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eBay Scam - Someone is trying to trick me in the UK!


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Posted

WoW, this is a nice little story and you can be part of it! :sneaky:

Does somebody here lives in the United Kingdom? Let me know...

I'll try to update this post as new elements arise. The events are in chronological order.

SUMMARY (if you don't want to read the whole story)

With a good timing, a scammer is trying to make me send money with Western Union for an item I already paid to a legitimate seller who has offered me a Second Chance offer after a closed auction. The scammer is waiting for my payment... what do I do next?

27 Decembre 2006

I am the first to bid 250$ on a SAS RAID Controller on eBay. The auction is closing around 00:30 and I'll be there for a last minute bid. The seller states that he has 3 controller to sell in the description of the items so this is a good opportunity even if I don't win the auction (Second Chance Offer).

----------------------------------------------------

28 Decembre 2006

I'm back home around 01:30 so I've missed the end of the auction and I have fallen in third position BUT guess what! I have a Second Chance offer right in my mail box! The eBay email is real (not a fake) but there is this mention:

Contact the seller directly at: xxx@xxx.com *** eBay Second Chance Offer * Buy The Item You Recently Bid On * In compliance with eBay's Policy, the seller is making this Second Chance Offer to you at your last bid price of: US $250.00 The seller has issued this Second Chance Offer because either the winning bidder was unable to complete the transaction or the seller has duplicate items for sale. The selling of this item through Second Chance Offer is in compliance with eBay policy; you will be able to exchange Feedback with the seller and will be eligible for all eBay services associated with a transaction, such as fraud protection. To purchase this Item just contact the seller at: xxx@xxx.com. *** Contact the seller directly at: xxx@xxx.com ***
I'm trying to contact the seller at the Email provided + the eBay member email BUT I always receive a error message from the mail server unable to reach both addresses.

Ok, well, I'm tired and still a bit drunk (christmas party again!) so I'm going to sleep and I'll deal with this in the morning...

:zzz:

Ok now I'm back from a good sleep... I have a Second Chance Email in my mailbox and this time there is a Buy it Now button so I can purchase the Item (This mail is from the real seller!). I try to pay for the item but I get this message in the PayPal form:

Shipping costs cannot be calculated for this item because the shipping calculator is currently unavailable or the seller has not specified shipping costs to your currently selected address. Please select another shipping address from your address book and try again
So I contact the (real) seller thru eBay.

SELLER: "Ill adjust the invoice and send it again."

SCAMMER:

I have begun this offer because the winner of my auction withdrew his bidding and was rejected due to security reasons. There are a lot of bidders who bid on the auctions for fun and I hope you are serious and we can make a clear deal.

In order to make the transaction legit so we can be able to exchange feedback once

completed i have to get in touch with eBay SCO Department. I need to provide them the following details:

* your complete name

* your complete shipping address

* a phone # where you can be reached by the shipping agent

I'm located overseas for the moment, in United Kingdom because my little sister is getting married and i couldn't miss this once in a life time moment. She found her true love over here in England. I have to stay here for at least two weeks.

Must inform you that I have the item in the custody of the shipping company in the US, who helps me every time to ship the goods to the buyers addresses. A 100% serious company and i have a contract with them. Regarding the shipping insurance,who protects my items from any damages on the way to the buyer, i can inform you that they are already paid. Shipping in US and Canada is covered by me so don't have to be worried to pay extra charges for delivery.So the total and final price you need to pay is US $250.00.

Once you provide me the requested details (full name, address and phone #) i will

contact the eBay SCO Department and they will do the rest. They will send you the

rest of the instructions and info regarding this SCO process. You need to follow the instructions exactly so we can be both protected by their Purchase Protection and Refund program. Positive feedback is assured once everything is fixed up.

Thank You and along with the requested details email me with any other questions you may have!!

All the best,

Adam & Clark, Inc.

Structural Engineer

Department Of Construction Consulting

Now his timming was perfect and I didn't know it was the scammer contacting me.

ME: I provided the information to his email address but also to the real seller email address!

SELLER: "im going to send you an invoice."

AND along with this mail, the quoted message from the scammer along with the information I provided (since I sent the email to BOTH address)!!! He should have noticed something was wrong, I was giving some informations he never asked me!

SELLER: Paypal Invoice to me

ME: Paying the Invoice

----------------------------------------------------

29 Decembre 2006

SCAMMER:

Your details have been noted. eBay informed me that they've sent you the instructions to move forward with this transaction. The email from ebay should be in your inbox or bulk folder. My part is over for the moment. Follow eBay instructions to make the payment and don't forget to email me with the payment info to start the shipping. You can pay the Western Union fee from my money!

It would be great if you could declare the money as a wedding gift...they won't charge me additional fees when i pick up the money.

My part is over for the moment. Email me back with Western Union details to start the shipping.

Shipping takes 3 days.

All the best,

Adam & Clark, Inc.

Structural Engineer

Department Of Construction Consulting

SCAMMER Fake eBay Email with instructions on how to pay him with Western Union money transfert.

Now I am getting nervous because I have no idea what's going on! I have already paid the PayPal Invoice (to the real seller) and now he is asking me to pay again with Western Union?

I have no idea if the real seller has a spoofed/hacked account or something like that so I dicided to contact the other 2 guys who have bidded on the item to see how things are going.

