Apple Gift Card Scam?
Summary: kath.layn, an eBay seller, discovered a fraudulent purchase on their account for a $100 Apple gift card bought with a different debit card. They contacted the seller to cancel the order, but it was declined. The purchase appeared to occur at 3 a.m., with a suspicious login from a device in Austin, TX, which kath.layn did not authorize. The first notification received was an email about shipping preparation. They reported the fraud to their bank and eBay, canceled their card, and changed their password. caldreamer and pickapaper expressed surprise and advised reporting the seller, while mypostingid15 suggested changing the eBay password. kath.layn suspects it might be part of a money laundering scheme.
I woke up this morning and had an email saying My order was getting ready to ship. I’m an eBay seller, rarely if ever buy from eBay and if I do I use the same debit card. This purchase was made from a different debit card of mine, at 3 a.m. Sunday morning. It looks like n apple gift card for $100, that cost $130. I never buy anything like that and would never pay more than face value. I reached out to seller and told them I didnt make the order and to please cancel. They declined. So I went to my bank and reported it as fraudulent. Any idea what’s up with this? My bank closed out that card and issued me a new number. Also I never received any notification of the purchase between Sunday morning when the sale supposedly happened and this morning when I got the notice they were preparing to ship.
kath.layn
OP1 week agoPretty sure it must be a money laundering scheme of some sort. But I can’t figure out how
mypostingid15
·1 week agoScammers list gift cards on eBay for more than face value. No buyer would pay $130 for a $100 Apple gift card, but hackers don't care about the price because they are using stolen money. The seller account selling the gift card is either controlled by the hacker themselves or a co-conspirator, and by buying the marked up card through your account, they take cash from your card and convert it into clean cash.
kath.layn
OP1 week agoFirst thing I did was contact my bank and cancelled the debit card linked to the account and reported fraud. Then I contacted eBay and reported it all and changed my password. The purchase shows up in my eBay purchases. Made at 3:00 a.m. Sunday. Going back thru eBay messages there was a log into my acct from a new device at 2:55 a.m. Sunday from Austin, TX. I’m in Oregon. I did not get any email or eBay message telling me there had been a purchase. Is that unusual? First I knew of it was this morning, got an email from eBay telling me seller was getting ready to ship.
mypostingid15
·1 week agoChange your eBay password as soon as you can.
pickapaper
·1 week ago@kath.layn
Is it showing in your purchase history?
I looked at the listings and there are a lot of these Apple GCs for sale ranging from the $130 to almost $300 for a $100 GC. And, if I looked at the correct listing for the one yours came from, that seller has more than 22K feedback at 100%.
I hope you will keep us posted about anything else going on with this. It's just crazy.
caldreamer
·1 week agoThat is so crazy, thank God you caught that in time. Never heard of this particular scam.
You should report this Seller to EBAY.