Interesting eBay scam -UPDATE 05/16

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ryan256

Platinum Member
Jul 22, 2005
2,514
0
71
Well I'm considering buying a loose stone rather than a ring from a local jewler. So I went looking at eBay and saw this auction. $1725 for a SI1, F, 1ct diamond is pretty good. Seller also happens to have +1000 feadback with 100% positive. Ah... but lets look closer. According to the feedback page almost every one of them has been obtained selling this book for $.01 each!! And the diamond listed is the first ever high dollar item this seller has handled.

Suddenly I don't trust this seller.

UPDATE
This sucker has been shut down!! All of his auctions were supposed to end some time around 5pm today. Instead all of his auctions for diamonds have been closed down. He currently has nothing up for sale.

The email responces I got from some of his would be victims:

thankyou. you're nice
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Thank you very much,i think after what you have explained to me you could be right
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thank you very much for your help! I will not bid on that or buy this one any more! once again, thank you!
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Hehe.. feels good to screw up the 6 months of work this scammer put into setting this up. :D
 
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MrBond

Diamond Member
Feb 5, 2000
9,911
0
76
Can't be too obvious - there's 18 previous bids. Someone's going to get scammed out of ~$2k probably.

I wonder what eBay would do in this case. Technically they're breaking no rules. All their feedback is legit, it's just for one cent items and they've never sold diamonds before.
 
Baked

Baked

Lifer
Dec 28, 2004
36,052
17
81
Sorry, but there's no way in hell I'm gonna buy something that expensive from eBay. And you wonder why people get scammed so often on eBay.
 
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BigJ

Lifer
Nov 18, 2001
21,330
1
81
Originally posted by: Baked
Sorry, but there's no way in hell I'm gonna buy something that expensive from eBay. And you wonder why people get scammed so often on eBay.
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CC Chargeback FTW!
 
Baked

Baked

Lifer
Dec 28, 2004
36,052
17
81
Originally posted by: BigJ
Originally posted by: Baked
Sorry, but there's no way in hell I'm gonna buy something that expensive from eBay. And you wonder why people get scammed so often on eBay.
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CC Chargeback FTW!
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eBay/PP still get their cut. :| If I can avoid getting scammed by some low life, I will.
 
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Trikat

Diamond Member
May 22, 2003
3,384
0
86
Everytime I pay for something expensive on eBay I will use a CC instead of PayPal. Paypal won't back up you and CC chargeback is about the only way. What I mean is you only get protection up to $1000 I think or something fairly small. And also if they cannot retrieve funds from the account you get $0 back! Yipppe.
 
edro

edro

Lifer
Apr 5, 2002
24,326
68
91
And they are all in the last 6 months. Good catch. His poor sample image and huge colorful text would have tipped me off.
 
V

venk

Banned
Dec 10, 2000
7,449
1
0
I think i'll buy the book. I have three cents burning a hole in my paypal account. :)
 
Miramonti

Miramonti

Lifer
Aug 26, 2000
28,653
100
106
is it appropriate to let bidders know that the seller has sold nothing over .01 before/
 
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ryan256

Platinum Member
Jul 22, 2005
2,514
0
71
Originally posted by: Baked
Sorry, but there's no way in hell I'm gonna buy something that expensive from eBay. And you wonder why people get scammed so often on eBay.
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Well.. I did buy a $4100 truck from eBay 3 years back. Of course I also researched the seller. I checked to see what else he was selling and had sold. Also emailed several of his past customers and they all responded positivly. Biggest thing is making sure of your seller. But without being able to do that. Yeah there's no way I'd get something that expensive either.
 
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Mday

Lifer
Oct 14, 1999
18,647
1
81
yeah, most of it is for the book. but there are some splatterings of jewelry in there too, with positive ratings. might have fallen off the back of a truck.
 
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Garet Jax

Diamond Member
Feb 21, 2000
6,369
0
71
No kidding. Even if 98% of the ebay buyers took steps to protect themselves (by researching their seller), you only need one of the rest of the population (which is still huge) to buy your item.

Then you scam them and start again. You can create multiple auctions at the same time worth thousands of dollars and make away clean.
 
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Ramma2

Platinum Member
Jul 29, 2002
2,710
1
0
It looks like he's a part of some huge feedback scam ring. Tons of people in his feedback history are no longer registered users, and tons of people that have left feedback have feedbacks from lots of people no longer registered.

Read the auction for the book, people are basically buying feedback.

"FEEDBACK:

In addition to receiving this E-Book, We will also gladly leave positive feedback once the same is received. EVERYBODY WHO BUYS THIS E-BOOK WILL ALSO GET A POSITIVE FEEDBACK FROM US.

WE EXPECT THE SAME IN RETURN.

IF YOU ARE NOT PLANNING ON TAKING 30 SECONDS TO LEAVE US YOUR POSITIVE FEEDBACK, DO NOT BUY FROM US!! NO EXCEPTIONS , PERIOD. IF YOU DON'T HAVE COMMON DECENCY, YOU DON'T DESERVE OUR SERVICE!!!"

So a fraud builds up a huge feedback rep for pennies, then look at his current for sale items. 12 auctions for diamonds estimated value from 2.5k to 5k. Some people are going to get fleeced on this one.
 
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bleeb

Lifer
Feb 3, 2000
10,868
0
0
I'd always check the feedback scores of prior purchases before making a big consumer purchase like a rock. Enjoy!
 
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ryan256

Platinum Member
Jul 22, 2005
2,514
0
71
Originally posted by: Mday
yeah, most of it is for the book. but there are some splatterings of jewelry in there too, with positive ratings. might have fallen off the back of a truck.
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Yeah I'm thinking the same thing.
 
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MrBond

Diamond Member
Feb 5, 2000
9,911
0
76
The "Report this item" link on the bottom of the page doesn't seem to do anything. If it does actually report it, it never tells you it does.
 
PingSpike

PingSpike

Lifer
Feb 25, 2004
21,758
603
126
Originally posted by: Papagayo
Someone needs to report them to Ebay security..
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Probably won't do any good. Ebay and Paypal are the dynamic duo of non-action.
 
halik

halik

Lifer
Oct 10, 2000
25,696
1
81
Originally posted by: Trikat
Everytime I pay for something expensive on eBay I will use a CC instead of PayPal. Paypal won't back up you and CC chargeback is about the only way. What I mean is you only get protection up to $1000 I think or something fairly small. And also if they cannot retrieve funds from the account you get $0 back! Yipppe.
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QFT

The max is 175 actually - i went thru it 2 weeks ago after receiving a stolen VZW phone. Paypal told me they sided with me and offered me 175 out of the $450 purchase. I told them that they should expect a call from American Express...
 
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ryan256

Platinum Member
Jul 22, 2005
2,514
0
71
Oh what the hell. Like I would care if eBay decided to ban me. I'm emailing all of his bidders with this:
I saw you placed a bid on item# 8935356507. A 1ct loose diamond. I'm emailing you because I believe this auction is a scam.
Now let me start by saying that I have absolutely no evidence to support my belief and that it's based solely upon information I was able to obtain about the seller from the eBay web site.
Upon examining the sellers feedback I noticed that almost all of it was obtained selling item# 5647596617. An e-book that was being sold for $0.01!! No where is his feedback is an auction for an actual diamond present. Yet now that his feedback is over 1000 he suddenly has 12 auctions for high dollar diamonds all ending within 18 minutes of each other. Highly suspicious.
Again I have no evidence and am basing my belief purely upon the above mentioned facts. It is your choice if you wish to continue bidding.
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Will keep y'all updated :)
 
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