I want to share a story, I
learned the hard way and hope to
help others. This is also an update
to my guide about scammers and
PayPal. After selling a gold coin
(180148426395) I learned of this
scam/rip-off setup. Here's how the
scam works. This guy stole a credit
card account and registered as that
person with eBay. He even used the
correct address on the account
because eBay requires that the
registration and credit card billing
address match.
When the auction ended I did get this address, but he quickly emailed me to ask me to please send the coin to Latvia. Saying that he was ONLY the financial intermediary and would get his commission if I sent the coin to the "real" buyer. I thought I could cover myself by asking for "proof" in the form of emails from both parties stating their instructions. I DO know that I should only ship to confirmed addresses..but I wanted to be accommodating. WRONG MOVE!! Now I have no seller protection! The real credit card user has his account cleared up, PayPal has their fees, and I have -O- !! Don't fall for this. If a buyer asks for favors, DON'T DO IT!! This scammer has also used other id's and other stolen credit card accounts. I found out another id was snejkeprysd15.
That seller was also asked to send the gold to Latvia, luckily he didn't send it! The pattern seems to involve gold and Latvia. If you sell gold, be aware of buyers with a low feedback score.
They sometimes manipulate feedback to make them look legitimate as in the case of snejkeprysd15. But when it comes to sending the items to a 3rd party..DON'T DO IT!
I do feel that eBay and PayPal have work to do to protect sellers. I don't have the answers, but I have learned a big lesson. I hope my experience will be a lesson for others too! If this helps you in any way, please take a second to vote. Thanks~
When the auction ended I did get this address, but he quickly emailed me to ask me to please send the coin to Latvia. Saying that he was ONLY the financial intermediary and would get his commission if I sent the coin to the "real" buyer. I thought I could cover myself by asking for "proof" in the form of emails from both parties stating their instructions. I DO know that I should only ship to confirmed addresses..but I wanted to be accommodating. WRONG MOVE!! Now I have no seller protection! The real credit card user has his account cleared up, PayPal has their fees, and I have -O- !! Don't fall for this. If a buyer asks for favors, DON'T DO IT!! This scammer has also used other id's and other stolen credit card accounts. I found out another id was snejkeprysd15.
That seller was also asked to send the gold to Latvia, luckily he didn't send it! The pattern seems to involve gold and Latvia. If you sell gold, be aware of buyers with a low feedback score.
They sometimes manipulate feedback to make them look legitimate as in the case of snejkeprysd15. But when it comes to sending the items to a 3rd party..DON'T DO IT!
I do feel that eBay and PayPal have work to do to protect sellers. I don't have the answers, but I have learned a big lesson. I hope my experience will be a lesson for others too! If this helps you in any way, please take a second to vote. Thanks~
