An Observation

[paradiso*bella*a*venire]

Ive not frequented the Ebay community for some years until recently and a lot has changed as far as the  set up since my hiatus. To tell you the truth, had it not been for the coronavirus keeping us all in isolation basically, I might not have broken the hiatus.  

Ive been reading the many threads about sellers and buyers falling victim to one scam or another, on and off site, and it began to put me off from buying more so than any other time in Ebay history. The scammers have become quite  clever in how they reach their victims....which brings me to the purpose of this post.

As I was reading one particular post just a minute ago of a poster asking if their situation was a scam, I couldnt shake this feeling that the "poster" was actually on the community boards test driving their scamming material to see if it passed or to see how they could make it more believable by the responses to the post.

There has been other threads started by people that gave me that same feeling. I feel these dishonest people are coming here to use this community as a testing ground for their scamming material and depending on the responses given, either proceeds  with their dishonesty on the listing floor or modifies where needed for it to work  for them.

Many buyers questions have given me pause when reading as I came away from their post feeling like they were digging for info on the worst  case scenario of a particular action to see just what may happen if they were to brave the dark side. 

Cant call it paranoia because, well, just cant. Im not that sort of person.  Ive been on the outside so long  looking in that something like this just leaps out at me so strongly that it can be felt physically.

These deceitful jokers are coming in here wolves in sheeps clothing....this one particular poster I mentioned initially will be watched to see if Im right about him/her. Im willing to bet Im 100% right about it.

Of course I wont give an identifier or name...but my eyes will be watching. I dont like the feeling  I got when I read their post.

[eburtonlab]

@paradiso*bella*a*venire 

As I was reading one particular post just a minute ago of a poster asking if their situation was a scam, I couldnt shake this feeling that the "poster" was actually on the community boards test driving their scamming material to see if it passed or to see how they could make it more believable by the responses to the post.

Scammers do not need to fine tune their scams to fool community discussion board posters. There is a seemingly endless supply of new eBay (and Facebook and Craigslist) users who have not yet encountered the old scams that scammers can target instead.

Most of the scams circulating are the same basic confidence scams that have been going on for years, just adapted slightly for things like email and gift cards. Scammers are lazy and opportunistic, and will just copy the same templates again and again, with very few variations or innovations.

The posters responding to those "Is this a scam?" postings are not providing any information that scammers can actually use -- just information that could be helpful to folks that do not want to be victims of scams.

If you really think posters who are asking about scams are scammers themselves, you ought to spend your time answering them, pointing out that all users should follow eBay policy and not engage in off-eBay transactions -- to discourage them from going through with their scams if they are scammers -- or to prevent them from being victimized if they are not.

[paradiso*bella*a*venire]

amateurs have to wet their feet somewhere. Of course I wasnt speaking of seasoned ones. Thought that would be a given.  Scammers arent provided with scamming skills the day they say, "hey! I want a piece of that action!" They all started as amateurs. 

I learned long ago to listen to gut feelings. Not sure why you would find fault with my post, but...ok!😉

You are pointing this somewhere you ought  not. There are many posts about scams on the boards, I didnt point this anywhere, why do you  feel the  need to? 

[paradiso*bella*a*venire · Accepted solution]

Additionally, I seem to recall posting some rather good advise to this person, so, thanks for the suggestion you made telling me what and how I should respond...😘