EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Products => Test Equipment => Topic started by: EE-digger on June 14, 2022, 02:38:43 am
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There are dozens of fraudulent medium to very high end oscilloscope listings on ebay. We're talking 1GHz up to tens of GHz (at other times).
They generally take the form of an auction and have stolen credentials or otherwise listed using the account of a legitimate, good ebay seller.
Some listings will show a picture with a message "do not bid", "we do not answer emails, use this address" or other "clues".
In the details, there will be a buy it now price mentioned and an address to reply to, very illegitimate, typically containing two dot coms in the address.
It takes about 10 seconds to report these and Ebay does strip ALL of them almost immediately. Once they lock onto a new characteristic of the listing, I'm sure they can kill them all with one "round".
They can be quite a nuisance when you're searching for something legitimate and MUCH worse if you get suckered into sending money.
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I noticed the scammer used different pictures this time. For years, it used to be the exact same batch of pictures. I guess ebay finally got around to blocking the old batch, lol.
The scam listings still have the telltale red and blue comic sans text, though.
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And they certainly are persistent. But I guess if you can scam $5k to (God forbid) $120k on one deal, it's worth it for a days work :D
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he's got lots of stuff listed.
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Not just dso, it happened to dslr camera and other high end stuff since decade ago... not just ebay, but fb, email, whatsapp etc, the successors of mailbox letter and snake oil street market scam since before the invention of internet... however the tricks are, if you want a generic fight all antibody, the rule is simple... dont pay direct money transfer if you dont have the stuff in front of you... train your instinct to auto activate the firewall when somebody requesting it..
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What about listings of illegally upgraded test and measurement equipment?
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I'm really not asking how to do this :popcorn: but how do these scams work? Are they trying to get people to go off eBay to pay for things? Wouldn't buying one of these be protected if it turns out to be fake?
Or is this yet another case of someone willing to try and work an angle with eBay's byzantine refund policy?
I've just never understood why scammers would take this path.
TonyG
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i give you my bank account number, you get your swift code from your bank to be able to transfer international, you send me the money to my bank direct with my promise to send you the good, then i'll put you in my ignore list, deal is over. yes. yes. yes. do you live in utopia? btw... I'm really not asking how to do this :popcorn: but how do these scams hijack reputable ebay sellers? must be really fucked up somewhere.
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Thanks - So they only really work if they can get you to go outside the eBay payment system (e.g. bank transfer, fake escrow service, etc).
And yes, I agree that it's broken that people can hijack these accounts.
TonyG
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thats the idea, out of security channel.. otoh there are lots of social engineering tricks to lure peoples in. My recent encounter was through whatsapp disguised as phone service provider offering descent credit gift me as loyal customer, but then they need to do verification sms containing numbers.. when msg arrived, it stated as authentication id number, my firewall activated and then they get a religious lecture from me before they block me, never reveal your tac! I got family who lost 5 digit money because of this. The outdated version but i still regularly received in spam is email telling a demise with million dollar in bank, by random number i got lucky to receive it from the manager, but a little payment is needed beforehand.. another rule is dont get sucked in by too good to be true offer... if you didnt ask for it, its 99% scam..
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i give you my bank account number, you get your swift code from your bank to be able to transfer international, you send me the money to my bank direct with my promise to send you the good, then i'll put you in my ignore list, deal is over. yes. yes. yes. do you live in utopia? btw... I'm really not asking how to do this :popcorn: but how do these scams hijack reputable ebay sellers? must be really fucked up somewhere.
Or western union. The company harboring scammers since 1851.
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These may be fake listings for reasons of money laundering, asset fraud or even, breaching import-export embargos.
If you are an ebay user and suspect a fraudulent listing, *please* use the REPORT ITEM button. Select LISTING PRACTICES and then select OTHER WAYS OF AVOIDING EBAY FEES. This will get ebay's attention. If the seller has enough cases against them, their account is suspended.
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This came to my attention just now from one of my saved searches...
High volume seller of garments suddenly selling test equipment and antiques. I reported about 6 items immediately, but there is hundreds of items.
Edit: Just noticed the other eBay SCAMS thread for the same seller...
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We have the same in Germany right now for a few weeks already.
Lots of Keysight scopes for unusual low amounts and all sellers with good history for many years.
So, most likely hacked accounts?
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So, most likely hacked accounts?
Yep! Check what those shops sold before being taken over. ;) Scam operations seem to increase at the moment. Not just scambay, also email and phone calls. :--
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So, most likely hacked accounts?
Yep! Check what those shops sold before being taken over. ;) Scam operations seem to increase at the moment. Not just scambay, also email and phone calls. :--
When questionable, I always ask the seller, if I can come and pick the part up and pay cash.
If they say no and have lots of weird excuses, you know something is wrong.
This scope here in the picture has been on ebay in Germany again and again in the last few weeks. Always in a different town with a different seller.
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Even about xxk EU's, pictures not as given and only one picture, sound as :-- :-- :--, also warranty for a not maintainable DSO!
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@Mods, could we have this thread merged with Dave's? Seems pointless to have two on the same subject.
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@Mods, could we have this thread merged with Dave's? Seems pointless to have two on the same subject.
That's not a good idea because this one is older so the OP's post in this one would become the first post in the other thread...
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@Mods, could we have this thread merged with Dave's? Seems pointless to have two on the same subject.
That's not a good idea because this one is older so the OP's post in this one would become the first post in the other thread...
Who cares which thread is merged into the other? It's just easier to reply to ONE thread than two.
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I can only say that I never got into these on EBay (these last 20+ years…)
1st - if one of the images contains contact and/or payment instructions, you’re done.
2nd - ask (even if it’s not your intention) for pickup and cash payment (even in foreign countries, I always pretend I’ve got friends close to the seller’s location, that would come along), see what happens
3rd - ask for more pictures, with the current date, or from particular details, for which the scammer won’t find anything on the net
4th - I’ve ALWAYS been successful reclaiming my money for items that were not delivered, or not in the shape/state described, at least when PayPal was used
5th - if PayPal is not possible, in some countries you’re protected if you give the name and address of the seller in the wire transfer’s data (and these then don’t match with the account), so asking for a copy of the ID card is a good idea, as well any proof that the bank account is indeed linked to the person you’re doing business with…
6th - refuse anything that is not cash (on collection), PayPal or wire transfer, the latter only if you could collect sufficient evidences that the seller’s identity and the bank account do match
7th - stop believing in miracles !!! (although I must admit I already got quite some bargains on Ebay, but it’s getting pretty unusual these days…)