SOUND ON SOUND

[Wonks]

I've noticed a couple of hacked account ads for Gibsons on eBay in the past couple of days (and reported them). Typically for a vintage or rare item which would sell for several thousands, with no reserve and only one picture of the item, with another picture giving a gmail address (which looks totally unrelated to the hacked seller's name) and the offer of a low BIN price. Most people have realised this, so the price is very low and tempting to the unsuspecting. The two I've reported seem to have been taken down by eBay (though I've had no feedback from them).

So beware any eBay listing with just one poor picture of the item and one picture of the 'seller/scammers' email details on it, (rather than in the description text), especially if it is a gmail account. The description may look detailed but it is just copied from a genuine eBay ad for the item, and often has giveaway names left in it.

[-Chris-]

Just had what appears to be a scam in reply to a sale add in the Reader's Adverts section. I initially responded but their final response, copied below, raised my suspicions. A little googling reveals the same or similar e-mail address and name and initial enquiry flagged as a scam on other websites.

Initial enquiry:

Is your Item still available for sale and do you accept PayPal?Kindly get back to me at [email]ascheppers285@gmail.com[/email]

After an innocent sounding second e-mail this third e-mail sounded dubious:

Thank you for getting back to me,I will be very glad if you consider the item sold to me...I'm an honest and straight forward person and always want to be treat the same way, are your sure of the item condition? I am buying this item as a Birthday present and presently i am at sea right now,I am paying through PayPal and you can put the PayPal charges on me, i don't have access to my bank account online,but i have it attached to my PayPal account,and this is why am using PayPal to pay,all i will need is your PayPal email or PayPal invoice to make the payments and also i want you to know that i will be handling the pick up of the item since i have a private pickup agent that will come for the pickup of the item after payments has been sorted and will also handle the paper works.I will contact the pick up agent with your location once payment is made So that i can know how much it will cost me for the pick up,payment will be make to you as soon as you get back to me with your PayPal email address and phone number, I will be looking forward to hear.

I couldn't find any similar reference in this thread.

Cheers,
Chris

[Scramble]

Don't touch this one with a bargepole.

[BelfastGooner]

Jaysus, I don't believe this. I had an email from ascheppers285@gmail.com yesterday:

From: ascheppers285@gmail.com

Is your Item still available for sale and do you accept PayPal?Kindly get back to me at ascheppers285@gmail.com
Scheppers


So I replied and got the following reply:

Hello,
Good to hear that the item is still available...Are you the real owner?What is the present condition?Can you send me some pictures?How much is the final asking price?Do you have PayPal ID which payment can be make to?Where is the exact location for the pick up? I will be looking forward to read from you asap.

Best Regards
Scheppers

This evening I got another email:

Hello,
Thank you for getting back to me,I will be very glad if you consider the item sold to me...I'm an honest and straight forward person and always want to be treat the same way, are your sure of the item condition? I am buying this item as a Birthday present and presently i am at sea right now,I am paying through PayPal and you can put the PayPal charges on me, i don't have access to my bank account online,but i have it attached to my PayPal account,and this is why am using PayPal to pay,all i will need is your PayPal email or PayPal invoice to make the payments and also i want you to know that i will be handling the pick up of the item since i have a private pickup agent that will come for the pickup of the item after payments has been sorted and will also handle the paper works.I will contact the pick up agent with your location once payment is made So that i can know how much it will cost me for the pick up,payment will be make to you as soon as you get back to me with your PayPal email address and phone number, I will be looking forward to hear.

Best Regard..
Scheppers

And then finally:

what is your paypal email for payment

I can't believe I let myself be taken in like this. The collection and offer to pay paypal charges made me let my guard down. I really should've checked on here first.

I've removed my email from my paypal account and changed my password, so hopefully I'll be ok.

I feel like a complete clampett. :blush:

[Forum Admin]

Ascheppers ( A Scheppers) has morphed into Sarah Landau - see a recent approach to a seller:

DO NOT REPLY TO THIS BUYER


From: landau Sarah
Subject: Re: Enquiry re Live in Sound On Sound Readers' Ads
Date: 18 March 2015 12:13:12 GMT
To: [name removed by Forum Admin]


Hello,
Thank you for getting back to me,I will be very glad if you consider the item sold to me...I'm an honest and straight forward person and always want to be treat the same way, are your sure of the item condition? I am buying this item as a Birthday present and presently i am at sea right now,I am paying through PayPal and you can put the PayPal charges on me, i don't have access to my bank account online,but i have it attached to my PayPal account,and this is why am using PayPal to pay,all i will need is your PayPal email or PayPal invoice to make the payments and also i want you to know that i will be handling the pick up of the item since i have a private pickup agent that will come for the pickup of the item after payments has been sorted and will also handle the paper works.I will contact the pick up agent with your location once payment is made So that i can know how much it will cost me for the pick up,payment will be make to you as soon as you get back to me with your PayPal email address and phone number, I will be looking forward to hear.

