of anyone.
l)A PayPal warning
There are fraudsters who use stolen PayPal accounts to accept payments.
To lower the possibility of this, check your seller's location as shown
in eBay, and then see if it is one of PayPal's permitted countries by
clicking here: http://www.workwinners.com/nlr701.htm. If PayPal don't
offer their service in the country that the seller resides, be very
wary.
m) Passwords
Never have the same password on your eBay and PayPal accounts. Or
indeed on any other financial or personal site. Change your passwords
every 30-60 days on both eBay and PayPal.
n) Escrow
If your seller asks you to use escrow, and proposes an escrow company
they've used before, this is a clear indication they are fraudulent.
There are many fake escrow sites which will take your money
fraudulently. The only escrow site recommended by eBay is
http://www.escrow.com. An alternative in the UK is
http://www.auctionpix.co.uk Please don't be tempted to use any other
escrow company, however professional looking their websites might be.
It is a fact that 99% of escrow companies on the internet are
fraudulent. They are set up solely to defraud money out of unsuspecting
buyers, and to get goods without paying for them from unsuspecting
sellers.
o) Pointers in feedback
Try to read the positive feedback as well as the negative. Read the way
your seller responds to negative feedback as this will often give you
an idea of how the seller will react if something goes badly wrong. If
the seller is offering high value goods, be wary if their feedback has
been built up quickly from low value purchases. Also, if the overall
rating is good, but there are a disproportionate number of negatives in
recent days/weeks, this might indicate the account has been taken over.
Finally, be aware that feedback is not the guarantee it once was.
Feedback can easily be manufactured. Also, if the user ID has been
hijacked, you'll be reading the feedback of the original account owner,
not the person with whom you're currently dealing!
p) Credit Card payment
For high value items, or for amounts of money you can't afford to lose,
make sure you pay by credit card which has online fraud protection.
This will give you some recourse if the seller is fraudulent. In this
context, paying via PayPal is not the same. PayPal do have a buyer
protection scheme, but there are criteria which the eBay auction has to
satisfy in order to qualify. Even if the transaction qualifies,
PayPal's standard protection currently has a maximum value of $1,000.
Note that payment by debit card provides zero protection.
q) Address and Telephone check
Use the Ask the seller a question link, and request they email you with
their address and telephone number. Any reputable seller will give you
their address and telephone number. When you get the number, call it,
and see if you get through to the genuine seller.
r) Keystroke capturing virus
This is a computer virus which you inadvertently download onto your PC.
It's task is to capture the keystrokes you make, and to send them to
the virus placer. The fraudster then uses pattern recognition software
to identify and extract personal information, like username, password,
credit card numbers etc. To avoid this happening to you, it is wise to
have good, up-to-date virus, firewall and spyware checking software on
your PC. Here is where you can get free software for each of these
functions:
s) Shill bidding
Shill bidding is where people work in cahoots to inflate the bidding on
an item. A seller has a "partner" who makes bids on the seller's items
with a view to bumping up the bid price. They have no intention of
buying the item. Fortunately, shill bidders and their associated seller
can be stupid. The shill bidder will usually makes bids on other items
from the same seller. Here's how to check to see if shill bidding is a
feature of a particular seller. First, look at the seller's closed
auctions over the last 30 days. If most of the closed auctions have no
bids, it is unlikely the seller has shill bidders working with them. If
all of the closed auctions have bids, take a look at the bid history.
See if the same bidder appears in the list of bidders, usually with
aggressive bidding and normally at the start of the auction. If so, you
may have uncovered a shill operation, so avoid that seller's auctions.
t) Keep your transaction information
Keep your own record of the transaction when you're buying. Don't just
rely on eBay. You want a record of the seller's identification, the
item description, emails sent and received, plus the time, date and
price of your bid.
u) "I noticed your bid...."
Never deal with anyone who contacts you after seeing your bid on
another auction. They will say something like, "I saw you bidding on
that digital camera. I have the same model available for sale. I don't
have time to list it on eBay. It has more accessories than the one you
lost out on. You can have it for xyz." If you bite, they'll probably
take you down the fake escrow route. Also, if you entertain this
proposition, you're operating outside of eBay and therefore have no
auction protection whatsoever.
v) Changed eBay ID
Never deal with anyone who has a changed ID icon next to their name.
This icon menas they've changed their ID in the last 30 days. Few
legitimate people change their eBay ID. When was the last time you
changed yours? There's a 1% chance that an ID change is genuine, but
99% that it is fraudulent. Why take the risk?
w) Changed email address mid-stream
If a seller or buyer changes their email address on you in the middle
of a transaction, stop dealing with them. It is likely their previous
email account was closed down due to some irregularity - such as a
previous victim reported them. If you think about it, why would any
genuine buyer or seller change their email address whilst corresponding
on a transaction they wish to conclude expeditiously?
x) Complications
Never get involved in any transaction where the seller/buyer tries to
introduce a third person into the financial arrangements. They might
ask you to pay xyz, who will then pay the seller, and you will receive
a discount or commission for your co-operation. Such proposals are
always fraudulent. They prey on greed. Don't be tempted.
y) Time is of the essence
This is a scam which is has more potential for success than traditional
phishing attacks, as it is time sensitive. The fraudster searches for
high value auctions that have just ended. The bid history for an
auction contains hyperlinks to each bidder. The fraudster checks to see
if the winning bidder is selling any items of their own. If so, they go
to that auction and embed a request for payment from the first auction
within a question for seller. This works because winning bidders are
expecting request for payment shortly after an auction ends. A
variation of this is to offer a bidder a "second chance". This time the
"Ask the seller a question" email pretends that the real winner has
backed out, and offers the item at a lower price. The buyer, believing
the story, is lured into paying to whom they believe is a genuine
seller. Many eBayers have heard of the second chance system, but have
no experience of it. This unfamiliarity coupled with the fact that a
few weeks might have passed, makes this an effective method for
fraudsters. The moral of this story is never get involved in any
transaction which arrives in your inbox via the Ask the Seller a
Question feature.
z) eBay IDs
Never us your email address as your eBay ID, or part of your eBay ID.
Fraudsters have software which monitors internet traffic looking for
information such as this. If your eBay ID and email address are the
same, it is simple for a fraudster to plausibly communicate with other
eBay members in your name.
That's all in my list. If you have any further ideas on how to prevent
fraudulent transactions on eBay, please let me know and I will promote
these through future newsletters.
In the meantime, be aware, and be safe in your eBay buying and eBay
selling.
Article Source:
http://www.articlesbase.com/ask-an-expert-articles/
26-tips-on-how-to-be-safe-in-your-ebay-selling-and-buying-298422.html
About the Author
Jackson Bleu has a site full of articles and tips
to help you earn from home!
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