15 Fraudulent Sales This Morning

[somanypostcards]

Today within about an hour I had 15 fraudulent purchases by 15 existing eBay buyers (members from 2005 - 2019) all with low feedback (from 2 to 9) of $1 postcards (6 of item 1849523686633, 3 of item 174775543922).  Though bought by 15 different buyers, all were being mailed to 6190 SW Arctic Dr. #HP694, Beaverton, OR.  The name receiving these purchases was BON sanchinbonphamhai.  (Note:  Last March I had 18 sales that I reported as suspicious with a receiver of BON 694phamhai.  eBay confirmed most of these where an "unauthorized use of buyer account" and cancelled the transactions.)  When I checked the feedback of the 15 buyers, ALL had made 1 or 2 purchases from Dell (26912) in the past month, and most had made 1 purchase from 3rtechnology (17831) in the past month and 1 or 2 purchases from ankerdirect (212135) in the past month or past 6 months.  These are very big sellers with expensive items.

I called CS and got transferred to the Fraud Department to report these fraudulent sales.  I asked if the other sellers would be notified, and only was told the the buyer accounts would be "monitored."  I asked if the buyers would be notified of probable unauthorized use of their accounts.  Again I was told their accounts would be "monitored."  I asked if this would be settled in time for me to avoid getting dinged for late shipment.  The Fraud CS rep said I should mail the items.  I said eBay's letter I received for former "unauthorized use of buyer account" said NOT to contact the buyer, NOT to mail the item, and if mailed, try to stop the shipment (est. cost $15 more or less).  I then asked to speak with a manager.  I was told a manger wasn't available at the moment, but I would get called by the manager later today.  Sure...

[wastingtime101]

If you ship with tracking and the accounts are deemed fraudulent, then eBay should cover you in the event of an 'unauthorized use' payment dispute.

When's your shipping deadline? Have you contacted the freight forwarder to let them know about the fraudulent activity - both past and current? They might put a stop to it.

[southern*sweet*tea]

You've just experienced the Ebay telephone merry go round of misfortune. 

Call back  in an hour if you want to ride again, the manager was away at the time you called.

They were letting their stomach settle from their last spin.

Use the live chat, folks. At least you'll have a written transcript.

[somanypostcards]

I mail $1.00 postcards using USPS first class letters costing $.58 which has no tracking.  However since I know in advance that fraud is involved I do not plan to mail these.  I do not know if the ship to address is a freight forwarder.  I also believe eBay Fraud Dept. should be the one to contact them about probable fraudulent activity.  I can't see the expensive items bought from Dell and the other 2 large sellers mentioned above, which should be part of the information provided when contacting the business in Beaverton, Oregon.  But thanks for your suggestions.

[postingid7659]

Sounds like a big cancel order - problem with address, to me.  

[femmefan1946]

Any business which is watching for fraud will not tell you what they are actually doing.

Just in case you are the fraudster looking for tips on how to circumvent their actions.

Cancel the sales either as Buyer Request or Problem with Address, and move on.

Google will help you if the address is a freight forwarder, even if it is only by showing a building in an industrial park. Probably near an airport.

But although this is likely fraud of some sort freight forwarders are the second most secure addresses you can mail to, after PO boxes.

The buyer who uses a forwarder, either commercial or Auntie Olga in Queens, is giving up most of his Buyer Protection under the Money Back Guarantee,

And @  tyler has recently confirmed that a seller who has been told to send  to send return shipping label, need only send it to the forwarder's address, not to the complainant overseas.

[dryophelia]

Look at post 14 on this thread from earlier today. 

It's not likely @somanypostcards will be scammed, but it is laying the groundwork for future sellers of more expensive items to be scammed.

[somanypcs]

Yes, this is precisely what I'm worried about.  The 16 buyers have had inactive eBay accounts for years.  Each bought a $1 postcard from me, which I can afford to lose.  However when I look at their feedback I see that ALL bought from Dell this month, which accounts for 50% of their total purchases.  Hopefully eBay will let Dell and the 3 other high volume, high price sellers know about these 16 suspicious (stolen?) buyer accounts in a timely fashion to potentially help the sellers avoid large losses.  I think eBay should also let the buyers know about the recent purchases, as when this happened before buyers were unaware of the "unauthoriezed use" of their accounts.

Also a question for your advice:  Should I mail the 16 postcards since they've been paid for, cancel the 16 transactions and refund the payments, or wait to see what eBay does based on my fraud report today?

Note:  my other seller ID is being blocked from adding this message.

[dryophelia]

@somanypcs 

If you cancel, they may leave negative feedback. When you block them, they get another user ID or find another seller. 

Maybe they don’t leave negative. Maybe they are looking to bulk up their own feedback numbers. I just don’t know. 
I do know today is the first I’ve heard about this and the full scope of what these buyers is up to won’t be known until the sellers of the expensive items start coming around and explaining what happened. 
Maybe it’s already happened. 

These international ‘buyers’ have found another vulnerability in eBay’s Managed Payment process. Not being able to block foreign credit cards and payments has left it wide open for this scenario you find yourself part of. 

I don’t know what I would do, if I were in your shoes. 

[justafemster]

I see your completed listing and I couldn't do it.  

List for $1, free shipping.  Ebay takes $0.13 and $0.30 per transaction, postage is $0.58.  You are losing a penny per sold listing.  

That's not counting your shipping supplies or time.  

Sometimes other sellers confuse me.  

Back the original subject.  Good luck!

[ironbreed]

Just some FYI...

You can now mail postcards using "standard envelope" and eBay provides the tracking.  This is a new service for sellers that sell trading cards, postcards, coins and currency and stamps.  Check into it for your "legitimate" buyers.

[ironbreed]

They can't leave feedback when you choose "buyer requested" as your excuse for cancelling a transaction.

[iart]

Yes. And not only losing money on the sales. But losing all the time it takes to photo, describe, list and pack, answering questions and more. I don't understand some other sellers either.

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@justafemster wrote:

I see your completed listing and I couldn't do it.  

List for $1, free shipping.  Ebay takes $0.13 and $0.30 per transaction, postage is $0.58.  You are losing a penny per sold listing.  

That's not counting your shipping supplies or time.  

Sometimes other sellers confuse me.  

Back the original subject.  Good luck!

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[steohanfloess]

I have had a ton of these, seems eBay doesn't care.  I keep cancelling them.  Seem to all go to the same buyer ID BON 1058 LeTu / Bon1058 ThanhTu.  

[somanypostcards]

Just curious.  Are your suspicious sales going to Beaverton, OR?  If so, on the packing slip underneath the Ship to address do you see a faulty 11-digit phone number ending in 39185?