*Another Scam Alert* For anyone who buys on ebay

[rc2002]

I'm getting pretty good at getting scammed. I think I'll be sticking to some local Bricks and Mortar shops for quite a while now. This online stuff just isn't working for me anymore.

So apparently feedback profile means nothing in ebay. I won an auction for some Defi gauges from a guy in Malaysia. He had been registered for 8 months and had 100% feedback rating. Had something like 37 transactions.

Anyway I guess I should've been smarter. There were no item numbers for the completed items - only private listings. I've seen this before so I thought nothing of it. Maybe he sells porn or something and wants to protect his buyers. haha.

So I guess how it works is that a huge group of Malaysians will start accounts and give each other feedback to build their profiles. Probably for $0.01 items. Then they list a whole whack of stuff all at once, and do a one time scam.

What made it especially bad is that he only allowed you to buy one item at a time - I offered to buy another item off of him outside of ebay (big mistake, I know), because he ended up giving me a really good deal on it. My first item would've been covered by ebay fraud protection but definitely not the second. I know I goofed there.

Malaysia isn't one of those countries that accepts Paypal due to the Patriot act. So it had to be wire transfer. I figured it was safe because my bank has his bank's information and it would lead right to him if fraud ever happened. Evidently not.

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/websc...ntries-outside


Oh well, you live and learn I guess. I just wish it didn't have to be so expensive. lol. I'm out $200US this time. Hope I can save someone else from making the same mistake. Bottom line, beware on ebay, especially if you think you're getting a deal that's too good to be true.




Big to those scam-artist bastards in Malaysia. Scamming seems to be a way of life in a lot of developing countries. It's actually sad to see... the first thing they think of when they get technology is how to scam people with it.

[97IntegraRS]

I remember there was a seller from Malaysia selling dirt cheap jdm recaro seats, and I was so tempted to buy but it seemed too good to be true. Sucks to hear you've been getting scammed lately.

[sputnik]

The fact that you had to wire money should have been warning enough.

Wire Transfers, BidPay (Western Union) and the like are the preferred tools of scammers.

[Kamen]

I try not to buy anything outside of Canada or USA.
Sometimes paying more for peace of mind is worth it.
Sorry to hear man.

[dj_honda]

i saw the defi din guages on ebay too from some guy in Malaysia, i was tempted to buy but the wire transfer thing turned me off of them. sucks to hear

[rc2002]

Originally posted by sputnik
The fact that you had to wire money should have been warning enough.

Wire Transfers, BidPay (Western Union) and the like are the preferred tools of scammers.

You have his complete bank information though. If anything, wouldn't it make it easier to keep track of him?

[Redlyne_mr2]

Hmm i almost bought a boost controller from a malaysian account.

[86max]

I almost bought a tach from one of those Malaysia guys...then I read this and decided not to continue lol. Havn't received any negative feedback yet. Sorry to hear about your loss Richard.

Originally posted by richardchan2002
Hello!

Thank you for winning my eBay's auction.

As stated in my eBay's auction, please use the
bank-to-bank transfers, often known as bank wire
transfers or telegraphic transfers.(T.T)

Payments can be debited directly from the bank of
yours and transfer the payment straight to my bank
account
or you can just simply go to your bank and fill up the
bank-to-bank transfer/bank wire/telegraph transfer
{T.T}
request form.Fill up the details as stated here
below,then hand out the form together with the
payment, and please
retain the receipt/copy that the teller give to you
for future reference.

You can also do it online if your bank offered you the
online bank service that included online international
bank transfer.

Please take note that the payment will be credited to
my account within 3 business days.

Should you face any difficulties during the
transaction, please feel free to ask for the bank
teller assistance.

I apprecite if you can scan or snap the picture of the
carbon copy/receipt of the payment and email me back
at
[email protected] so that I can check with my bank
for the payment.
You may deleted your bank account number and other
vital info on the receipt for your security purposes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE USE THESE DETAILS TO MAKE PAYMENT ( make sure
you write down these vital info correctly!)

Detail of Beneficiary:MOHAMAD AZLI BIN AZIZAN

Detail of Beneficiary's Bank:AMBANK BERHAD

Account No.:078-002-001524-1

Swift Code No.:ARBKMYKL

Bank Address: 8 Jalan Yap Kwan Seng 50450 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia

Beneficiary's address:No 35 jalan ss19/1b subang jaya
47500 selangor Malaysia

The bank charges is around $40.00 so i will deduct it
from the shipping charges.

Total amount that you need to bank in to me (INCLUDING
SHIPPING CHARGES ):USD$54.00

When making a bank transfer, if possible please put
your email address in the payment message column.(if
available)
Once the payment is made, please scan your payment
receipt and email your full details to
[email protected]
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Once the payment has been reflected in my bank account
then I shall send the package.
Please take note that shipping will take around 7 to
10 days time.All packages are insured and registered
which comes with a tracking numbers

If for some reason you might not satisfied with the
package ( either it is stolen, lost, broken during
shipping ) the insurance will covered for it & I shall
either reimburse you OR resend back the package,
which will be decided by you

Thank you again for your business, I hope that we can
do more business in the future.Please do not hesistate
to email me back at [email protected] for any enquiry.

[rc2002]

That's the EXACT same email I got! Same guy!

Lucky you didn't go through with the transaction.

[86max]

It got really fishy when he told me to send him less money than what I was supposed to, and that he was going to deduct the wire transaction fee from shipping lol. Plus his name kind of scared me......

You don't need defi's anyway, they suck

[rc2002]

Yeah it was confusing at first for me. The money he subtracted was actually the wire transfer fees for sending him the wire transfer. It cost $40 just to send the transfer - so he credited that back by charging $40 less on the item.

Looks like I won't be rocking Defi's after all. I'm not a big like some people.

[5hift]

I would have stopped as soon as I saw this:

Detail of Beneficiary:MOHAMAD AZLI BIN AZIZAN

Detail of Beneficiary's Bank:AMBANK BERHAD

[/////AMG]

Sorry to hear man!

I found out about that from Watchdog (great show).

Whenever I see a seller with a lot of feedback from people with less than 10 feedback, something is going on. Then if you go through some of the pages most of them have the exact same positive feedback message.

Norway and Nigera and some account from the USA are real fishy (they might have registered their account in those countried but want you to ship else where). Guess Malaysia is next on the list.

[Chester]

Originally posted by 5hift
I would have stopped as soon as I saw this:

Detail of Beneficiary:MOHAMAD AZLI BIN AZIZAN

Detail of Beneficiary's Bank:AMBANK BERHAD

I won't buy from any sellers that aren't in Canada or the United States. Sorry to hear man.

[Xtrema]

As costly as Paypal is, I do trust it more than any other payment methods.

BTW, I don't consider anyone have less than 200 feedbacks and under 1 year as 'trustworthy' on Ebay.

[toyboy88]

even in some countries they make fake ipods/psp's/cellphones...that are EXACTLY like the real ones...BE CAREFUL use your common sense!