Maliciuos Auction on eBay

[follettoburlone]

Ciao!
This is going to be a long message, so sit down and relax! I have tried to contact eBay, but the item number is invalid, so I cannot end up compiling the form.
Item Nr.3853038602, an IBM Thinkpad R50p, was on eBay auction database until last week. The user (I lost his eBay ID) told me he's got a special stock and that the auction would have been close as soon as his would have enough orders, as he meant to use eBay as a quick buisiness window. Ok untill now, many people do this. He signs himself James and talks about his boss managing the business through him. He also gave his personal email address in capital letters to be contacted outside eBay.
Here is a list of the emails I have exchanged until now:
"Ciao!
I live in Rome, Italy. I'd like to know how much is shipping by Royal Mail and if it is possible to have a picture of the ThinkPad I would bid on. I'd also like to understand if this Notebook as a DVD-RW optical unit, as it isn't much clear in your description. Is the board an European or American one? And: is it possible to have 1 GB of memory installed? If so, please, let me know the price. Finally, what about warranty? Many thanks!"
REPLY: " Hello,
The product i'm selling is brand new, factory sealed, never used, warranty available ww.No duties to be paid. The buy now price is 900 euro including the shipping charges. I have have more units available for sale but this offer is limited to our existing stock.If you want to order more units, we can discuss the final amount and we can offer great discounts. It's better to order from me cause i will end the ebay auction as soon as i receive enough orders. We can close a safe deal using an escrow service. If you want to order now , please reply and i send you the payment and delivery details. You have 5 days for inspection and you may send the unit back
within 30 days in case you are not entirely satisfied. We do the full refund, less the shipping charges. Looking forward to dealing with you,
James"
I keep on asking for a picture of the notebook, but nothing comes...
REPLY: " Hello,
I confirm the unit comes with DVD RW We are ready to deal by escrow and we prefer this escrow company :
http://www.fapayment.net
They are very fast and this way we can close a fast deal.We take the escrow fees. Please register with them and then contact us by email with your user name. we start the transaction as soon as we have your user name.The transaction won't take more than 3-4 days.
Regards,
James"
SITE UNAVAILABLE.
REPLY: "hello,
they have some server problems we are ready to ship the unit to your address but we need to receive the payment in advance by western union we can assure you the deal is safe and you will order again from us in the future
james"
SO I WROTE: "Ciao!
I'm sorry, I prefer using Escrow! as it's safer for both of us. I already have an account and the price I'm going to pay is all the money I got! Please, let's manage something with Escrow, or I'll be forced not to buy, especially because this auction is out of eBay regular control.
All the best!"
REPLY: "ok, i will talk with my boss and tomorrow i will contact you by email regards, james" AND THEN: "hello,
the escrow we know is: http://www.quickap.net/
pls advise
james"
The italian center as a strange address, very similar to a street I know in Rome, but sounds fake. Most of all, the postal code is the same as mine, but the address of the center is far away from me!!! Please, check the site provided above! So I wrote back:
" Ciao!
I have just subscribed to quickAP.NET!
Before giving you my nickname I registered myself under, I'd like to clear all my doubts about the following points (I'm sorry for all the problems I'm giving to you, but I NEED TO BE SURE!):
1. How can I gain warranty? Are you giving me a warranty sheet?
2. What's the serial number of the R50p you're going to send?
3. Is it an IBM rebuilt notebook received back by another buyer due to a factory defect? If so, I don't have problems in buying it as long as IBM in Italy guaratees for the notebook and is ready to change it as soon as possible in case of malfunction.
4. How much will you calculate shipping to Italy and which Company are going to use?
5. How long is it going to take untill the notebook arrives? Can we manage to set the inspection period to 15 days starting from delivery plus 30 das to send the item back? Most of all, can we manage to make it deliver on Saturday? That's the only day I'm at home!
6. Please, provide me a picture of the notebook as it is now, ready for shipping.
7. What are you giving me as a demonstration that I have bought the notebook from you?
8. What's your company name or your data for payment? I'd like chack before sending money.
9. Is that too much?!!
Many thanks,
Gabriella"
NO REPLY UNTILL NOW, AS I SENT THE EMAIL YESTERDAY IN THE EVENING. ANYWAY, I BELIEVE THAT A MAN WHO WORKS WITH IT AND E-COMMERCE IS MOTIVATED TO WRITE BACK ASAP, BUT HIS REPLIES ARE COMING LATER AND LATER EVERY TIME I ASK SOMETHING ABOUT LEGAL MATTERS!!!
I believe this is going to be an internet fraud, but, as I cannot be sure, I don't know what to do. I don't mean to make one's reputation bad because of my suspects... How shall I behave?
Many Thanks!

[peg]

NO REPLY UNTILL NOW, AS I SENT THE EMAIL YESTERDAY IN THE EVENING. ANYWAY, I BELIEVE THAT A MAN WHO WORKS WITH IT AND E-COMMERCE IS MOTIVATED TO WRITE BACK ASAP, BUT HIS REPLIES ARE COMING LATER AND LATER EVERY TIME I ASK SOMETHING ABOUT LEGAL MATTERS!!!
I believe this is going to be an internet fraud, but, as I cannot be sure, I don't know what to do. I don't mean to make one's reputation bad because of my suspects... How shall I behave?
Many Thanks!

