Classic car fraudulent listings on the rise

[lenos1980]

Ive been using Ebay since 2003 and have enjoyed the use of the notifications on new listings meeting my criteria, over the past year this has been littered with users listing the best classic cars available under the address United kingdom it and giving emails in the listings for people to contact them. Now for the majority of us sending these scum money by bank transfer is unlikely but what about all of those that do? I continuously report each and every advert I find and they stay live for several days after. Why wont Ebay remove the users as soon as they are reported??? Ive had over 3000 listings added to my search in 5 hours and they are all from one fake user. I feel that Ebay is helping these people scam thousands if not hundreds of thousands of pounds from unsuspecting buyers that believe in EBAY and that they couldn't possibly allow them to be robbed blind.
WHY DOESNT EBAY ADD A FRAUD WARNING TO EVERY FIFTH LISTING ON EBAY MOTORS TO ATTEMPT TO STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING!!!
sorry for the rant but I'm close to closing my Ebay accounts for good.

[lenos1980]

So I'm back again Ebay has had reports from me and the fake listings have stayed live for over 4 hours. I hate to think how many poor people have been scammed so far while EBAY yet AGAIN does nothing.

[red_magpie]

If eBay can scan ever message between its millions of members for signs of fee evasion they could scan listings in high risk categories such as motors for signs of fraud. If you and other users can easily find potentially suspicious listings, so could eBay.

EBay can't be unaware that in a recent TV programme about organised crime a senior police officer reported that one criminal gang alone had registered "multiple hundreds" of fake accounts on eBay specifically to place fraudulent listings for motor vehicles.

At the very least they could send a message to buyers in the motors category, warning them of the risks and advising them not to pay anything until they have seen and inspected the vehicle. But they don't.

It's hard to see any other explanation than that eBay simply doesn't care.

[lenos1980]

It certainly seems like work is only done by Ebay when they can gain from it financially.
My main issue is that it's not a couple of ads that come up, its thousands and with me and other like minded ebay users reporting it why are they still active after several days?
I agree that most people wont pay money by bank transfer for a car they have not seen but some especially those in desperate hope of finding they're dream car for a low advertised price will and do.
Ebay has to do something to prevent these ads from staying live after the reports come in and cannot claim that they have no responsibility if a buyer chooses to be fooled. If the advert was to buy a child i would hope Ebay would act quicker.
I've had adverts shut down within minutes for putting things in the description like "as new" or similar and every advert I post has 1 view instantly so someone must be checking adverts as soon as they are posted.
Why are they not picking up on the adverts lack of description, the email addresses that are in the listing, the sheer number of expensive cars on offer and finally the values that they offer these expensive cars for?
If they pay me I'll do it for them and save people all over the world from losing their hard earned cash to these criminals. It's not surprising criminal groups are becoming wealthier year on year with large organisations like Ebay giving them not only a chance but the BEST TOOL FOR THE JOB. Why not send them our armies to help aswell.

[tobiasd4]

I agree with you, ebay could do a lot more, but as soon as they close 1 account, another pops up or is hacked.

I can never understand why anyone would buy a car without seeing it 1st, but they do, so as long as people are gullible, then these scams will continue.

[lenos1980]

Why can't Ebay force the users location details? These scammers seem to change the real account owners address details on every advert! Surely this is not only a simple spot but a simple fix?

[tobiasd4]

You have to blame the ebay account holders for giving away their passwords for scammers to change details,
ebay confirms changes with account holder, but of course that would now be the scammer.

[lenos1980]

What so Ebay doesnt think it's odd that the "new" account owner wants to change the addresses for all ads to UK or United kingdom or whatever they come up with? If it was a fee evasion case they'd be all over it and that's the problem, where's the incentive for Ebay to not only stop these scammers but actually prevent them from being able to do this in the first place. PayPal is almost impenetrable by scammers yet Ebay is still wide open and why? Because PayPal have to give the money back and Ebay don't.
This really needs to be enforced by someone as its clear Ebay is incapable of controlling its site by itself. Hopefully they dont take over border control or we're all stuffed.

[tobiasd4]

We all agree with you, but ebay don't look at these boards, so you need to contact ebay direct, good luck with that.

[plpmr]

In the past I made a suggestion that all vehicle listings should have a red banner warning that the buyer has no protection and should not pay until they have seen and checked the vehicle.

In any event and not condoning criminal activity -

These fraudsters rely on the total cooperation of the buyer handing over a wad of cash for a vehicle they have not seen, to a complete faceless unidentified stranger.

" Now for the majority of us sending these scum money by bank transfer is unlikely but what about all of those that do?"

As for buyer's who send a bank transfer - i'm sorry to say I still cannot comprehend any one doing that without taking basic precautions and usually they are blinded by greed for under priced vehicles.