[Mgs] e-Bay Scams

[Chris Attias]

I've seen a lot of fraudulent offerings on e-Bay.  The most obvious 
ones give a low-ball sales price, even though they don't have a "Buy 
It Now" listing, and perhaps haven't completed enough sales to 
qualify for one by the eBay rules.

They often refer to problems with their e-Bay email and give another 
email address or phone number to call, and almost always ask for 
money via Western Union or some other money-gram.  A weirdly short 
listing period (what should be a $40,000 car on sale for a couple of 
days) is also a tip-off, as is a photo with a license plate or photo 
background that is at odds with the reputed address of the seller 
(example: a car with Arizona plates and palm trees in the background 
sold by some guy supposedly in West Virginia.)  Fraudulent listers 
often steal the photos from another site or listing.  Worst case I've 
seen was a series of listings using photos from a known midwestern 
dealer--the driveway and buildings across the street were very 
identifiable.  The fraudulent lister will also steal the description 
text from the original listing.

I'd heartily recommend an escrow agent for car purchases of any great 
value.  There's a maximum value that PayPal will protect you to, and 
most sellers don't like PayPal for anything beyond the deposit anyway.

I've seen some pretty obviously bad listings.  If it smells bad, I 
sometimes ask the seller direct questions about discrepancies in the 
listing.  Most frauds won't respond.  Sometimes eBay figures it out 
and writes to anyone contacting the lister via eBay to ask if the 
lister has contacted them about a direct purchase.  It usually takes 
them a day or two to check out and pull down the listing(s.)

If I see something suspicious and have the time, I write to eBay.  I 
remember writing about the TD:

>I recently saw a 1953 MGTD in nice condition offered for $5,900. (Five
>thousand nine hundred dollars) You don't have to be a expert to know that this
>seems a rather low price for such a vehicle especially as the price included
>transport to my garage. Thinking that there had to be an error in the printed
>price I contacted the seller, Victoria Peterson @yahoo.com and asked if that
>price was correct.
>I received a reply telling me that the car had belonged to her late husband
>who had recently passed away and she simply wanted the car out of her home as
>it brought back too many memories. She estimated the sale price from an offer
>she got from a local garage.

-- 
Chris Attias
Felton, CA
'64 MGB