Internet Auction Scam - Beware!!

[sulhan]

Hi Everyone....

I would like to share this Internet Scam that may hit anyone out there with regards to internet Auction or sales/purchase from individual to individual.

Fortunately, i did not fall into the trap of this auction offering. The price offered was really high that may leads one to really go all out....

Well just beware.......make sure money comes in then send item!!!!

I did a search on this type of scam and there were many. I corresponded to the "buyer" till the last stage to see how the whole flow went......

The money transfer part (last) email address is from a hotmail server .... :think:

You can download the chain of email from here - http://www.md-sulhan.com/auction_scam.txt right click to save ......Save As...

Reagrds,
Sulhan

 

[~Arcanic~]

:sweat: westernunion@hotmail.com... what the.... :bsmilie:

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

wow sulhan, your 70-200 nearly became free gift... u posted it somewhere for sales as well?

 

[sulhan]

Hi DCA....

The lens is all along safe in Sigma for a CLA....

I actually posted in Yahoo Auction....thats where the "buyer" tried to fish......

rgds,
sulhan

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

sulhan... for your reading pleasure... http://www.419eater.com/

hehehe... its how the ppl fight back...

 

[Drudkh]

Glad to hear you've found the truth.

:sweat:

 

[russian]

ever thought the guy may have gone to a phishing site (western union) and
actually did the payment?

 

[student]

Frankly I do not know what the problem is.

I can't read this from the link provided by sulhan. How were you almost cheated?

I am by no means a great expert. But I have used western Uninion many times had never any problem.

 

[sulhan]

ever thought the guy may have gone to a phishing site (western union) and
actually did the payment?

He would probably be getting his money back...... :bsmilie

rgds,
sulhan

 

[BBTM]

Recently I bid for those hello kitty magnet on ebay. I feel that if want to bid an item from ebay and it is expensive type, try not to bid if seller is a first timer. On top of that, if seller is first timer, things less than $100 is ok as not much for seller to cheat and can report seller to ebay.

A lot of ppl dare not to order from internet but I did a few. So far so good unless illegal stuffs, you got the becareful. Use your credit card only after you see a lock on that website else DON'T use.

Anyway, thread starter was lucky to find the fault. Given to me, I might not.

 

[Firefox]

Frankly I do not know what the problem is.

I can't read this from the link provided by sulhan. How were you almost cheated?

I am by no means a great expert. But I have used western Uninion many times had never any problem.

If you have actually followed these scams stuff through the years.. You'd notice that most of them use Western Union. (Particularly popular with Romanian scammers. See why below.)
Because Western Union in some countries (eg. Romania) do not require the password to release the money to the receiver. The person just has to prove that he/ she is the receiver to get Western Union to release the money to them.

Most of the time, the alarm bell goes off in my head if anyone requests Western Union/ Bidpay.

 

[student]

If you have actually followed these scams stuff through the years.. You'd notice that most of them use Western Union. (Particularly popular with Romanian scammers. See why below.)
Because Western Union in some countries (eg. Romania) do not require the password to release the money to the receiver. The person just has to prove that he/ she is the receiver to get Western Union to release the money to them.

Most of the time, the alarm bell goes off in my head if anyone requests Western Union/ Bidpay.

I see.

But the situation here is quite different, right? Sulhan is the one supposed to receive the money. So what is the problem? If Western Union has informed Sulhan that they are sending the MO, and requires Sulhan to release the good, what is the problem? Fact is, Western Union will require payment from the buyer before issuing the MO.

 

[Firefox]

I see.

But the situation here is quite different, right? Sulhan is the one supposed to receive the money. So what is the problem? If Western Union has informed Sulhan that they are sending the MO, and requires Sulhan to release the good, what is the problem? Fact is, Western Union will require payment from the buyer before issuing the MO.

If the person buying the item does not give Sulhan the password, Sulhan cannot claim the money. Remember.. Western Union over here does not release the money even if you can prove you're the receiver. It only does so mainly in the Eastern Europe block.
So the guy can cancel the payout once he receives the lense.

 

[auron]

no matter what kind of transfer (internet banking/chq/western union), the best way is to make sure the money is in your hand before releasing the goods....

 

[student]

If the person buying the item does not give Sulhan the password, Sulhan cannot claim the money. Remember.. Western Union over here does not release the money even if you can prove you're the receiver. It only does so mainly in the Eastern Europe block.
So the guy can cancel the payout once he receives the lense.

Thanks. I am not aware of that. I had made many purchases and quite a lot of these purchases were paid with Western Union.

But never had I to give any passord to any seller in order to allow him to claim the money. This is completely new to me.

 

[Firefox]

Thanks. I am not aware of that. I had made many purchases and quite a lot of these purchases were paid with Western Union.

But never had I to give any passord to any seller in order to allow him to claim the money. This is completely new to me.

That was the last system I know of.. The person sending the money will have a question. The receiver will be emailed the answer and he/ she has to provide the answer to the question for Wetern Union to release the money.

It was quite infamous at one point because the Romanian scammers didn't need the answer to the question to get Western Union to release the money. They just needed to prove to Western Union that they're the receiver.

 

[student]

That was the last system I know of.. The person sending the money will have a question. The receiver will be emailed the answer and he/ she has to provide the answer to the question for Wetern Union to release the money.

It was quite infamous at one point because the Romanian scammers didn't need the answer to the question to get Western Union to release the money. They just needed to prove to Western Union that they're the receiver.

Thanks. Sounds like Western Union have different ways of doing things in different countries. I must admit I have never had any buying/selling experiences with any of the previous "east" European countries.

 

[hongsien]

Thanks. Sounds like Western Union have different ways of doing things in different countries. I must admit I have never had any buying/selling experiences with any of the previous "east" European countries.

Looks like there is some misunderstanding here: There are TWO western union way of payments: one is Bidpay (name changed to western union a year ago, but it has now changed back to Bidpay as it was confused with the other form of payment that was not foolproof).

Bidpay sends a Money Order in USD to the seller, BUT does send an email message too informing that the seller will receive an MO soon. These scams wants you to send the goods after you receive this email, BUT before actually receiving the MO! The MO off course never arrives.......this is why you should NEVER send the goods before you receive the actual MO!
In these cases, it was the scammer who sends you a 'message' from Bidpay.....

If you are the seller and the buyer sends you funds with western union MONEY TRANSFER, than this will be fine, as long as you (again) wait till you have the actual funds in hand....this form of payment involves a secret message. This is only UNSAFE if you sent money to someone you do NOT know personally.......

Hong Sien

 

[wrx_sti_22b]

When doing online trading, for me i sell item on ebay & collect payment using paypal. POSB ATM fund transfer or meet up if it's Spore Yahoo Auction.

Checking out who u r dealing with is very important. Check the seller's rating. The cheats are usually unrated or only a few positive ratings. And that few rating are always by that few same person. This will be fishy.

Dun pay or receive payment by western union or bidpay. Not worth at all.

 

[Firefox]

If you are the seller and the buyer sends you funds with western union MONEY TRANSFER, than this will be fine, as long as you (again) wait till you have the actual funds in hand....this form of payment involves a secret message. This is only UNSAFE if you sent money to someone you do NOT know personally.......

Hong Sien

ahh.... Yep.. This is what I'm talking about.. Western Union in some countries don't require the special message to get the funds released.