Ebay Second Chance Offers Warning

[SOS8260456 Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close SOS8260456]

About 4 weeks ago we sold some FF points on ebay. The winning bidder followed through and the sale is almost closed. Well, 10 minutes ago our telephone rings. It was a gentleman who wanted to know what was going on with his purchase of these points through a second chance offer. He said he sent the money to us through western union 4 weeks ago. I felt bad having to tell him that he was scammed. I know he didn't believe me and he said he will be following through with ebay. He just kept saying that he did everything through ebay, that the offer came through ebay and he could not understand how it could be a scam. He mentioned an email address from hotmail that I had never heard of before. I did tell him to contact ebay, but that I am not quite sure what they could do for him.

I feel so bad on one hand, but on the other, it ticks me off, because we specifically list in all of our auctions our phone number and the warning to call us if they receive a second chance offer to make sure it it legit.

I also can't believe that a person would send that kind of money without talking to someone on the phone first.

Lisa

[Guest Close Quarterbore]

I have been kind of busy but how do these scams work? I have sold quite a few things were I offered second chance offers and inside ebay I thought they were safe and any other ebay sale...

Good luck, regarless and we do live in a world that is full of sharks it seems.

[SOS8260456 Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close SOS8260456]

Ken,
I am not sure how the scammers do it. I went back to the auction and the high bidder was $2300. These people said they got the 2nd chance offer for $1450. They were the 7th highest bidders. The winning bidder and 5 other bidders were higher than them.

We did ask them to keep us informed of what happens and what ebay does.

Lisa

[jericap Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close jericap]

I have received 2 second chance emails that were a scam. Before I acted on them, I emailed the original seller. They are the ones that stated they did not offer the second chance.
I see now that alot of sellers of timeshares have a warning that if you receive a second chance offer to email them for verification.
The other thing I noticed, if it is a true second chance offer, there is the same message in the Message section of "my eBay"

The email offerings look so real, however, you would swear it's legit!

If they were number 7, imagine if everyone before them sent them money!

[ArtsieAng Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close ArtsieAng]

I feel so badly for the poor person who was scammed....I really like ebay, and I do buy lots of stuff from them. However, you can never be too careful when dealing with ebay. It seems it truly has turned into a haven for scam artists. I am constantly getting warnings from Ebay...never do this, never do that, etc.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Basically they steal your email address and if you sold or bid on an item they have your id. What they then do is get a copy of a 2nd chance offer and change it to make it look real. This is nothing compared to other tricks that they are pulling. When ever I get any emails from eBay or pay pal I forward them to
Spoof@ebay.com or spoof@paypal.com

BTW they are starting to use banking spoofs now as well so be careful.

Lisa tell the person that was scammed to dispute it with Pay pal and if they used a CC go that route first asap. if they sent a check its over.

[SOS8260456 Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close SOS8260456]

Frank,
They sent the money Western Union.


Lisa

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Frank,
They sent the money Western Union.


Lisa

In that case I believe they can kiss there money good bye. Since it is via the Internet they can file fraud with the FCC any FBI. They will investigate it but there is no way of knowing if they will catch them.
Any idea how much they lost?

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

It is really awful how many of these scam letters are floating around. My DH almost fell for one this week but I just stopped him in time. I also showed him the trick of hovering the pointer over the link and then check what the URL address really is at the bottom of the web page.

You can see soon enough if it is legit or not. These scam emails normally end up in our SPAM box but not always as the scams are getting so sophisticated.

[SOS8260456 Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close SOS8260456]

Any idea how much they lost?

$1,450 plus closing costs. They didn't tell us what amount they paid for closing costs, but we had $250 plus FF's $100 transfer fee listed in the auction. They forwarded over copies of the emails they received. In addition to the 2nd chance offer, they also received one that said "Ebay transaction #(auction #) confirmation". These emails really looked like they came from ebay.

Here is a portion of the email:

Payment must be sent by Western Union Wire Transfer to:
> Seller verified name: Saltzman Joseph Seller verified address:
> 8544 NW 66th St ,
> Miami , Florida , 33166
>

This was their first experience with ebay and it was a whopper.

Lisa

[Tom52 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tom52]

I occasionally bid on guitars on ebay. When I don't win the auction, which is most of the time, I ALWAYS get a second chance offer, and they have ALL been scams. The email appears to be through ebay, but when you are 6 or 7 bids lower than the original winning bid you know it is a scam so I don't even bother emailing the seller to verify it is a true second chance offer. I always keep a link to any auction I bid on just so I can follow up with the original seller in case of a second chance offer.

"folks, let's be careful out there"

[14thMed Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 14thMed]

I got 3 different 2nd. chance offers today on the same lost auction.I'm sure someone out there can top it??? 14th Med

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Try bidding on a high end Bose speaker system, Then let me know how many 2nd chance offers you get.