I Think I've Got One Scammer Trying To Rip Off Another

[bossesale77]

No question, just wanted to tell the community about an odd situation 'm currently dealing with as a seller.

Earlier today I had a buyer purchase and pay for a 1970-81 Pontiac Firebird/Trans Am dashboard core I had listed, the core was listed for local pickup only so I messaged the buyer through the contact buyer link on my "Manage orders awaiting shipment" page thanking him for the purchase and asking him to verify that he intends to pick up the core.

About an hour after I sent my message I received a message asking me if I could ship the core, this was a direct message and not a response to the one I had sent earlier.

Upon closer inspection I notice that while the usernames of the buyer and the messenger are structured the same (5 lowercase letters-4 digits) the usernames are not the same, digging deeper I see that the buyer has zero feedback and is located in MA. while the messenger has 3 feedback and is located in CA..

Making matters more interesting is the fact that both accounts have been inactive for an extended period and have possibly been hacked. The buyer account was created Nov. 17th 2020 and has had no activity on it since it's creation. The messenger account was created in 2019 and has been inactive since 6/24/19 when it last received feedback from a seller of gun parts, it currently has a feedback percentage score of 0.0%. It's plausible the buyer created his account almost two years ago and used it for the first time today but why would he message me from another account that's been idle for over 3 years?

I'm certain the messenger is trying to pull the "track an item, impersonate the buyer when it sells" scam but I'm also relatively convinced that both accounts have been hijacked. I'm still waiting on a response from the buyer account to the message I sent earlier but I don't think there's gonna be one. I've added the messenger to my BBL and won't be sending a response to his message.

[janet9988]

Glad that you caught on to the scam.

For all you know it could be the same person pretending to be another person just to get the item for free.

You are correct that you only need to deal with the actual ID of the buyer.  You are under no obligation to change the terms on your listing.

[mam98031]

I've read other similar stories where a different buyer contacts a seller to change the ship to address.  These darn scammers to make us stay on our toes don't they !!!!  😍

I'm glad you caught onto this and didn't fall for it.  GREAT Job!!

[bonjourami]

i just want to mention its very hard to scam on a pick up item,..as no tracking is required.When the buyer pays, Ebay sends him a QR code for the seller to scan upon pick up.If you had decided to ship the item, you would have to close the original listing and relist with the shipping fee,which of course, provides tracking.