http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2455796557&category=49977 For those wanting to see what an Ebay scam auction looks like.....this is one. I have no idea how long this auction will be up before the Keystone Cops at Ebay Fraud will pull the plug. This is an easy fraud to spot. A late model BMW Motorcycle in like new condition with a "Buy it Now" price of $4000. (the bike sold for $16000 new). And the seller claims they will ship it (minimum cost $600) anywhere free. Quite likely, the criminal compromised the account and is using it to run this phony auction. They no doubt lifted the photos from another auction. You can bet the seller will only accept payment via Western Union. If it looks/sounds too good to be true.......give it the smell test.
It could also be a hot bike as they make no mention of having title/registration. Do not see any tags on the bike itself. No mention I see of transferable warranty. Obviously looking for a buy-it-now since there is only a $1.00 difference between it and opening bid price. From user I.D., look like they are in California. May not have been honest, but I sent them the following to see what the response will be. Will be surprised to receive any. "I have a cousin who would kill to have this bike. Where are you located? He will want to inspect it prior to, pretty well, on-the-spot cash purchase once he does the buy-it-now. He has his own plane so can pretty well travel anywhere in the U.S. to look at it on very short notice. He will need to see the title and registration on it also." 25 feedbacks. 24 positive. One negative. None since last September. All of the auction numbers have gone out of the system so cannot tell what was bought or sold. Ken S. in WC TN
Received this reply within about ten minutes. Take a look at the background in the photographs. I sincerely doubt they were taken in Bulgaria. I cannot get through to eBay investigations to ask they take a look at this auction. Can someone else do it? Ken S. in WC TN Hi, The bike is in perfect conditions without any scratches or other mechanical problems. I will pay the shipping cost and you will pay the money transfer comision.I live in Bulgaria.I am the first owner for this bike.The bike it has a Clear Title wich you will receive it with the bike.It can be registerd into your name.You will get all the papers and recipts that you need for the registration.I will ship the bike via Lufthansa Airplane Cargo. So if you really want it please give me an email as soon as possible. Thank you!
Ken-sounds fishy-send him a note back saying, "That's crazy! My cousin's on his way to Bulgaria this weekend! Can we arrange to see the bike on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday? Can you email me the title number or fax/email a copy?" I'm just curious what he would say. It's fun to mess with criminals. How did you spot that?
I wouldn't be suprised it it's a stolen ebay account. They look for accounts with positive feedback that haven't been used for a while and hack into them to run the scam. By the time the legitimate owner of the account finds out what's going on they're long gone. Last spring I almost got suckered by a scam artist selling exercise equipment from a stolen account.
An interesting turn on this scam auction......and something I have never seen. The owner of the bike somehow discovered the criminal is using her photos. Clicking on the photos on the Ebay scam auction will take you to her website.....where she explains the bike is NOT for sale. Very sharp Ken. You picked up this appeared to be from California. It is indeed.
On monday I had someone take over my Ebay account and try to sell 4 superbowl tickets for $2,700 for the superbowl in Canada. The only mistake they made was to forget to change the email address. So I got the listing confirmation e-mail. What a headache to get that fixed. Liz in NH
I did a live chat with eBay about it and let's say it didn't exactly strengthen my confidence in how seriously they take this stuff. I got the stock answer, "I'll look into this and take appropriate action. Any other questions I can answer today?" I'm a little wound up because I do a lot of trading there and I've recently battled identity theft, which gets really scary when someone's shipping hiking gear to Indonesia with your debit card... At the end of the chat I asked how we can spot these scams more easily, and the operator signed off without answering, but not before telling me to have a nice day.
Steps you can talk to avoid fraud has been discussed in other eBay threads. Basically they are: Learn as much as possible about not only what you are interested in bidding on, but also the seller. Try to insist on payment upon inspection. Personally, I would buy nothing electronic or motorized from anyone outside the U.S. Even then, not before thoroughly checking out the seller seems to be legitimate. If a deal, like the above one, seems to good to be true... Ken S. in WC TN
You're right and I've seen those threads. I just wanted to get a feel for what eBay does or says about it, and apparently it's not much in the "says" department. That guy sure knows what he's doing with running it as a private auction. That way, if anyone gets tipped off they can't warn the bidders.
My bike group was busting 2 or 3 bogus bike auctions a day a few months back. ebay was pretty good about shutting them down quickly once they were informed. They would highjack a good account then grab a pic of a 25K bike and list it for 7K buy it now. Give aways were usually, very low price, private auctions, broken English, egold, cut and paste details, foreign plates on a supposed US bike or recognizing a friends bike in the picture.
