Hideous Scam: posing as a deceased person and add gift card to the package

[reistef_0]

Before permanently closing my eBay account...

Offered an item, got a really nice offer from abroad -- so far so good!

The Buyer ask me to add some US$400 in AAPL gift cards to the package 🤔

The Buyer -- let's call the person A -- said:

"no worries about the shipping to abroad
PayPal will give you the US based shipping address once I payed you, this is a holiday gift for my cousin in AK" 

The Buyer -- let's call the person A -- even asked or a txt or phone call

Even eBay claimed:
Good news, your item has been paid for.
Now that you've received your payment of <n> + <m> shipping, it’s time to pack up your item and ship it out.

Just that there was no actual pending on my eBay account.

Enough to do a "quick error checking protocol" and fact check 🤔

The eBay Account of the "Buyer" was of a person deceased some 2 years ago in a foreign country -- may a supreme being have mercy on his soul.

Needless to say rigorous attempts to get a hold of my eBay and PayPal account
!ENABLE 2-factor authentication! FCOL!
NEVER EVER SHARE YOUR 2nd factor (phone number?) with a buyer!
Do Zoom or the like!!!


Called eBay -- they confirmed the fraud scheme with the account of "Buyer" -- a person deceased some 2 years ago -- and -- the person A -- as "Buyer"... eBay promised to take action 🤞
Dissociated PayPal from eBay...
Called my Card Provider -- they stopped things in the tracks 😎

PS:
Sorry I won't be seeing the discussion on this fraud scheme -- posing as a dead person on eBay with PayPal 
to add som Gift Cards --  que tempora que mores

PPS:
At the eBay Anti-Fraud folks... you know how to contact me after closing my eBay account.
Happy to -- in confidence -- share the full gmail transcripts with you  -- that is if you are interested, are you?

よろしく

[doc-holmes]

You broke the rules by handing out your contract info so the scammer could send you a fake payment email. You called ebay and they are backing you up. How is this any of their fault? 

[albertabrightalberta]

@reistef_0 

You were fooled by common scam. 

Sorry.

[reistef_0]

Thank you all for your condolences.

 
Touché -- a common scam, indeed -- condoned by eBay despite better knowledge (acknowledge as per the before) and only if eBay customers complain?

@doc-holmes 
No so sure about a Touché for:

> You broke the rules

where exactly does eBay say "Thou Shall never speak with a buyer?" -- kindly point me to that part of the eBay Terms and Condition, would you?
Anyway when in doubt, granted. 

Whatever happened to the concept of sharing fraud attempts and not being flamed for them?

Even when closing all associations -- here is what "A" just send me

> I’m glad to inform you that I made the payment kindly login your mailbox and check your INBOX for payments confirmation emails

Very interesting -- closed my PayPal account hours ago 😉
"Nice try" or なんてこった

Don't bother eBay pledged disable my account in the next 24 hours -- should involve this on

[bonjourami]

"Don't bother eBay pledged disable my account in the next 24 hours -- should involve this on"

Probably for the best.

[doc-holmes]

---

@reistef_0 wrote:

Thank you all for your condolences.

 
Touché -- a common scam, indeed -- condoned by eBay despite better knowledge (acknowledge as per the before) and only if eBay customers complain?

@doc-holmes 
No so sure about a Touché for:

> You broke the rules

where exactly does eBay say "Thou Shall never speak with a buyer?" -- kindly point me to that part of the eBay Terms and Condition, would you?
Anyway when in doubt, granted. 

Whatever happened to the concept of sharing fraud attempts and not being flamed for them?

Even when closing all associations -- here is what "A" just send me

> I’m glad to inform you that I made the payment kindly login your mailbox and check your INBOX for payments confirmation emails

Very interesting -- closed my PayPal account hours ago 😉
"Nice try" or なんてこった

Don't bother eBay pledged disable my account in the next 24 hours -- should involve this on

---

The rule is pretty much exactly what you said. Thou shalt not speak to a customer off-ebay and the rule is outlined here for your reading pleasure:

https://www.ebay.ca/help/policies/member-behaviour-policies/publishing-contact-information-policy?id....

