Ebay, Gumtree & Autotrader Vehicle / Car Scams

Re: Barclays and vehicle scam via ebay and gumtree

i believe a person called eve or eveyln is behind this, is there anychance oneeyedjack could verify or tell me that this is the case please? thank you in advance

Very likely. The one bit of news recently is that at last we can put a name to "Sarah" aka "Eve" aka "Evelyn" - it's Nicolae Popescu and he is wanted by the FBI. When I met with the NFIB in London in June they held their cards close to their collective chest and would not reveal his real name - although I'm not actually sure if they even knew it themselves. I have to say that I have seen little or no evidence that any UK law enforcement agency has made any progress in finding or even putting a name to "Evelyn", and my impression is that the US agency the FBI is doing more to address the problem.

Popescu is behind the majority of scam listings on eBay, of that there is little doubt. I don't know how many people he has working for him but it's more than a few. These are just some of the tasks that his minions are told to do:-

Create new eBay accounts

Buy three 99p products from companies in China or Hong Kong who do automated positive feedback (to create a 100% positive feedback level of 3)

Copy and store eBay listings for future use

Create eBay User IDs (there are websites that provide names as a service)

Create dead mobile telephone numbers (there are websites that provide dead numbers as a service)

Research area code landlone telephone numbers to match up with specific towns and cities, to enhance authenticity

Create dead landline telephone numbers (there are websites that provide dead landline numbers as a service)

Create 'automated-voicemail' landline telephone numbers (there are websites that provide this as a service)

Create authentic UK addresses with post codes that would show as 'real' in the event of a simple on-line search

And so on and so on. Popescu's organisation is just that : Organised. Whatever else I would like to say about him, he's very thorough, and it gets more sophisticated when he's hooked in a potential victim. He has impressive-looking clones of eBay web pages (or Google, or Amazon, etc) that aim to get over the most difficult hurdle of all: Getting someone to send thousands of £££ to someone they have never met for a vehicle they have never seen. I have seen many of these clones (or in some cases, not clones but complete fabrications) and I have to say that they are quite impressive. Then there are the 'mule' bank accounts, not an area I specialise in but probably the most important of all for Popescu. He has hundreds of them and he has to keep creating new ones all the time to compensate for the regular closure of the existing ones.

Popescu runs a multi-million £££ business, in effect, and it's anyone's guess as to what the ill-gotten-gains are used for - but I'm tempted to say that he re-invests some of it in the same business, because although there are allegations flying around about dealing in Class A drugs and weapons, frankly of the three FRAUD carries the lowest risk (in more ways than one) and highest profit margin

Crazy,

[dixie2013]

Re: Barclays and vehicle scam via ebay and gumtree

there is about 10/15 pages on google of cached ads reported by ebayscam hunter all with sofia333@btinternet.com used to reply to fake ads, i believe a person called eve or eveyln is behind this, is there anychance oneeyedjack could verify or tell me that this is the case please? thank you in advance

[dixie2013]

Re: Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle Scam. Barclays provide Fraudsters Accounts

http://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-m...red/1036958012 this looks too cheap!!!! posted a few minutes ago!!, the vehicle i supposidly bought is this 1 back in aug when i was duped

Sales Invoice Transaction#:2089283777 confirmed! • Seller's verified details: Seller's name: Sofia Coles Seller's address: 24 Brookland Drive, Beeston, Nottingham, NG9 4BD , United Kingdom • Buyer's address: Buyer's name: my name and address removed Buyer's address: Product: Price: 2008 AUDI A3 SE 1.9 TDI 5 DOOR SPORTBACK GREY £3,000.00 Delivery&Insurance Included £0.00 Date of verification:13.08.2013 Items Included: Log Book V5 Doc,2 Keys, Full Service History, HPI Report (Clear), M.O.T Certificate, 3 months warranty, 7 days driveaway insurance Inspection Period: 48hrs Payment Method: Bank to Bank wire transfer Status: Payment pending Total amount to be paid: £3,000.00 • Prior delivery the Buyer must send the payment to our Gumtree Buyer Protection account. It is recommended to send the payment as soon as possible, because your purchase protection is valid for 30 days only. Sending the payment by any other payment method will void this transaction and your right to refund. We will secure/hold your payment until you have received and inspected the car for 48hrs. After your payment is securely received and confirmed we will start the delivery of the vehicle to your provided address. After the 48 hrs inspection period expires ,if you will decide to purchase the vehicle we will forward your payment to the seller's bank account and the sale is concluded. If you will decide not to purchase the vehicle we will refund your payment in your bank account or in cash right there and then and we will collect the car from you. Is as simple and safe as that! • Please find below the banking information where you must send your payment: Account Holder/Transaction Manager: Gumtree UK Ltd / Geoffery Dumitrescu Bank Name: Barclays Sort Code: 20-29-41 Account No: 93464067 IBAN : GB42 BARC 2029 4193 4640 67 Swift: BARCGB22 ***The payment should be completed within the next 2 working days after you receive the payment information from us. It is fully refundable if the deal is not completed ***After you have submitted the payment ,for our records please fax us the copy of the bank receipt to our fax number: 0872 3523757 IMPORTANT ADVICE When you will make the bank transfer please do not put any messages like " AUDI A3 ", put only: Invoice# 2089283777 •Please allow us 24hrs to process your payment, please note that the delivery will start only after your payment is successfully received and verified ! The vehicle that's purchased is provided with all the documents and papers that are needed for registration . All these documents are given to you at the reception of the vehicle. Thanks to our experience we know exactly what documents are needed We will contact you by e-mail or phone as soon as your shipment has started. Help For any questions please contact our Sales Department by replying to this email © Copyright 2000-2013 Gumtree.com. All rights reserved.