Best Regard..
Landau

[iceman]

we put our mackie SR40.8 with two psu on ebay got a lot of people bidding on it, clearly marked in the listing PICKUP ONLY cash on collection, the winning bidder sends a message saying he is based in Ireland (we are nr Liverpool) and he would need a few days as his father had just died, no problem so we leave it for a few days, next we get a msg asking for a contact number, no problem, a couple of days later i get another message again asking for my number. I send a message back saying id already given it to him and we need the desk gone as we have plans for the space its taking up, i get a phone call from a 'gentleman' with a very thick Nigerian accent telling me "he pay by cheque is very good!" i tell him No as the listing specifically says cash on collection, then he says "I pay by western union! you send item yes?" i tell him i cant hear him and to send me a message on eBay as the phone line is really really bad. surprise surprise no message!! very anmnoying and time wasting, second chance offer hasnt been taken so now we have to relist the item and wait all over again GRRRRR!!!! :x the persons eBay i.d. is tonybanis051

[fatbenelton]

Posted a wanted ad......dubious reply by Andreas Roman of Madrid with very generic description, request for Western Union, Moneygram etc..when asked for pictures got the usual google/ebay rip. Took me 30 secs to find the same picture from an eBay auction...needless to say it wasn't in Spain...beware.

[Forum Admin]

Just received this from a reader:


the guy below
k.w511@outlook.com
has replied to my wanted ad on SOS. he then calls himself Kelvin Walker...speaks slightly broken english...says he is in italy but from the uk... then shows you pictures of the item you're after (all jpegs with relevant dates) ...then a passport in the name of Kevin Walker... still signs the email Kelvin...will only accept bacs or moneygram....bank account is in the name of Kelvin....ect ect... you get the picture.

He's on a couple of forums selling stuff as well...google his email address.

thing is, i'm not a mug but he was so very very convincing and if it wasn't for the Kelvin/Kevin slip up i would have gone ahead and transferred almost £500... he is very very good.

people need to be warned of this email and name as he's bound to catch a few.

i hope this helps.


On 29/06/2015 12:02, Sound On Sound Readers Ads wrote:
From: k.w511@outlook.com

Hello am from Italy i have the item you advertised for sale and in good condition please let me know if you are still keen to buy and how much you are willing to offer..
Regards

[Peter Conz Connelly]

Tapping that email address into the Facebook Search tab brings up this profile...

https://www.facebook.com/schneider.reiner.5

[Wonks]

Just come across an ominous new scam whilst looking at eBay. I'd already noted an earlier hacked account that was listing a Gibson SJ acoustic (standard one picture of the guitar and one picture/screen showing an gmail account to contact before bidding plus offering a buy-it-now price). Then I spotted another vintage Gibson SJ listing (starting at £1) which when I clicked on it, took me to a page purporting to be a new-look eBay sign-in page (despite being already signed-in) - in which you would obviously type in your user name and password. This screen kept coming up every time I clicked on the page. The web address was obviously not an eBay one.

Luckily that listing now appears to have been taken down, but beware if it happens to you. Do not enter your details or he scammers will have access to your account!

[Kwaidan]

Strange one from a Scary Mary!

Username: mary
Email: maryliace234@gmail.com

Message:

I got ur sale toward the Item u posted sell/buy If u accept Paypal (White ostrich feather ballrooom dress).....as Payment email me (maryliace234@gmail.com )

Hmmm is a White Ostrich Feather Ballroom Dress classified as gear ? :roll:

[Barjeelik]

Hmmm,

Glad I read this as alarm bells were already ringing. Looks remarkably similar in the bad English sense to this I received today (see slow in quotes). So it loosk to be your Scar Mary under another name.

Regards

Bar.

"Message:

I got ur sale toward the Item u posted sell/buy If u accept Paypal.....as Payment email me (rkristi958@gmail.com )"

[fatbenelton]

Also got this scammer.....

I got ur sale toward the Item u posted sell/buy If u accept Paypal .....as Payment email me (rkristi958@gmail.com )

[Barjeelik]

Changed the price on my ads and got the same fool with the same damn fool message. Seems scammers are the only ones to reply to reader's ads these days :(

I got ur sale toward the Item u posted sell/buy If u accept Paypal .....as Payment email me (rkristi958@gmail.com )

[themarqueeyears]

Great thread,

Please excuse my ignorance, but i thought if i pay for something on eBay using my Paypal account - which is how I do buy things of ebay (although almost always new things from businesses) I thought I was fully protected by Paypal buyer Protection.

Reading the Paypal terms and conditions, it states if something doesn't turn up or is not as it should be then I will be entitled to my money back.

is this thread saying that Paypal protection is in effect useless!

Thanks
tf