If a buyer/seller is giving you a cause to have concern, then don't let them intimidate you. I understand your concern about damaging thier reputation, but likewise you don't want yours damaged and more over you don't want to be frauded.

it's a selfish thing to say but in the world of online auction/e-commerce, you need to look out for number one and not worry about anyone else, becuase, as I have found, nobody else (for the most part) cares about you. Even if you do get frauded, no one wants to help (legal wise) becuase there is just too much of it and typically the amounts are small. (individually but not collectively.)

As you can see in one of my responses to your other post http://forum.pgardner.net/viewtopic.php?t=53 indeed you had a right to be concerned.

The other thing you need to be careful of is that many of these online scams also steal ebay accounts (by sending spoofed emails phishing for info to steal your account). When ever you get those kind of messages that you are not sure about, you should NOT click on the links in them. They will take you to sites that are amazingly similar to the actuatl site (i.e. ebay, yahoo, paypal, etc...) Instead, you should type the actual address manually in your browser (i.e. http://www.ebay.com, http://www.paypal.com, auctions.yahoo.com, etc... ) and then navigate to the preferences from there. If you can not log in, then contact the site support. You may already have be scammed.

Finally, always trust your gut. To get a little cliche`ish on you, If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is


Good luck in your future auctions.

[topdriller]

This is the same guy who contacted me. Check out his initial e-mail (in quotes below) to me and you will see the same format, wording etc. Of course, he told me he lived in Switzerland, not Italy.

"Hello,

The product i'm selling is brand new, factory sealed, never used, warranty available ww.No duties to be paid.
The buy now price is 1100 pounds including the shipping charges.
I have have more units available for sale but this offer is limited to our existing stock.If you want to order more units,
we can discuss the final amount and we can offer great discounts.
It's better to order from me cause i will
end the ebay auction as soon as i receive enough orders.
We can close a safe deal using an escrow service.
If you want to order now , please reply and i send you the payment and delivery details.
You have 5 days for inspection and you may send the unit back within 30 days in case you are not entirely satisfied.
We do the full refund, less the shipping charges.
Looking forward to dealing with you,
James"

Sounds to me like our "friend" has found an easy way to make money!!!!

[follettoburlone]

Funny ya!
This user is desperately tryin' to fraud but isn't able to change strategy!!! I saw the selling announcement from switzerland too and now I'm having a ball in following the evolution of the whole weird story!!!EHEHEHEHHIIHIHII

Hello,

The product i'm selling is brand new, factory sealed, never used, warranty available ww.No duties to be paid.
The buy now price is 900 euro including the shipping charges.
I have have more units available for sale but this offer is limited to our existing stock.If you want to order more units,
we can discuss the final amount and we can offer great discounts.
It's better to order from me cause i will
end the ebay auction as soon as i receive enough orders.
We can close a safe deal using an escrow service.
If you want to order now , please reply and i send you the payment and delivery details.
You have 5 days for inspection and you may send the unit back within 30 days in case you are not entirely satisfied.
We do the full refund, less the shipping charges.
Looking forward to dealing with you,
James

[JaxHot]

Instead of playing with these scammers you need to report these sites and have them removed. The registrants are always identity theft victims who are often unaware thjat their credit cards are being used to pay for the hosting of these sites.
Forward your e-mails to Dotster and request the removal of the site.
Registrar: DOTSTER
Domain Name: QUICKAP.NET
Created on: 17-NOV-04
Expires on: 17-NOV-06
Last Updated on: 17-NOV-04
CustName: Dotster.com
Address: 11807 NE 99th Street, Suite 1100
City: Vancouver
StateProv: WA
PostalCode: 98682
Country: US
RegDate: 2003-06-04
Updated: 2003-06-04

NetRange: 64.94.117.0 - 64.94.117.63
CIDR: 64.94.117.0/26
NetName: PNAP-SEF-DOTSTR-DC-09
NetHandle: NET-64-94-117-0-1
Parent: NET-64-94-0-0-1
NetType: Reassigned
Comment:
RegDate: 2003-06-04
Updated: 2003-06-04

TechHandle: INO3-ARIN
TechName: InterNap Network Operations Center
TechPhone: +1-877-843-4662
TechEmail: noc@internap.com

OrgAbuseHandle: IAC3-ARIN
OrgAbuseName: Internap Abuse Contact
OrgAbusePhone: +1-206-256-9500
OrgAbuseEmail: abuse@internap.com

OrgTechHandle: INO3-ARIN
OrgTechName: InterNap Network Operations Center
OrgTechPhone: +1-877-843-4662
OrgTechEmail: noc@internap.com

[follettoburlone]

Ciao!
Many thanks, I didn't know how to act... Shall I write to abuse@internap.com?
Many thanks

[peg]

I would probably send a response too noc@internap.com and perhaps CC the abuse@internap.com.

[JaxHot]

abuse@internap.com
is the appropriate e-mail address to send complaints to a web host.

[follettoburlone]

Many thanx to ya all!!!