sofia333@btinternet.com was the email address used rob me, Sofia coles was e-mailing me regarding the sale. the same ad has been used onseveral occasions, the same vehicle used twice with different addresses!!

Re: Barclays and vehicle scam via ebay and gumtree

I agree but one of the problems is that fraud (both civil and criminal) has a higher evidential threshold than other forms of mischief.

I can imagine that this is the case, but here's a hypothetical scenario that should mean such thresholds are easily reached:-


1. I find a fraudulent listing on eBay at 3:15pm on a Sunday afternoon (as I just did)

2. I report the existence of the fraud to ebay at 3:15pm on the same Sunday afternoon (as I just did)

3. The fraudulent listing - in this case that of a "2006/06 REG DAF LF 45-170 RECOVERY TRUCK TILT SLIDE WITH SPEC LIFT 7500KG" is still live and in public view 3 hours later, at 6:15pm, when a make-believe Mr J Smith sees the advert and makes contact with the 'seller' via the published address on the eBay listing : hulkingpavillio@yahoo.co.uk

4. Communications between the 'seller' and the 'buyer' commence and ultimately result in the transfer of £6500.

5. The scam has been completed.


Now, I advised eBay of the scam at 3:15pm. That's a fact. Mr Smith didn't see the scam until 6:15pm. According to the Fraud Act 2006, eBay broke the law - in that three hour period they "occupied a position in which they were expected to safeguard, or not to act against, the financial interests of another person"

Personally, while I concede that eBay's culpability will probably be a lot harder to prove than it should be, at the same time I think that the wording of the law is refreshingly unambiguous and logic (hah!) suggests that this should be a slam-dunk win for the victim (Mr Smith) if he were to take eBay to court for breach of The Fraud Act 2006.

Logic and Law are uncomfortable companions though.


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


*EDIT*

It's now 7:25pm and the scam listing reported more than 4 hours ago is still 'live' - so eBay have chosen not to remove it. Over the past 4 hours any of a number of people could have made contact with the organised criminal gang behind the listing, and could have lost £6500 (each). It was eBay's responsibility to remove the listing, but as yet they have not done so despite being aware of it. That's breaking the law. Of course, some might argue that the listing is genuine, that there really is a DAF recovery truck for sale, but if this turns out not to be the case, and that it was a fraud all along, then eBay must be culpable for not removing it in good time.

[EXC]

Re: Barclays and vehicle scam via ebay and gumtree

The ordnance exists. It needs to be used.

I recommend anybody interested in on-line fraud to learn the above extract from the Fraud Act. The law is fine in and of itself, the problem is a woeful and inexplicable lack of enforcement

I agree but one of the problems is that fraud (both civil and criminal) has a higher evidential threshold than other forms of mischief.

Re: Barclays and vehicle scam via ebay and gumtree

We are also holding ebay at fault .......... If they are unable to see that the account was fraudulent how were we?

This seems germane vocabulary :-

Fraud by abuse of position
24. Section 4 provides that the offence will be committed if a person:

1. occupies a position in which he is expected to safeguard, or not to act against, the financial interests of another person,
2. dishonestly abuses that position, and
3. intends by means of the abuse of that position –
4. 1. to make a gain for himself or another, or
   2. to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss.

25. Section 4 does not define "abuse" or "position". However regarding the former concept the section states that an omission will be enough for an abuse of position to take place. An example given in the Explanatory Notes is of an "employee who fails to take up a crucial contract in order that an associate or rival company can take it up instead at the expense of the employer".
26. The Law Commission's Report offers some assistance with the "position":
"The necessary relationship will be present between trustee and beneficiary, director and company, professional person and client, agent and principal, employee and employer, or between partners. It may arise otherwise, for example within a family, or in the context of voluntary work, or in any context where the parties are not at arm's length." (para.7.38)


The ordnance exists. It needs to be used.

