Again, the price, the price! I was sooo low that you just had to buy it. Perfect bait.
1. The super low price is first sign it's a scam. But people fall for it all day, every day.
2. You found the vehicle on a site other than eBay so technically it is not another eBay scam, it is another craigslist, facebook marketplace or offerup scam.
3. Third sign it's a scam: it is all ready to ship and will get to your place 2-3 days
4. The "seller" is getting deployed (Afghanistan, really?) Scam sign 4.
5. The "seller" wants you to give her your contact info so eBay can send invoice. But wait, if it's a legit eBay transaction, eBay already has that info. No need to send it again.
6. The "invoice" is fake; the contact info on the invoice is scammer's contact info so when you think you are contacting eBay, you're actually contacting scammer.
7. You have a ten day inspection period. Scammers used to offer only 5 days, so they've upped their game on this one.
8. The scammer tells you she won't be receiving any money during the "inspection" period but the fact is, after you buy the gift cards and give "eBay" the numbers on the cards, your money is gone and cannot be traced.
These scams work because people see the super low price and think, "That is a fantastic deal. I'd better jump on this before someone else beats me to it." Scammers know that greed works. If the price is really that low, any used car dealer within a hundred miles would snap it up with just a phone call from seller and there would be no need to go to the trouble of selling it over the internet. This is especially true right now because dealers are having a hard time finding cars to sell.
