Russell Beattie

I just can't believe how bad the scams are on eBay. I'm sure to everyone who uses it regularly, this is nothing new, but I am SHOCKED at how bad it is. Seriously, I know security is a big issue on the net, but I had no idea what a sesspool of corruption I was stepping into by putting some things up for sale. The whole experience is starting to really make me wonder about eBay and society itself.

First, as soon as I put something up for sale, I started getting more phishing emails immediately, just to get my password etc, one of which I fell for. That's sort of automated, so I kinda lumped that stuff in with the general barrage of spam I get daily and didn't think about it much. But then I started getting emails and contacted through eBay's messenging service from all sorts of scammers wanting to buy my product "out of network" - where they will pay me double, but I have to ship the product to Nigeria. (No shit, they actually say to Nigeria).

The worst was this morning, when a newly registered user clicked the Buy It Now button (which I had stupidly not marked as needing payment immediately) and sent me the following:

Hello,

I have made out my payment to you for this item purchase,So check your mail for the confirmation mail from paypal.Get back to me immediately you receive the confirmation mail from paypal and don't forget to send me your physical contact address and the exact time you will be at home.So i can schedule Fedex to come and pick them up from you in other to reduce the stress of you driving down to their location to send it.Then i can send you my daughters address and my fedex account number.Hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely.

Thanks.

Then I responded with a "I'll send it to you via UPS once I get the PayPal payment" and the person responds with this:

I guess u didnt read up the new PayPal process note ... It says u're to send the tracking number to them for for verification ... After they verified ur account will be credited immediately as soon as they're done verifying ... So i'll advice u to quickly send me ur physical home address , So i can schedule the FEDEX to come pick up the item ... & as soon as they pick up the item quickly send the tracking number to PayPal customers care for verification so that ur account will be credited immediately ... Thanks

Wow. What an amazing scam. These people are scumbags, really.

My eyes have been opened. I can't believe how big of a problem this really is. I sell a handful of items, and I'm getting deluged with these sorts of cons. It's incredible - they must sit on eBay all day long looking for suckers. It makes me mad in sooo many ways. I like eBay, I think it's a great and useful service - this sort of crap doesn't just increase the chance that I'm going to be robbed, but just makes the whole service that much less useful. I hate having to distrust everything I see with an eBay address on it!

Have you experienced the same?

-Russ