I recommend anybody interested in on-line fraud to learn the above extract from the Fraud Act. The law is fine in and of itself, the problem is a woeful and inexplicable lack of enforcement

[puddle55]

Re: Barclays and vehicle scam via ebay and gumtree

[QUOTE=CaptainCave;382007]Puddle55, what was your claim, was it that Barclays had been inefficient in looking into the fraud or that they didn't take adequate ID when the fraudsters account was created? I'm just wondering if this is an approach I might also take.

The complaint Re Barclays is going through the Ombudsman. We are holding them at fault as the id that was used to open up the account was insufficient. They used a Romanian id card and a HSBC bank statement. I know for a fact that if I wanted to open account I would need far more id than that. It took Barclays 3 weeks to close the account, they are a complete shambles. If anyone else quotes the Data Protection Act to me once more I wont be held responsible for my actions. All it protects is the criminal, its a complete cop out and nothing more than a shield for them to hide behind.
We are also holding ebay at fault as prior to transferring the money we called to discuss the purchase.The person we spoke to confirmed the listing and read it to us word for word. At no point did he raise any concern of the validity of the account. The account had been held for 10 years with a score of 97.8%. If they are unable to see that the account was fraudulent how were we? Its a long story however we received an email from the genuine account holder to say that ebay had confirmed that his account had been hacked.
Apologies for the rant.

[Tools]

Re: Barclays and vehicle scam via ebay and gumtree

Could you also post up the bank details of the account your money was transferred to and any email addresses used please

One-Eyed Jack here are the eBay details and yes any help or info would be appreciated.

Item number: 200973375520
Product name: 2006 Conway Crusader folding camper Trailer tent 6 berth camper van
Date listing closed: 15th October 2013 -13:58

[CaptainCave]

Re: Barclays and vehicle scam via ebay and gumtree

Our claim has been turned down twice by them.We requested that it be passed to the ombudsman for his final decission.

Puddle55, what was your claim, was it that Barclays had been inefficient in looking into the fraud or that they didn't take adequate ID when the fraudsters account was created? I'm just wondering if this is an approach I might also take.

I will also contact my MP about this with my crime reference number to add some weight to the investigation if the Indemnity request comes back with nothing (which I'm afraid it will), has anyone else had experience of this?

Another thing I will mention and see if anyone may shed some light on this is that when the bill payment went from my account it was initially rejected and at some time later it was resent, I never saw this at the time. I've asked my bank about this and they said that this can just happen and may not be anything. Any ideas? I wondered if the TSB account I was sending to has been flagged as fraudulent then perhaps that's the reason. I'll dig some more.

[puddle55]

Re: Barclays and vehicle scam via ebay and gumtree

[QUOTE=CaptainCave;381916] I'm not holding my breath but it may be the only avenue left. I don't even know how far the Action Fraud initiated investigation is going, probably slower than my own.

We were scammed in January. We reported this to Action Fraud who are a waste of time. Basically what they said was it may or may not be investigated. We have not heard from them to this day. I cant make out what their purpose is.
We also reported to the FOS. This has been reviewed by an adjudicator twice and turned down.From a telephone conversatin wtih her she advised that Barclays had failed to respond to their emails.She advised that she would make her decission based upon the facts in front of her. Our claim has been turned down twice by them.We requested that it be passed to the ombudsman for his final decission. We had a letter end of June to say that it may take up to 6 months for a response. Last week we had a letter from them to advise due to the amount of complaints that they are receiving they are taking on more staff and that our case had not even been looked at. We have also reporte the matter to our MP who has been very good. He is currently liasing with them.

[Celestine]

Re: Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle Scam. Barclays provide Fraudsters Accounts

FBI on the hunt for eBay car 'fraudster'

Nicolae Popescu is accused of running a cybercrime gang selling non-existent cars
Continue reading the main storyRelated Stories

