MASSIVE influx of fake listings/hacked accounts

[jumpking602]

I'm seeing a huge amount of listings for currrent-gen gaming consoles at the same set of three price points, with copy/pasted descriptions from other stores (to the point where they even include information about contacting said stores) all between $68 and $89. These listings tend to all be by accounts with 100+ star ratings. Often times I've seen that the sellers have not been active for a year longer, but now I'm seeing these listings in conjunction with legitimate listings. 

I don't mean to be a pessimist in this coincidental time of bargain shopping, but these are clearly fake orders.

You can easily reproduce this issue by searching for "xbox one x" at a Buy it Now and sort by lowest price, but I've seen this for other consoles, as well as other pieces of tech.

The scary part about this is that there is always at least 1-2 listings up. Is other people not noticing this and just thinking they're getting a great deal?

[nglstore]

We did buy from a couple of scammers, within 1 week they were banned, and money refunded. 

Best regards

[mudshark61369]

@rekson74k,

 "I'm seeing a huge amount of listings for currrent-gen gaming consoles at the same set of three price points, with copy/pasted descriptions from other stores"

Since ebay gets millions of new items listed on the site daily, there is no possible way they can vet each one, so they have to be reactive to those listings.  If they take proactive actions against a legitimate seller by mistake, because of how a listing is constructed, or priced they could face a serious lawsuit.  Whether or not it is a legit item and price will be found out when the last estimated delivery date passes. If many INR disputes get opened ebay will shut down the listing. 

  "I don't mean to be a pessimist in this coincidental time of bargain shopping, but these are clearly fake orders"

Can you think of a better time to hide scams among the legitimately lowered price listings?  You at least are wise enough to use the tools ebay provides to spot possible hijacked accounts.  Too many people see a "Bargain / Too Good Too Be True" price, and all common sense flies out the window. One thing ebay cannot do is fix stupid!

  Many who get taken by the scams and post on the boards admit to not checking the seller's feedback or reading descriptions and listings all the way through. They often blame ebay for their lack of due dilligence.

  "The scary part about this is that there is always at least 1-2 listings up. Is other people not noticing this and just thinking they're getting a great deal"

Over the next several weeks there are likely to be many more suspicious listings posted, not just in the personal electronics category, but in many others as well. Especially, when this years "hot Items" start becoming harder to find in stores.  The scams will not be exclusive just to ebay either, they will be posted on most of the 3rd party selling sites.

[emerald40]

OP, there are sites actually selling old. abandoned accounts.

And to open a new one all you need is a fresh address and credit card.

Too bad these newbies do not realize they will never see a penny of that money as they will be subject to a paypal hold. (sarcasm)

[jumpking602]

You may be misunderstanding where my concern lies. My concern is that some of these accounts have been posting legitimate listings recently. I'm not worried about scams on eBay, that comes with the territory of sites like this. But to suggest that 'you can't fix stupid' when a common user sees a 5 star rating seller sell something and then purchase is ludicrous. 

It's the equivalent of going to a well known restaurant based on popular feedback, recieving burnt toast as a meal, and then being told that you should've known better than to trust the masses.

If the accounts were sold, sure, that's acceptable and reaason to believe that this cannot be corrected, but if the accounts are being hacked, I would be concerned about the safety of my own as well as everyone elses that there is an exploit in the system that hackers simply take advantage of during the holiday season. 

[juicysgirl]

I also have been getting alot of fake offers for my items. Does Ebay not have a way to screen these scam artists so us sellers dont have to go through a bunch of **bleep** to try to cancel then relist our items after having to wait for days as a part of ebay's policy/process. Trying to get the final fee refund is a hassle also. Maybe this is a scam on ebays part. I just started to sell on Ebay and so far I am extremely unsatisfied with it. After this last transaction is cancelled and over with, I will not be selling on ebay again!