eBay Scam, £2000 lost, Help Needed.

[Bollybeau]

Hello All

So I can't quite believe I have fallen foul of an eBay scam, I am usually shrewd and so very careful!

On 14th Feb I saw an auction for a job lot of Sonos speakers, and one of the photos had an email address for further information and a buy-it-now price. I emailed and was offered a price of £2000. I slept on it and the next day 15th Feb I agreed to buy. I was sent an authentic looking email which I thought was from eBay stating I had won the auction/buy-it-now, then a further email asking for payment through a wire transfer. I became suspicious at this point, but a pop up 'help' box appeared so I asked if I would be covered as I would be by PayPal payment and a very detailed response came back stating I would be. Everything looked as if it was from eBay so I (clearly foolishly) did a bank transfer. Shortly after I received another authentic looking email saying payment had been received. All the time the seller/fraudster was answering emails as if everything was above board. A few hours later the seller emailed to say he would be posting the next day and would send me details once done.

When I finished work I looked at my eBay account on my computer (I had been on my mobile previously) and could not see any details of the transaction, and immediately realised I had been duped. I could see that the emails I had received were not from eBay but from here: invoice@itemdll.online . I immediately contacted eBay who were less than helphul. They stated that they became aware he was of concern on 14th Feb and suspended his account on 15th Feb, they also said that apparently he has previous form. I argued that if his account had been suspended immediately on 14th then I would not have been scammed on 15th. I contacted my local police who told me to contact Action Fraud, which I did and I have filed all the details with them.

I contacted the seller asking if/why he had scammed me and he assured me everything was OK and I would be receiving the goods. I got pretty upset with him and asked (and pleaded) that he return my money and he stated he will do so after work today 16th Feb, but clearly I will not be holding my breath!

I am so angry and upset, mainly with myself for being so utterly stupid. I pride myself on being careful and astute and often wonder how people get caught up in scams that are so obvious. Well now I know!

Any help or advice would be so gratefully received, thanks in advance.

[Amethyst]

Re: eBay Scam, £2000 lost, Help Needed.

Did you contact your bank or the bank you made the transfer to ?

[Bollybeau]

Re: eBay Scam, £2000 lost, Help Needed.

Yes, my bank said they will request the funds be returned. Apparently they will write to Barclays, who will in turn write to the seller asking permission for the funds to be returned. As such I don't hold out much hope. I am currently waiting to speak to Barclays fraud dept, been holding 40 mins so far.

[Amethyst]

Re: eBay Scam, £2000 lost, Help Needed.

Okay, don't hold out too much hope with Barclays but they should be able to see the transaction going in and check the account whether it has fraudulent patterns in and take action accordingly - unlikely to refund you - but if the account still has funds in they may be able to freeze it while investigating. They're unlikely to tell you that though due to data protection etc... but making them aware of a possible fraudulent account is worthwhile. Tell them the name of the person you paid - usually fraudulent accounts are in completely different names to the name you thought you were paying. Also tell them you have reported to actionfraud etc.

[Bollybeau]

Re: eBay Scam, £2000 lost, Help Needed.

Thanks for your response. I spoke with a lovely lady at Barclays who took full details, but as you say she was not able to give me any information due to data protection. I then spoke with my bank again who advised the CRP (credit payment recovery) had been rejected because even though it was a scam I had made payment to specific/actual Barclays sort code and account number (not sure I understood this).

However, I was then informed that a payment for £2000 had been made into my account, which was currently being processed. After they searched for full details of this they confirmed the payment had been made at 4am this morning by faster payments, with my name and an 18 digit number as a reference. They are, however, unable/unwilling to give me details as to who sent the payment or from which bank, which I find a little strange. I can only think that the seller has actually refunded me, but I will keep an eye on my bank account for a while as I can not actually believe it. If it is the case then I have been very very lucky and trust me I have learned a very valuable lesson. I will update if anything further happens. Thanks again

[Bollybeau]

Re: eBay Scam, £2000 lost, Help Needed.

So the update is that I have clearly lost my marbles! Having rejoiced yesterday at my seeming good fortune, today I was checking my bank accounts and realised the £2000 that had appeared yesterday was actually a savings account to bank transfer I had done the previous day to pay for the eBay item! I had lost sight of it due to the stress! I am not sure at all why my bank could not have told me that yesterday when I spoke with them at length about the scam situation. So I am back to square one and will have to reconcile myself again to the loss of £2000. The emotional turmoil is horrible and exhausting.

[Stu]

Re: eBay Scam, £2000 lost, Help Needed.

It is of little help to you when I say this but at the end of the day it is only money and a life lesson, you have your health and the sun will shine again and that's what matter. Try not let it stress you to much. Best of luck.

[Bollybeau]

Re: eBay Scam, £2000 lost, Help Needed.

Thanks Stu, you are completely right of course and I have been telling myself exactly these things. No one has died and far far worse things happen to people each and every day.

[Bollybeau]

Re: eBay Scam, £2000 lost, Help Needed.

Update: So on 16th Feb my eBay account was hacked by the scammer who placed the same item(s) for sale. I received confirmation of the placing from eBay and a couple of questions from potential buyers. I contacted eBay who removed the auction and temporarily closed down my account whilst new security was set up. I also had to set up new security on my personal email account.

On 18th Feb I noticed the same auction appear and contacted the account holder to advise that their account had been hacked. I also contacted eBay who removed the auction a few hours later. On 20th Feb I noticed the same auction appear again under a different account and again I advised the account holder that their account had been hacked. Again I contacted eBay and they removed the auction a few hours later.

Is it unrealistic to expect eBay to be able to filter this (or any) particular auction/scam before it becomes a live auction? When I spoke with eBay when I was originally scammed they implied that they had been aware of the situation the day prior to me becoming a victim, but had failed to remove the auction.

I may be grasping at straws here, but I feel eBay are failing in their responsibility to keep accounts secure and prevent scams, which they are clearly aware of. Any opinions please? Thanks.

[Rhothgar]

Re: eBay Scam, £2000 lost, Help Needed.

What a terrible story! I('m very sorry that you have suffered this injustice.

Sadly though, it is fully your responsibility to look after your online safety. Ebay do not have pop-up chat boxes and I would say it is glaringly obvious that you would not be protected from fraud for doing an online transfer.

I see this all the time on FaceBook Selling Forums. People ask for payment by PayPal as Friends, Family or Gift option and that, too, would not be covered. Unless you know the person then you would not transfer money to them without any form of protection. I always advise people to pay about 3.6% extra in cases where someone unknown wants payment by PayPal via Friends option.

[fightbackninja]

Re: eBay Scam, £2000 lost, Help Needed.

Hi Bolly,

I run a blog at http://fightback.ninja to warn people about scams and I'd like to use your story.
Is that OK? I wouldn't include your name of course.
Are there any more details I should have ?
Thanks
The Fightback Ninja