Someone in a recent thread had a link to a new 2004 Viper with a buy it now price of $15K and a 69 Vette with a buy it now of $8K. Each was worth 4X the buy it now price. The catch was you had to prequalify before bidding. Obviously it was a scam to get your credit info. I reported this to ebay and this was their response. I found it interesting.

Hello,

Thank you for writing in to Safe Harbor with your concerns, my name is
Dugan and I will be happy to assist you.

The recent items listed with this account were the result of an
unauthorized account takeover. Unfortunately, we were not aware of this
activity until some time after the listings appeared on the site. Once
we became aware of this activity, immediate action was taken. We are now
in the process of restoring the account to its true owner.

Let me suggest a few ways this could have occurred.

If the user had a relatively simple password or password hint question
it is possible that a third party was able to gain access to the account
by guessing the password.

It is also possible that the user could have unknowingly provided his or
her password to another party. Some eBay members have reported receiving
messages asking for User IDs and passwords. These messages appear to
come from eBay Support, but in fact are not. eBay will never ask for
sensitive information of this nature through email.

Finally, there are a number of computer viruses in circulation that log
and record keystrokes. It's recommended that computer users keep their
virus alert software up-to-date, and check their system often for
problems. A firewall for high-speed Internet users is also highly
recommended.

Please be aware that eBay urges caution when purchasing high-priced
items, especially if the price seems too good to be true.

We do not recommend the use of instant cash wire transfer services such
as Western Union and MoneyGram, and we ask that users decline sending
payment in cases where these are the only methods of payment offered by
the seller. Generally, if payment is sent using an instant cash wire
transfer service and the item is not delivered as promised, no recourse
is available for recovering funds. In most cases, a verified escrow
service should be used when purchasing high dollar value items. More
information on the benefits and risks of individual payment methods can
be found at:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/payment.html


Thank you for your participation in the eBay community.

Regards,

Dugan
eBay SafeHarbor
Investigations Team

 

Thanks for posting that. Now I will go and change my ebay info..just in case.

 

blunsford, if you give me your ebay account name and password I can outfit you with some security features that will secure your account and make it immune to takeover attempts. :jester

 

That is a very reasonable reply.

 

It's all about helping a fellow member out, ain't it.... :rofl: :rofl:

 

It basically tells you that you should apply common sense ...

 

Thanks for posting that. That is some useful information!! :flag

 

Common sense? Didn't it die some time ago, and everyone became "victims"?? :smash: :smash: :smash:

 

Common sense is an oxymoron.....if there was such a thing as "Common sense" it would be common ,everybody would have it, and there would be no need to tell people to excercise "Common Sense".

Telling someone to use their common sense is synonomous with telling somebody they are probably too stupid to get it right in the first place. :lol: :jester

 

The reply seems reasonable, althought I have to admit the opening sentence sounded more like something from "Hal" in "2001 A Space Odyssey"

 

What a pal!

 

Good info. Thanks :thumbs:

 

I still think they should post some warnings for those people that don't apply common sense. Your hear about them all the time on the news. Give a $1000 so I can get $10000 out of an account. :crazy:

 

Well, thats just sweet of ebay. Big scam going on and they don't know about it until 150 people on the forum see it and report it.

Just today I get a email from ebay saying I have placed a 1999 license plate for sale and they are removing it because it is not 5 years old and that violates their policy. It had a value of $5.00.

They can catch a $5.00 item that was a mistake as I did not know that it violated their policy.

About 6-7 weeks ago I bought a Corvette clock on ebay. The clock and shipping only amounted to $19.95. I never received the clock. I had my check cancelled and paid at the bank six days after I sent it. The seller would not answer my emails.

He left negative feedback on me. Said I stopped payment on my check.

I contacted ebay to get this off my account. You can't get anybody. You have to file for mediation, and pay $20.00 with your credit card, and then it can be removed only with the o.k. of the person who put it there.

I now have lost my money. No clock. Negative feedback, and ebay could care less.

I have had over 200 ebay transactions with only this negative feedback. I guess I have been lucky.

 

:thumbs: :iagree:

 

Ebay has yet to figure out that they don't actual own something and it can be reproduced by anybody. Leak this stuff to the press and then be waiting in the shadows with a new protected auction service. Boom your a millionair. Make it shopper friendly for the workplace. Because that's what half of america does now at work.

Bama - I feel your pain, I've been through it. You can surf their site for hours and never find a link that actually goes anywhere. ie. a phone#.

 

I think that's a reasonable response. I think eBay does more about this stuff than it should have too.
They really are just a venue for bringing buyer and seller together. Same as any classified or for sale section online or in a newspaper. Only nobody expects the Milwaulkee Journal or VetteFinders to be resposible when a buyer or seller gets ripped off.
I've got a few thousand eBay transactions under my belt. Yes, I've been stung a couple times but it sure as hell isn't eBay doing the screwing.

Larry

 

Actually, it's my understanding that many of the "virus's" that Ebay's representative is referring to is what is known as "spyware". These routines allow outside parties to monitor your computer use--even record your keystrokes. Most virus scanning protection programs do not detect it. If you do a lot of file sharing some of this spyware is many times included in the downloaded files.

I try to keep my virus scanning software as up to date as possible. My company supplies the updates for free since so many employees do work at home and bring it in to work.

I recently read about the following software in PC magazine that is free for down loading at:
http://www.safer-networking.org

It was rated as one of the best spyware detection routines available even compared to packages costing in excess of $50. When I ran this program it found a number of different spyware routines (my son often downloads from Kazaa) that my virus detection software never found. Most spyware is used for commercial purposes to study consumer "internet habits" but some is malicious in the intent to steal passwords and personal info.

Between internet fraud, virus's, e-mail spam, and spyware, I'm begining to have doubts about the future of an unregulated internet. The use of the internet for commerce is certainly in jeopardy if something is not done to change this situation.

 

what is the old saying: "buyer beware" , "a sucker is born every minute", or "a fool and his money are quickly parted" you use ebay and it is only a matter of time before you get burnt, stay with the old fashioned way of doing business, technology is a blessing and a curse or another way for crooks to get richer

 

One thing about being an old cop, we are very resourceful.

E-BAY 1-888-749-3229

I was sent an e-mail this week tha tws forwarded to the E-bay Scam Police tha twas prety good stating th at my account had been hi-jacked and they needed my information to restore my account. It looks pretty good until you use the common sense filter on it.

Put this phone number up somewhere, you may need it. Jim

E-BAY 1-888-749-3229
:lolg: