What is ebay doing to stop fraud?

[mark130471]

Hi, long time user of eBay here.

In over 350 transactions I have only one fraudulant transaction.
I purchased a second hand guitar for over $1500 and made the mistake of paying direct into the sellers bank account after a lot of sob stories. Just a note, some people in our community are exceptionally good liars.

When I realised I'd been done I contacted eBay, my bank, their bank and the local Police in Vicotoria.
A year later, I still have not recieved a refund.

I have noticed time amd time again the same sort of listing on eBay.com.au coming out of Victoria, WA and SA
A seller with no previous sales list a very expensive musical item for 1.00
They advise that you can pickup, the also do not accept PayPal 

A quick search on Google with show the original listing on Gumtree in the UK.
I'm seeing these listings everyweek.

Be warned folks but also - eBay what are you doing to stop this behaviour?
Could it be that if you sign up to ebay you need soome form of secuerw ID? 

A credit card? Drivers license? 

Thoughts please good people.

Cheers

Mark

[lyndal1838]

Ebay has given buyers the tools to protect themselves from fraud but you chose not to use the main one....you did not pay with paypal!!

If you paid with paypal you could then have used the other tools to get your money back....open a dispute in ebay or paypal for a refund.

The very fact that the seller did not accept paypal should have given you a clue that the listing was not entirely above board.

[shoppingbag*]

The biggest con artists are the biggest and most convincing liars. Trust no-one, learn by your mistake and move on.

[mark130471]

Thanks for the reply. Yes I do realise all this and I'm sure I explained that.

We have all sorts in our community. 

Perhaps screening people during the account creation process might be a good idea?

As I said, I've noticed the same type of advert every week.

I'm not the only one getting ripped off.

We are all generally aware of utilising PayPal, sometimes however, semi believable stories can be convincing.

So, I ask the question - what is eBay doing to identity check when creating accounts on eBay?  

And si there room for improvement?

[mark130471]

Correct.

However, how many people need to be unnecessarily ripped off and then have to "learn by your mistake and move on" ?
Simple indentity checks during account creation might help stop the regular flow of poeple being ripped off and then having to learn from their negative experiances. 

[repentatleisure1952]

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@mark130471 wrote:

Correct.

However, how many people need to be unnecessarily ripped off and then have to "learn by your mistake and move on" ?
Simple indentity checks during account creation might help stop the regular flow of poeple being ripped off and then having to learn from their negative experiances. 

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There are sausage factories world wide dedicated to scamming & producing false identity documents.

If buyers choose not to use safe payment methods then that is on them.

[mark130471]

True, although identity checks (albeit capable of being forged) is just a very easy step to reduce some of the fraudulent activity. 

One extra step in the process might just reduce an un-proportional amount of fraud.

[maranock]

Identity checks can be faked, and if Ebay was required to check sellers identities people would still be scammed by all the otehr places where people can sell without ID checks - newspapers, Gumtree, Facebook, private websites, where does it stop.

One of the problems of putting too many protections in place is that people get sloppy in taking their own precautions as buyers and the problem actually gets worse as a whole. making mistakes and learning from them can be painful but it is a good thing. There are plenty of ways for sellers to protect themselves and if they choose not to l;ook into them, they are going to learn more of these lessons.

[mark130471]

Just in case anyone is interested, this is an example (have reported to eBay but the auctions continue);

This is a current auction on eBay:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Gibson-J45-TV-True-Vintage/193645119878

This is the real guitar:
https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/gibson-j45-tv-true-vintage-/1382202784

This is anther auciton from the same person that is fake:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MESA-BOOGlE-Mark-5-90-45-10w-3Ch-Valve-Guitar-Amplifier-Head-Footswitch/...

This is the real item:

https://www.gumtree.com/p/other-guitar-accessories/mesa-boogie-mkv-mk5-mark-5-90-45-10w-3ch-valve-gu...

Oh here's another one...
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GlBSON-CHET-ATKlNS-SST-ACOUSTlC-ELECTRlC-GUlTAR/154070384978

[maranock]

People have been complaining about these types of listings for a long time but Ebay can't remove listings on the sayso of random people - how are they to know if the item is real or not. This is why buyers need to do their due dilligence.

This item can be picked up so a buyer can check for themselves before taking it away, and pay on pick up. If the seller insists on bank deposit payment before the customer comes to pick up then that is a red flag and buyers know to stay away. Any seller that insists on bank deposit is yelling scam so it is easy to not be taken in.