Fraudulent Listings Scam

[justanothertry]

There seems to be a new scam operating on eBay.  I have an interest in high end communications receivers and amateur radio receivers.  I've noticed when conducting a search that some very desirable items appear in my searches - the type of radios which would normally sell for many thousands of dollars.  In among the photos of the items appears the same image - text with contact details for an off-eBay transaction.  I've reported these listings so many times now that I'm wondering how eBay is allowing these to continue.  A variation has now appeared where the same identical listing appears for a radio with contact information amongst the item photos in two separate countries - an attempt to lure people into an off-eBay transaction where they will most likely lose their money and never receive an item.

I've attached two of these images below that were found within a few seconds of each other.

Unfortunately, eBay doesn't seem to have an easy to find method of reporting scams.

Below is another variation:

[imastawka]

Too many things to reply to.

Is the item on ebay.uk?  it's not necessarily a scam IMO.

Sellers with a B & M store can list their email addy - it's allowed here- dunno about the UK site.

Have you reported them to ebay UK?

When you say the items are worth thousands...??...they are listed for $3,000.

Is that not thousands?

If ebay has done nothing then there is nothing you can do it appears.

Just my 2c worth.

Maybe someone else has 5c worth to chip in

[justanothertry]

Try doing a search using the term 'Icom IC-R9500 the ultimate receiver that all hamradio dream of owning' with international sellers option.

These retail for about US$14,000 new and rarely appear for under US$7500 used.

The two listings are identical apart from the differences in the addresses - one is shown in the UK - the other in the USA.

eBay will take these down in the next few hours - already reported.

However, many similar listings are appearing with the same 'pawn shop' contact details.

[gutterpunkz05]

Pawn shops don;t pay anywhere near an items market value, and as such do not have to sell at market value to make a profit on unredeemed goods.  Have you done any research into the business name you may have slandered,  if the business us legit, it is a very heavily regulated industry, and you may have left youself open to civil action

[justanothertry]

You've missed my point by a country mile.

This style of offer - even if legitimate - is against eBay's listing policies.

Offering the identical item for sale on two different continents is an obvious scam.

eBay has pulled over a dozen of these that I have reported which include hundreds of other listings in various categories by the same 'sellers'.  This is like a revolving door - I've seen at least five different seller accounts with these identical images in the listings - which may also be an indication that the accounts have been hacked.

As for research - already done.  Suggest that you follow your own advice and research before you post here.

[eburtonlab · Accepted solution]

This is a common scam that has been going on for many years. Typically the scammer uses hijacked accounts to post the same phony listings over and over again. Hundreds or even thousands of items listed at auction with an image included in the gallery indicating that bids will not be accepted, and arranging for an immediate off-eBay sale. Only the throwaway email address changes.

Use the "Report item" link found in every listing to report one of the scam listings. You can use the following categories:

Listing Practices

Fraudulent Listing Activities

You suspect a listing is fraudulent

You can also report the hijacked account using this link:

https://www.ebay.com.au/help/action?topicid=4022

[padi*0409]

All listings from both sellers now taken down.

[justanothertry]

Well, maybe not.

Those two 'sellers' - were most likely hijacked accounts.

I've since reported several more of this type of posting as they keep turning up in my saved searches.  eBay is struggling to keep on top of these.

One listing using identical photos was posted under four different seller names today - with various methods of contacting the seller off ebay.  The usual method was by photo showing an off-eBay email address offering buy-it-now and the new way is by including a link to copy and paste into a browser that appears to start with an official looking eBay website address with another suffix attached to the end of it.  Link proves to be to fake sites using eBay Logos all over it.

These listings seem to be more prevalent on weekends - not often seen on a weekday.

[katistrophik]

They must burn through one he!! of a lot of email addy's.

Each time they are reported, they relist and there is a new address for email contact. Just with the ones you posted, and the 2  I found every one was different.

Have you 'requested' to buy from them to get the bank details for deposit - that would be handy to have coz you could report them directly to the online fraud squad (whatever they are called) using those details.

Won't stop it, but might take the wind out of thier sails