How to spot an eBay scam

[MrRobin]

I sometimes browse ebay for gold bargains when it's quiet at ClientCo. Occasionally you can get coins or bullion at under spot price, which is nice. However, one has to be very aware of scams, which are getting harder to spot if you don't have the nous.

Exhibit A - 500g gold bar

I'm certain this item is a scam. Why?

1) It's a 1 day listing - not hard evidence but if you were selling something worth £18k then you'd probably want more exposure

2) The item doesn't match the seller's profile - The seller has 63 feedback points (100%)... great, he's trustworthy, right? Look at the detail on the feedback... it's all for small ticket items, mostly baby's clothing. Most likely, the account has been hacked and is being used by the hacker to sell this non-existent item

3) The 'seller' has 2 of the same item listed - Look at his other items, he has another 500g bar in a separate listing... yes, the listing says he has 2 to sell, but he's used exactly the same photo for both... Just lazy? Perhaps, but again, it doesn't give confidence.

4) The photo can be found on Google Images - Looks like the image was just lifted from the net


I've reported it, but eBay are usually verryyyyyy sllllooooowwwww to respond. Someone is going to get stung!

What's your opinion?? Is this obvious or cunning?

[TheFaQQer]

You missed that they want payment via bank wire

Someone I was working with 7 years back had his ebay account hacked (OK, he fell for a phishing scam) and a load of mobile phones listed on it on one day listings. He reported it to eBay immediately, and it took them 3 days to freeze his account.

In the meantime, someone sold £34k of phones from his account and disappeared with the money.

[ChrisPackit]

I had my ebay account hacked. Fortunately, no money changed hands, but had a lot of nasty emails from other buyers!

[OwlHoot]

So the next question is how easy is it to hack an eBay account, assuming you have used a strong password?

[NickFitz]

So the next question is how easy is it to hack an eBay account, assuming you have used a strong password?

In the case of those who have their accounts hacked, such an assumption is invalid - except for those who fall for phishing, in which case the password strength is irrelevant.

[MrRobin]

So the next question is how easy is it to hack an eBay account, assuming you have used a strong password?

Probably very difficult. I would imagine in this case, the password was very weak or they were phished or their email was accessed or something like that, rather than eBay's secure servers were 'hacked' into...

I'm tempted to make a fake account and bid $100,000 on each

[TestMangler]

Probably very difficult. I would imagine in this case, the password was very weak or they were phished or their email was accessed or something like that, rather than eBay's secure servers were 'hacked' into...

I'm tempted to make a fake account and bid $100,000 on each

A fake account that allows you to bid requires a credit card is registered and a Paypal account attached. Sounds like a good plan.........

[milanbenes]

I like ebay, they're a big .net customer

Milan.

[darmstadt]

I like ebay, they're a big .net customer

Milan.

Probably why it gets hacked so often...

[milanbenes]

nah, they've got .net at the back

the data warehouse and master data is .net

Milan.