How verify whether a listing on Craigslist was a valid eBay motors listing customer service number

[eburtonlab]

Beware scammers who advertise on other sites and tell you that the transaction will be handled through eBay.

That is not how eBay works. eBay does not rely on users finding ads on Facebook or other sites and sending contact information to a seller. Likely the seller will send a phony "invoice" that appears to be from eBay but is not, asking you to pay with gift cards to have the vehicle shipped to you for a free evaluation period.

eBay has no warehouse and does not ship vehicles. eBay does not handle such transactions or provide "vehicle protection orders". Scammers often promise those things, though. Any phone number you may receive on such an "invoice" does not connect to eBay, but to the scammer.

Anyone that asks you to purchase gift cards or to send card codes to them to complete a transaction is trying to take advantage of you. Anyone asking for a gift card is looking for a gift at your expense. Once anyone else knows the code, your money will be gone and you will have no recourse.

See here for some info about avoiding such scams (US links):

https://pages.motors.ebay.com/buy/security/index.html

https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/common-fraud-schemes/online-vehicle-sale-fraud

The only way to purchase a vehicle on eBay is to sign in to eBay, find the vehicle on eBay and complete the checkout process on eBay, so that the item appears in your Purchase History. Then you typically meet the seller to inspect the vehicle, pay the seller, and collect the keys, title and vehicle.

If you encountered an ad on another site, contact that site to have the ad removed. eBay is not involved with any ads listed on sites other than eBay itself.

[woodland_gnome]

It never is.  It is always a scam. 

[ahn3_93]

Thanks for the info.  I feel totally stupid.  It shows when someone is desperate how vulnerable one can be.  I can't find ANY customer service number on eBay to talk to a live person.  Do you have any contact number I can call.  Thanks.

[lady_madonna]

@ahn3_93 

There is no reason to call Ebay.

Ebay has nothing to do with car ads on other sites such as Craigslist.

You are dealing with a criminal. Report the ad to Craigslist.

There are warning messages all over Craigslist regarding car sales scams, please read them in order to protect yourself from being the victim of a SCAM.

[eburtonlab]

Many people fall for such scams, so you are hardly alone in that.

Unfortunately, once the scammer has the gift card numbers, any funds on the cards are immediately spent by the scammer to prevent the card from being used by anyone else. And once spent, the money is effectively gone. That is why scammers ask for gift cards.

https://pages.ebay.com/giftcardscams/