Is there a mass fraud on eBay at the moment? Please be careful

[pasm5136]

Hi, I’ve noticed in the last month, 40+ Apple iPad Pro’s M4 13” 1tb/2tb (brand new) have been selling at less than £800, some as low as £650 brand new. Any one in the know will realise these cost £2300+ from apple for the 2tb. This is obviously a scam and lots of buyers have fallen for it. Early sales have already attracted negative feedback for non delivery and in most cases the buyer received a full refund. I’ve actually communicated with some of the sellers, which has further confirmed these are scammers. Here’s the weird thing, this is not just a handful of sellers, but 30+, they all have very little buyer feedback and in most cases zero seller feedback, or negative feedback score (one as low as 33%) how is this happening, I’m at a total loss to get my head around this. Is it a group of scammers?  who have high-jacked lots of little used accounts (as all accounts are over a year old but have very little feedback). Please can everyone take this seriously, I had little response to my previous posting re this, surely this should be a hot topic, as by my calculation there has been at least £30,000 of fraud in the last three weeks and more happening daily, some listing are in multi buy format, with sellers supposedly having 7 units each. I’m worried for the reputation of eBay, as I always considered it to be one of the better platforms. I’ve always been satisfied with my purchases previously and hate to see the scammers taking over. 

[pasm5136]

Here’s an example of one of the seller’s feedback pages, seller account name deleted for privacy reasons. This seller had 5 listed on multi buy, of which 4 sold, 3 now have bad feedback and one still for sale, which is in 10 buyers baskets, this is just the tip of the iceberg😩. Why is this account still live. 

[papso22]

Have you passed your concerns to ebay?

[jckl1957]

You have posted in 'member to member'.  This part of the forum is for mentors to respond to questions about Ebay.  Only mentors can answer in here and we give advice based on Ebay policies.

As advised, you should raise your concerns with Ebay.

Personally, I would think that anybody planning to buy such an item would do their research, would remember the old adage 'if it looks too good to be true it probably is' and would take notice of the negative feedback such sellers are getting.

[pasm5136]

Hi, I doubt whether speaking to eBay directly would do any good tbh, they have already refunded several buyers, one seller has had three of their sales refunded already, and so they carry on with a live account. My purpose of posting is to bring to the attention or potential buyers. TBH your post is pointless , as you say “anyone making a large purchase will do their research” well 40+ buyers and counting are being taken in by this. I’m sure if this scam hits eBay’s bottom line they will put a stop to it, but as it is I assume refunds are coming from held funds, still it’s a pain in the *bleep* and will dent eBay’s reputation. 

[john1297576]

It would do no harm to use the report link on every item.

It is impossible for us to know how many refunds have to be made before a human picks up that something is wrong. Relying on AI and computers to detect fraud, must cost ebay a lot, but while refunds presumably are made at sellers expense, I doubt they can be bothered.

[papso22]

I think the proliferation of fraudulent listings involving high end items sold at silly prices, is the result of Simple Delivery and the seller protection it offers.  Ebay will be making the refunds.

[pasm5136]

Yes, hopefully directly from the Seller’s held funds. I would hate to think the scammers are getting anything out of this, that would only lead to more of this in the future. I understand funds are held until two days after delivery is confirmed, surely the scammers aren’t  benefitting? I’ve spoken to a lot of these scammers, they come across as pretty thick😵‍💫, so probably don’t realise how buyer protection works. 

[rainbowtrax]

With Simple Delivery, ebay will be covering the refunds as they take over responsibiity once an item has been sent. That's the scam that has been cottoned onto here and why you're seeing prices at under £800 - because SD has a £750 cut-off.

[pasm5136]

Ok, that’s a pity, I thought eBay holding sellers money until delivered and then 3 further days would have stopped this from happening. But I suppose the it’s up to the buyer to be on the ball and raise a concern in the 3 day period, I know if it was me I’d be on the couriers website if I saw delivered and hadn’t got the item. Perhaps the mentors in here could raise concerns with eBay, this will get worse if not nipped in the bud. 

[pasm5136]

Thanks for the advice, although I would be weary reporting listings myself, especially on mass, I could end up with the reputation of being a trouble maker. This is something scammed people should pursue, hopefully eBay would then get the message that something is seriously wrong here, especially if they are footing the bill. I cut to the chase with these scammers, if they can’t provide a photo with a note showing their eBay account name and today’s date, I just move on. Hopefully potential buyers will see this thread and follow my advice. Most of the scammers are not very bright and it’s easy to trip them up. Always ask lots of question and any hint of dishonesty, just move on.

[pasm5136]

Just an update on this issue……I’ve noticed many of the scam accounts are no longer registered on eBay, whether they have made some money and then cut and run or eBay have chucked them off, who knows, hopefully the latter. There are a significant number still live and a lot now have negative feedback concerning delivery, a recurring theme seems to be the use of Royal Mail Lockers. Lots of sales have been made in the last week with expected delivery dates of 19th-23rd September, so these scams will be coming out of the woodwork soon😀

WHEN PURCHASING EXPENSIVE APPLE PRODUCTS AT A “TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE PRICE” ALWAYS INSIST SELLER SENDS YOU A PHOTO SHOWING PRODUCT WITH A PHYSICAL NOTE OF THEIR EBAY ACCOUNT NAME AND TODAYS DATE. from my experience of looking for an iPad Pro recently, this approach completely exposes a scammer straight away.