Does Ebay have a Fraud Research Department?

[debitendcredits]

So I got one of these buyer scam emails –

I was checking out some items that you have posted on ebay which I am interested in, but first, I have some questions relating to possible means of payment.

At present, I don’t have Paypal, nor a bank account, and am only equipped to make payments by money order or cash. Would either of these forms of payment be accepted? If so, then all I would need is an address to mail it to, which I can do promptly, on the day of purchase. If not, then is there some other way that you could accommodate someone in my circumstances?
I look forward to hearing back from you soon, hopefully, with promising news.

Why does a person who can’t afford a bank account or PayPal account need a 1990 copy of the laserdisc Chariots of The Gods? Notice they don’t refer to the item they wrote to me about in the body of the text. I’m also wondering if a computer selected the word “God” from the title in hopes that this was a religious item (making them look more trustworthy).

The user account dates back to 2004 and has a positive feedback rating of 45. Clearly, this is an abandoned/hacked account

Is there a mechanism to report this to eBay. I can’t find one, and it would seem to me be that anyone beyond the level one customer service reps who answer the phone would see this as a harmful red flag.

The account has received two positive feedbacks in the last month, which leads me to believe two people have already fallen victim and haven’t been hit with the back end of the scam yet.

For those who don’t know the game:

The buyer will send a check/money order for significantly more than the transaction. They will request that the seller cash the check (which isn’t worth the paper it is printed on) and to wire a refund to the buyer. They will usually include a tip for the cost of the trouble (i.e., $100.00 sale, $1000.00 money order, $700 refund). Months later, the fraudulent check will bounce, and the victim/seller will have lost their money and their merchandise.

Anyway, I am ignoring the correspondence. But I wanted to know if there is an easy way to point this out to Ebay.

• This topic was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by debitendcredits.

[Jay]

Yes, this is the classes Craigslist scam.

But to be fair, we’ve sold items to people who send us a USPS money order. We only ship when it clears. Usually its for $20. I think we’ve done it three times in 10 years. Some people live hand to mouth.

Obviously if someone bought a $20 items and sent us a $1000 check, we’d just throw it away.

[Temudgin]

I’m not aware of any way to report them. Ebay probably could not care less. I once played along with someone I figured was a scammer, which was confirmed when I received a bogus certified check for $125,000. Neither the local police nor the FBI were at all interested, and my bank wanted to see what it looked like (very realistic with watermarks and everything) but otherwise did nothing. I wanted to keep the check as a souvenir but they wouldn’t give it back to me. They all said that it’s so common they don’t even take the first step to investigate unless a victim loses money.

[workhorse]

One of the positives of ebay customer service being email only is you can just send them a email and say I am reporting suspected fraud– here are the details. The rest is on them. I just did this recently. I realize ebay may likely do nothing at all, but then at least it makes them have to acknowledge receiving information for which at some point they could be held responsible for. Unfortunately, major financial institutions usually don’t get active until they get caught sitting on their hands about criminal activity (a lawsuit, a huge criminal enterprise is uncovered, a investigative news story). I’ve been told by friends in law enforcement that this is the best thing to do. You have a paper trail.

[Julie B]

There are articles on how to report phishing emails but it seems geared toward reporting those phishing emails that are made to look like they came from ebay, rather than from a potential fraudulent buyer. If you want to try it anyway, go to https://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/index.html and then half way down page under REPORT A CONCERN click Report a Fake Email.

[Julie B]

Found another link for reporting suspicious activity, this one specific to suspicious buyers. https://www.ebay.com/help/terms-conditions/default/avoiding-payment-problems?id=4660
Go to the section under How to avoid scams and fraudulent payments
Within that section are several links to click that will take you to a page to report a suspicious buyer.

[Temudgin]

I am pleasantly surprised! Good to know, thanks!

[Author]

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