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The FBI has issued wanted posters for a man they say is behind an eBay car scam that has netted $3m (£1.8m).
Authorities in the US also want to track down six other fugitives in relation to the charges.
The gang were described as "masters of illusion" who convinced people to pay for cars that did not exist.
"They thought their distance would insulate them from law enforcement scrutiny. They were wrong," said US attorney Loretta Lynch.
Convincing schemeThe FBI put out a wanted poster for 33-year-old Romanian Nicolae Popescu, charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
"They siphoned funds from victims to fuel their greedy desires and created false identities, fake websites and counterfeit certificates of title in order to make the scheme more convincing," said FBI Assistant Director, George Venizelos.
"Popescu and his co-conspirators were masters of illusion, but they can't escape their ultimate reality.
"With the help of our law enforcement partners at home and abroad, we will bring them to justice."
In a statement, eBay said: "We have partnered with law enforcement to alert consumers about the type of scams described in the indictment - which involve exploiting well-known, trusted brand names like eBay to attract consumers and then lure them onto fake websites and into fraudulent transactions.
"Auto shoppers can be confident in their purchase by ensuring they start and complete their transactions on eBay Motors and never use money wire services to send payments."
Romanian notorietyIn a recorded conversation, the FBI said Mr Popescu boasted that he was "beyond the reach" of US authorities.
As well as eBay, the gang is said to have used Cars.com, AutoTrader.com, and CycleTrader.com to sell the non-existent cars, usually priced between $10,000 (£6,150) and $40,000 (£24,700).
"After the 'sellers' reached an agreement with the victim buyers, they would often email them invoices purporting to be from Amazon Payments, PayPal, or other online payment services, with instructions to transfer the money to the US bank accounts used by the defendants," an FBI statement explained.
Romania has gained increasing notoriety as a hub for cybercrime.
A report from technology magazine Wired detailed a town dubbed "Hackerville" by locals - where cybercriminals are said to learn their craft at an early age.

[CaptainCave]

Re: Barclays and vehicle scam via ebay and gumtree

I do it is so that I can help recover a victim's money. In this case however, I can not. I am truly sorry.

It's not your fault and thanks for looking. I have managed to contact TSB and have had my bank issue an Indemnity Request against the fraudsters account which I now believe to be blocked because the fraud team at TSB seemed to suggest that it was not only me that had highlighted the problem to them. I believe how an indemnity request works is if there is any money left in the account now it's blocked that the funds would go to attempting to return money to the scammed people issuing indemnity requests. However I'm not holding my breath but it may be the only avenue left. I don't even know how far the Action Fraud initiated investigation is going, probably slower than my own.

After being a victim myself it will be some time before I will buy anything of value from eBay again.

One-Eyed Jack keep up the good work.

Re: Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle Scam. Barclays provide Fraudsters Accounts

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2009-MINI-...item3f2b1abfa3

That one too you think ?

This scam was deleted by eBay at about 19:30, maybe earlier. I reported it a few minutes after you posted it here

So they took about 90 minutes, maybe an hour. That's better than the average (4 - 5 hours) but then this was a very obvious scam. The harder ones (for eBay's "Fraud Team" in the Philippines) can take anything up to a week to shift. That's when the damage is done.

I managed to get a copy of an exhaustive, in-depth interview between eBay's "Fraud Team" boss in Manila and an applicant for a new position. It went something like this :-

Boss : "OK I've seen your CV, apparently you left school yesterday at the age of 16"

Wannabe : "Yes sir"

Boss : "Right. You're hired"

Re: Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle Scam. Barclays provide Fraudsters Accounts

I really don't understand how people get caught out by these scams. I'm not blaming people, because the scammers are quite clever - with their ebay protection and false websites etc.... but - if I ever bought a car (from a showroom / autotrader / ebay ) - in fact probably anything other than direct from the manafacturer and pre ordered a brand new car etc - I would go and see it. All of my cars, barring my first car which came from a forecourt, I have bought on ebay - I've bid, gone to check it out, kicked the tyres a bit, paid in cash, and driven it home, they've all been under £1k (never had a car over £1k) - and the thought of paying someone £4k odd online without having seen what I'm buying, off someone with no feedback, no reviews, and only a mobile number and personal email address, well, it just wouldn't happen. First thing I'd ask would be when can I come and see it. If the answer to that is dodgy then see ya.

I agree with all of the above. So too would 999 people out of every 1000. Trouble is, that leaves 1 person in a 1000 who WOULD do this kind of thing, which sounds insignificant until you consider how many people look at cars on eBay (and that's only one website, of course). I don't have any official figures to hand but if scam listings are left unchecked, the traffic builds and builds. My rule of thumb is to get a scam taken down before the 'page view' counter hits 1000; after that point there's a real danger - in my opinion - that the listing will find a victim. You already know that these victims are real, living people because they post their stories here - but it's my belief that for every person who 'confesses' to having been scammed, there are probably 49 others who are are too ashamed or embarrassed to admit it in public.

The bottom line is, there's a market for gullibility. And people like Popescu have made themselves millionaires out of it.

Re: Ebay & Gumtree Vehicle Scam. Barclays provide Fraudsters Accounts

Deleted