Fraud Ring operating on Ebay

[bronzespirit1960]

The other day I sold a brand new Nikon Camera.Shortly before the legitimate buyer paid I received a notification of thanks and then they asked me to ship it to an address all the way across the country as they had recently “moved.” I did a double check, the name did not match, and I thought major red flag. After I stated I would not do that and instead cancel the sale the “buyer” deleted their account which had only been active for one day. I tracked down the notification w the address on it and performed a Google Earth search. The address was in  Newcastle, DE at a warehouse. Its email address is :Usa2Georgia. For a fee you can have a registered postal address there and then when item arrives it will then be shipped to the Country of Georgia. 20% of that country is

by Russia. So apparently they have ppl surviving eBay high ticket auctions and sales and try to intervene getting the seller to ship to the fake address where the item is then shipped to Russian ( mafia?). This fraud is active in USA as well as China and Turkey. Always pay close attention to the actual buyer listed on your eBay site and not one that pops up in notifications or email. 

[simba6]

They can't close their account right away like that.  More likely eBay closed it for them.  High value items like that will " bring them out of the woodwork " every time.

[ebooksdiva]

I have never shipped to any address other than the one in the order details. In an INR case the seller is only protected if they ship to the address shown in the order details.

A scam is obvious when the eBay ID in the messages doesn't match the original buyer eBay ID.

[jonathanbrightlight]

Glad you didn't get caught up in the scam, but a warning here: if the message asking you to change the address didn't come from the username of the buyer, they likely weren't involved and you should have shipped it to the address on the order.

Just because someone else messages you about the item doesn't mean they have any knowledge about the buyer.  Anyone can see that an item has sold, and the way these scammers work is to message every seller that has a recently sold item (likely restricted to specific categories or values based on the scammer's expectations, only because they couldn't get away with messaging every single seller who sells anything nor would it be worthwhile to them), but the buyer is usually completely unaware that this is happening.

Also, that New Castle, DE address is just a freight forwarder, and they are uninvolved in the scam as well.  They have no idea whether the items they're shipping overseas were obtained in a way like this, since they don't have access to their client's purchase history or anything like that.

The right thing to do is to report the message, but ship the order to the address on the order.

[kensgiftshop]

That scam has been around for years and it'll continue as long as it works.

That's one reason not to change the shipping address.

[ittybitnot]

@bronzespirit1960 

This is a well known scam.  So much so it has a "name"...Change of address scammer (season 2) .  The person asking you to ship to a well known (for a decade or more) Freight Forwarder address WAS NOT YOUR BUYER.  You canceled the sale on the person that actually paid you. 

Though the Russian Federation has been sanctioned for using eBay at all, that address and others were their favorite.  I am sure it still is on the list, but they have to have surrogate buyers who are likely instructed on how to use the same old scam tactics.  The "change of address" scammer is easy.  Their reason/sorry tale is basically always the same, and they want it shipped to a Freight Forwarder.  THEY ARE NOT YOUR BUYER, and are easy to report directly on the message itself under the three bar menu.  

[ittybitnot]

They have no idea whether the items they're shipping overseas were obtained in a way like this, since they don't have access to their client's purchase history or anything like that.

@jonathanbrightlight 

Not that it matters, but after 10 years or more as being reported as a "scam address" and ten years of eBay sellers calling them to get verification for the old eBay requirement that the package was actually exported, I would not go as far as to say this business is clueless.  I would be more inclined to say that they are "paid well", because it has been so easy for their customers to get the merchandise for free that they can afford it.  

[12345jamesstamps]

New Castle, Delaware is a 'freight forward' warehouse that is used by buyers who make a purchase in the USA and have it delivered to their country from there.

I have had many items sent that way without a problem.

When a buyer pays I ship it to that address without a problem...key is it has to be paid and the address has to match the person who pays for it.

I would just ignore any emails from other people and just mail the item out.