I managed to contact the winning bidder and he tells me everything is fine and that he has a shipping number already. Ok now the scammer told me the winner has retracted his bid. Now I have some proof that something is wrong.

I try to contact the second bidder in the list but eBay is blocking me to send him a email.

I then contact the real seller thru eBay and I ask him why he want's me to pay him with Western Union?

So the seller is telling me he never asked such thing and we discover the scam!

NOW, what should we do? I still have the scammer on the other end expecting a payment from Western Union.

I have protected his information for now but I think I have is name and address in the UK.


Posted
That is some good stuff. I'd drop his name/address/all your info into some dark IRC channels. Let some kids have fun with his info block.

I'd like to see if he gave me some real info... that's why I need the help from someone in the UK.

Report it to eBay. I could just see this turning into another P-P-P-Powerbook scam.

Yeah, I took a look at this story and it's quite good! I fell like reporting to eBay won't do anything at all.

I'd like to know if this is a kid living with his parents and scare him a little!

I took a look at Western Union and if I send him something like 2.50$ there is a 16$ fee to send the money but I don't mind.

Posted (edited)

I don't think he's a kid : he needs a bank account his parents won't see.

Try http://www.whitepages.com/ to see if his coordinates are correct.

edit : and maybe abuse@ISP, last time I did that, I was surprised to get an answer back (was because of spam and they asked me to forward it instead of just giving the adress but I had deleted it, I thought spam would have generated enough traffic for them to trust me).

I would be very annoyed if I had my internet connection or my gmail account deleted. ;)

Edited by Camarade_Tux
Posted

Definitely follow this up. First, I'm sure eBay wants to know about it. Second, it looks like the scammer's native language is other than English. A quick google of Adam & Clark Inc. reveals a load of info of similar scams. this is not new!!!

My advice. Get the real seller to send you the item and ignore the other.

or, if you want to have some fun, pull a reverse 419 scam on the scammer. That will take some time and creativity, but it could be satisfying. Still, you could try to draw them out. In truth, I don't think they are in England at all, but rather in Nigeria or Russia.

Posted

Ok, I've sent the following to my scammer:

Sorry for the delay, I was out of town for the New Year's Eve.

I managed to register at Western Union and I wanted to make sure the following is correct:

In order to pay you 250$ USD, I have to pay 291$ CAD + 34$ for Western Union fee.

If I understood correctly, you offered to pay the 34$ fee so that would be 257.00$ CAD so this would be around 220$ USD left for you.

Is this OK?

Tell me if this is the closest Western Agent from your location:

Agent Location Details

CHEQUE CONVERTORS LTD

13 WESTCROSS SHOPING CENTRE

OLDBURY ROAD

WARLEY

WEST MIDLANDS

B66 1JG

(44) (121) 5557277

Hours

Monday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Tuesday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Wednesday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Thursday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Friday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Saturday 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Sunday CLOSED

Thanks for your patience!

EDIT

Oh boy, just take a look at the warning on their website:

http://www.adamsandclark.com/

Posted

If you will forward the first email that you received from this "seller" to: spoof@ebay.com, eBay will investigate this an usually report to you within 24 hours.

Good luck!! ;)

Posted
That is some good stuff. I'd drop his name/address/all your info into some dark IRC channels. Let some kids have fun with his info block.

I'd like to see if he gave me some real info... that's why I need the help from someone in the UK.

Report it to eBay. I could just see this turning into another P-P-P-Powerbook scam.

Yeah, I took a look at this story and it's quite good! I fell like reporting to eBay won't do anything at all.

I'd like to know if this is a kid living with his parents and scare him a little!

I took a look at Western Union and if I send him something like 2.50$ there is a 16$ fee to send the money but I don't mind.

Hi only just stumbled across this

http://www.city-visitor.com/westbromwich/banks.html shows the address to be valid, its towards the bottom of the page. I have tried the telephone number several times but nobody responds. It is probably a kid who has asked the shop owner to accept this w.u payment from you and will definitely be a scam

If you give the information to here https://secure.crimestoppers-uk.org/giving/...tform/index.asp? they should pass the information onto the police and arrest him all being well

Posted

The address I provided is a valid Western Union Agent location.

The address the scammer provided is the following:

Laetitia Newland

72 Cradley Road

Warley,B646AQ

United Kingdom

So when I sent the last Email, I wanted him to compromise a bit of information because if he says that this is a correct location then maybe he gave me some correct info (or a least he lives nearby).

Posted
So when I sent the last Email, I wanted him to compromise a bit of information because if he says that this is a correct location then maybe he gave me some correct info (or a least he lives nearby).

Or he could have researched it.

Good luck on getting this guy though. I know how bad this can be, a friend of mine lost quite a bit through a scam similar to this.

Posted

OH! My scammer just answered to my last Email!

he says:

It's OK!

All the best,

Adam & Clark, Inc.

Structural Engineer

Department Of Construction Consulting

So I guess the guy lives nearby!

Posted
The address I provided is a valid Western Union Agent location.

The address the scammer provided is the following:

Laetitia Newland

72 Cradley Road

Warley,B646AQ

United Kingdom

So when I sent the last Email, I wanted him to compromise a bit of information because if he says that this is a correct location then maybe he gave me some correct info (or a least he lives nearby).

He's giving you an address used for scams. See this eBay thread: http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?thr...d=1166742171732

It's a post office.

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