[reallynicestamps]

where exactly does eBay say "Thou Shall never speak with a buyer?" -

You cannot exchange contact information before a purchase. After that eBay is fairly flexible.

Very interesting -- closed my PayPal account hours ago

EBay sellers now only accept payments through Managed Payments, the in-house payment processor they set up when they were forced to spin off PP in 2015.

Buyers can still use PP to pay, as well as direct credit card payments, Apple Pay and GooglePay.

Even eBay claimed:
Good news, your item has been paid for.
Now that you've received your payment of <n> + <m> shipping, it’s time to pack up your item and ship it out.

I suspect if you look at that email, the URL will not actually be eBay.

[reistef_0]

PPPS
@ The Buyer -- let's call the person A --
Thank your for your patience in all our conversation, allowing me to grab some forensic logs of our email conversation... very insightful! 

At the eBay Anti-Fraud folks...  "want them? -- ping me"

[reistef_0]

Mea Culpa!
Just wanted to share a fraud scheme for the benefit of other eBay users.

Guess that was a Really Bad Idea to begin with

Never Mind 

[nobody*s_perfect]

---

@reistef_0 wrote: .... Touché -- a common scam, indeed -- condoned by eBay despite better knowledge (acknowledge as per the before) and only if eBay customers complain? ...

---

You can't accuse eBay of condoning behavior that they cannot have any knowledge about, i.e., communication between you and the buyer that is through your phone or email rather than through eBay messaging.  Every day on these boards, we see posts about scammers' efforts to take communications off-eBay so they can send fake "You've been paid!" emails or texts.

[reistef_0]

At the "smart ones" flaming me of "breaking the rules"...

In this case of someone assuming the identity (HACKING!) the eBay account of a person that passed 2 years ago -- your are absolutely RIGHT!

It is MY VERY obligation AND I shall check if a potential Buyer of something I sell on eBay is actually still alive and if the account has bot been hacked to scam. 

While at that, kindly please add your wisdom to check authenticity of the buyer, will you?

Any word on the subsequent attempts hacking my eBay and PayPal accounts as you may add are welcome, too.

Again, never mind  -- resting assured eBay shall close this account as per my request.

[bonjourami]

"Just wanted to share a fraud scheme for the benefit of other eBay users."

Unfortunately, this fraud scheme is so old its got whiskers.

[reistef_0]

@bonjourami 

Touché, indeed!
As per the late Douglas Adams:

> “Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.”

[reistef_0]

For the rest of us:

Mailed to "Buyer" directly -- via an obfuscated email address (THANK YOU Tim Cook!)

Said "Buyer" -- again -- posing a person that passed 2 years ago...!

Was -- say: kind enough to reply as:

d<censored>a<censored>7xx@gmail.com

Yep, bash me! for what you @doc-holmes and others call "breaking the rules"

I rest my case -- pleading guilty on the charge disclosing a scam on eBay

Got Tree?

[reistef_0]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "ebay@ebay.com" <serviceebayonline_at_gmail_com_<>@icloud.com>
Subject: PAYPAL REQUESTING FOR RECEIPT AND CARD CONFIRMATION CODE NUMBER FOR VERIFICATION
Date: December 12, 2022 at 5:13:41 PM PST
Still not convince that tis is a FRAUD? 
> To: Hide My Email <<censored>@icloud.com>

> Payment Status: Pending 85%.*******AWAITING FOR GIFT CARD CODE FOR CONFIRMATION
> Dear <censored>@icloud.com

> PAYMENT PENDING*******AWAITING FOR GIFT CARD CODE FOR CONFIRMATION
> Thank you for using PayPal.

> "AWAITING FOR GIFT CARD CODE FOR CONFIRMATION "

Again -- HOURS after I requested to close my eBay and PayPal accounts

Yeah Right -- I did indeed breake the eBay rules: Thou Shall NOT Dare to validate "The Buyers" authenticity


Mea Culpa for exhaustively documenting this FRAUD