markwebb

Scam of the Day:

New Litespeed Ti complete bike Litespeed Icon Titanium Road Bike NEW LG Dura-Ace Zipp. Price is $0.04 cents or something weird. Description says it's for sale immediately for $1,300 and to send email to xxxxxxxxxxxxx not eBay to arrange for payment. Location = USA.

I look at sellers history and it's great but weird thing is all sales have been in Australia.

So several suspicious issues: 1) email directly don't use ebay (that way no record of correspondence on eBay). 2) Not using BIN for the $1,300 but instead must send email for secret instructions. 3) the bike is in USA but all the sellers sales (thousands) are in Australia.

I email them anyway and offer $1,100. What the heck.

I get this response:


Hello,

Thank You for your email !
The buy it now price is $1,300 + free shipping.
We offer 14 days to return it if by any reason you are not satisfied with it, you can return it against a full refund !

If you are decided to buy I need to know your details:
eBay User Id#: .......(for ebay invoice)

Full name : ....................
Shipping address: .................... (Where to send the item)

I will start the transaction under ebay.
You will be after contacted by them with further instructions on how to complete this sale & I will remove the item from ebay for you!

Waiting your email !

So if I email them back with my user name (which they don't know yest because the email trail was started outside eBay, remember) with my eBay name and my shipping address I have just sent them an eBay user name related to an address - private informaton that could be used to hijack my account. But what I suspect would really happen is I'd get an email back with a link to a bogus eBay or PayPal site. I input my eBay user name and password and/or PayPal user name and password and I'm phished hacked hijacked out a lotta money and pissed as hell.

Other than having bikes available in USA when all their sales are in Australia (indicating someone hijacked the poor guys account in Au), asking you to not send emails via ebay, listing a 0.04 cent item but in description saying it's $1,300 and how to get it for $1,300 BIN but not use eBay, and an email asking me for my eBay user name and my address and I'd soon get an email from eBay wiith payment instructions (really - so don't use eBay for email and don't use eBay BIN but we'll use eBay for billing) nothing suspicious here, right? LOL

I use eBay a lot and encourage others to do the same - you just have to be careful and make purchase via eBay only and don't look for a bargain that's too good to be true and do it outside of eBay in any way.

PhotoJoe 

I would send all this info to ebay directly. There may be something they can do. If for nothing else, for the poor guy in AU or somebody gullible enough to fall for the stunt. I really dislike dirtbag thieves!

himespau 

maybe they're just trying to get around paying the ebay commission? i do think you're right that it's probably a scammer though.

55/Rad

You are right. You'll get the bogus ebay listing with the bogus Paypal one. Send the info to Ebay...

Seattle Forrest

There's nothing wrong with bad grammar, but this isn't the kind of thing a native speaker would say, and when you couple this minor red flag with the seller acting strange in general and wanting to prevent you from having a record of the real transaction...

Soma Roark

Alert eBay and try to contact the poor Aussie!

MikeyBoyAz

I would reply and say the web page in the link didn't open when you tried to log in, so you went to ebay.com and couldn't find the reference. Ask him to send it again... :0 just dick around with him for a while.

Homebrew01

Any time you see an Ebay listing asking you to contact the seller via an email address, it's a SCAM ... and an old one at that.

Click on "Report Item" and alert Ebay so they can pull the listing. This may help prevent some sucker from sending money to Nigeria and wondering where their bike is.

" ... I look at sellers history and it's great ..."

That is meaningless. It's a highjacked account, so some schmuck gave away their password in a phishing scam and now their account is getting used as a front for the scammer.

markwebb

Yup. They actually had more than one bike for sale this way. As soon as I get home I will report to eBay.

BTW I did dick around a little more with them - negotiating price down saying I was ready to pull trigger and send them Paypal to them immediately.

Hey - I wonder if the email he sent from has a Paypal account? Hmmm...whatdayawanna bet that it does not.

ahsposo 

Incorrect.

kleinboogie

Let me guess, the description is an image and not text?

Requesting contact outside of Ebay provided communication tools is prohibited. They get around it by not posting text. Standard scam. Let Ebay know. They'll usually remove it in a couple hours.

rangerdavid

turn 'em in to Ebay right away. protect some other unsuspecting buyer.

rangerdavid

actually I just searched it and can't find the one you're talking about. maybe they have already pulled it! hope so.

DropDeadFred

you have a relative in mumbai that has recently passed away. They have left you 500000000000000000000000 dollars in their will...send me all your info pl0x! ur moneys are mine!!!

Seattle Forrest

You caught me in a misspelling, by the way, when I used breaks to mean those things that slow your bike down or stop it. How many feet do I need to climb as penance, by the way?

HokuLoa

thou shalt spin 3000ft of grueling 6% grade and say 10 "Hail BF Gods..."

LemondFanForeve

Do what i do: play with them a bit....keep dragging them along, they'll eventually get pissed, and move on. I always use quotes/lines from the Jerky Boys on them, seems to get a rise out of them, which is the intent. Then, tell them to F off.....(and report them of course)

haaseg

No, don't do this. Don't even waste your time with them. Click the "report item" link immediately and move on.

markwebb

eBay already took it down

Deman Llama

So, are you suggesting all the emails the FBI director, the UN, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Reserve send me every day telling me that I have inherited eleventy billion dollars are scams? Why would Robert Meuller do such a thing?

bostongarden

Please report to eBay.

oilman_15106

While you are at it, why don't you forward them your ebay password, paypal account name and password.

Holy cow, this scam is older than dirt. Ebay seems to have no way to keep this stuff off their system or just does not give a hoot.

liquefied

Broken English is a dead giveaway.

DropDeadFred

you didn't know? that is their primary concern! finding t3h moniez

UCIMBZ

Not sophisticated at all. He is dumb and thinks everyone else is as dumb as he is. This has scam written all over it and has been done for a long time. They highjack someone else's account and start putting up garbage like that.