Hello All:
After reading your post, I wanted to include some information about an auction that was held on eBay for a vintage 60's ladies gold watch through what appeared to be Prestige Timepieces in the UK. After winning the auction, I received an email from
service@mailebayaccount.com asking that I hold off making payment through paypal, and to wait for ebay to send me new instructions for payment.
I received new instructions, which looked legitimate from email address noted as
checkout@reply2-ebay.com that contained the ebay logo, layout, and language, however they indicated in this note that payment should be made only through Moneygram, and contained language that the transaction would be covered up to $5,000 USD, and to send the payment to an ebay agent with the information noted below.
Radu Razvan Costin
Str. Marin Sorescu No 10,
Ramnicu Valcea / 1000,
Romania
I submitted a search in Google noting eBay and MoneyGram, as this seemed odd given that the original auction noted that PayPal would be the payment method. Several results from the Google search posted the unfortunate outcomes of people being scammed by people who have no sense of ethics. The eBay site itself also has notices from both MoneyGram and Western Union warning the eBay community not to use this method of payment as it could be a fraudulent transaction.
I thought I would post this notice in the event that the seller tries to resurface again on eBay whether in the UK or US, and to warn others to be careful if after you win an auction a seller suddenly changes terms from using PayPal to asking you to use Moneygram or Western Union, which cannot provide you with the limited guarantees and protection under PayPal. Take care to research and conduct some due diligence especially if anything about the transaction does not seem right.
It's a real shame that some people would resort to such methods and attempt to take advantage of people in this manner.