Address change scammers, why is there no easy way to report them?

[adirondackthrifter]

Had an item sell overnight and received a message, NOT from the buyer, with  the item pictured in the message with an address and the words "wrong address I am so sorry!".  Of course I know that you only ship to the address in the order, and was about to reply telling them I will cancel it and they can buy it again. It was then I noticed this person had not bought anything from me, and had 0 feedback and a fresh account. After a google search I learned this scam is nothing new. What surprise me is after alot of searching there just is no way to easily report a fraudulent account. A link on the message to report it would make sense. It's easy enough to report a buyer but this person did not buy anything to you cant. Sent a message to ebay business on FB but will be hours or a day before they respond. How many newbie sellers will get scammed in the duration. The fraud prevention team. if it exist, should be easily accessible to buyers and sellers alike.

[coolections]

I don't see how people could get scammed the way you describe. You send to the address on the account that says ship to. I doubt man people would randomly use a message without using Ebay to ship the item.

[ittybitnot]

 after alot of searching there just is no way to easily report a fraudulent account. A link on the message to report it would make sense.

You would be correct.  The on site report features only allow one to report an ID that is already your winning bidder or buyer.  There used to be a link on the eBay message, but eBay removed it, as being unnecessary since their fraud detection software would prevent the nonsense from ever reaching you. 

In the recent past, eBay said they would honor seller protection if a seller changed the address as requested in an eBay message.  They no longer do that and it does not take much imagination to understand why the policy changed.  

It is not unusual anymore to get more than one "request for shipping change" once your item sells from different IDs.  

[adirondackthrifter]

He/she is "No longer a registered user" after I had a chat with ebay on facebook.

[bigdeals.etc]

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@adirondackthrifter wrote:

He/she is "No longer a registered user" after I had a chat with ebay on facebook.

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That means they got the ebay boot. Thanks for trying to make ebay safer for all of us.

[kensgiftshop]

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@adirondackthrifter wrote:

He/she is "No longer a registered user" after I had a chat with ebay on facebook.

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That 1 account might be shut don't, but their other 50 accounts are scamming along.

That's the problem, they can shut down these accounts, but the just open new ones.

[bargainnation]

Call eBay. That's the fastest way to report that person.

[gwzcomps]

When in doubt you can talk to the Trust and Safety department.  Sounds like it has been taken care of though 🙂

[dtexley3]

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@coolections wrote:

I don't see how people could get scammed the way you describe. You send to the address on the account that says ship to. I doubt man people would randomly use a message without using Ebay to ship the item.

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You've been on the forums long enough to know this happens way too frequently to newbie sellers.  They come on and sell a $200+ item and get a request to change the destination.  Some don't realize it's not from the buyer and comply, some ask on the forums first and are warned, some do realize it's a scam and send to the correct address.  But far, far too often new sellers get clipped by this scam.

Once again eBay could supply some level of protection via warnings on messages that ask a buyer to change the shipping location, but that's "too hard" but it's no problem to flag messages that might somehow, possibly, by some extreme stretch of imagination result in an off site sale.....

[gwzcomps]

eBay just needs to do a better job verifying buyers.  eBay is fast to shut down new sellers, so not sure why the same doesn't apply to buyers.  I'm guessing these scammers send out hundreds of messages.  Can't be that hard to figure out.

[wesk_36]

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@gwzcomps wrote:

eBay just needs to do a better job verifying buyers.  eBay is fast to shut down new sellers, so not sure why the same doesn't apply to buyers.  I'm guessing these scammers send out hundreds of messages.  Can't be that hard to figure out.

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I'm sure they do send out hundreds of such messages. As criminals, this is what they do, it's their chosen vocation. One criminal can send hundreds of messages a day, one group of criminals, thousands, and it never stops because they make money and while the criminals are giving the high-five to each other, ebay is slow to do anything, if anything, and ebay makes it very easy to set up new and multiple accounts, without question, instantly.

Criminals play the odds; they know that many will catch the scam, they also know that many buyers are unsophisticated or not well-versed in scams and are very trusting, so a couple or more scammed, out of a hundred, is a good day.

A message like "wrong address I am so sorry!" sounds sincere at first glance and can make anyone pause and some to respond without matching the buyer and the criminal ID.

[shhboom]

I wonder if the address is really where the scammer lives , or is some abandoned house used for pick up. Try using google maps to see if you can see a picture of the place. If its a vacant place, then it's probably being used multiple times...maybe you could alert the local postmaster or police.