eBay

peepernicus · ‎01-07-2021

If you have searched and found posts regarding AT&T contacting you offering you a discount on an upgraded plan if you pay several months in advance using an Ebay gift card this is a real scam. I called back a number that offered me 50% off my plan. I was told I would not only keep my existing plan but receive 2 premium movie channels. The first month would be free and I was to pay the next 5 months in advance. I was very happy to be able to obtain such an offer because my plan was ending and was going to increase in price to the point that I would no longer be able to afford it. AT&T had told me that my plan was no longer available and that the plan they could offer me would be less channels and cost more. I gave my account number and other sensitive information to the scammer. He told me I would receive a credit for the month I had paid for my old plan within 20 minutes and had me check new premium channels to be sure they were "loading". It was not until the end that he gave me an authorization code and told me that I would need to go purchase an Ebay card and then call Billing with my authorization code and the Ebay Card number. He said this was necessary because it was an Ebay sponsored offer. I put him on hold searched online and found it was a scam. I hung up and contacted AT&T to confirm which they did. No such to good to be true offer existed. I was being scammed.

acacia502 · ‎01-08-2021

A few weeks ago, my husband was contacted by phone from someone saying they represented Direct TV and told that they had a partnership deal with EBay to lower Direct TV costs. This is a very sophisticated scam. The callers were able to access our Direct TV account, change channels, and had a lot of account information making it appear very legitimate. They said the promotion was with eBAY and payable in EBAY cards. Anyway, he fell for this scam and bought about $500 in EBAY cards, and gave them the numbers.

Subsequently, he realized he'd been scammed and I immediately contacted EBAY to cancel the cards. They were able to cancel one of three. I also went to the ATT customer message board to explore whether this was a common scam. Apparently it is. Both AT&T and EBAY have known about it for over a year, but have done NOTHING to warn customers.

I complained to EBAY that, since they have known about this scam for quite awhile, they ought to have posted warnings on the gift card packaging, at the POS, or both ie "Do not to give out the EBAY card number to anyone - because that indicates a likely fraud. " I complained to ATT that they also have a duty to warn customers.

In any event, Ebay made $360 off us. I wonder how much more they have made while conveniently ignoring their duty to warn customers?

I have reported the fraud to the FTC and my congressional rep. Please do the same if you have been scammed via ATT/EBAY.