B&W eBay scams

[theMaximus]

I recently upgraded front speakers to 802D and listed my B&W 704 and HTM7 on eBay. After my auction ended sucessfully, one of the bidders notified me that someone in England listed the same speakers using all of my pictures from my listing. In his listing, he was telling people not to make bids but e-mail him for Buy-It-Now price, which sounds very suspicious. I try to report it to eBay, but before I got a chance, eBay pulled his listing.

Then, a day later a few people who made bids on my listing contacted me through eBay messaging system saying they got a second chance offer from me and asking me whether or not I'm offering second chance because the highest bidder couldn't pay. I never offered second chance to anyone because my highest bidder politely asked ma to give him a few days to add fund to his Paypal account, and I told him that I would wait for him. Looks like someone is trying desparately to con people trying to impersonate me. One guy told me he got four e-mails from different e-mail addresses, one of which had my eBay ID, saying that he can have the speakers for $1000. From what I learned, some of them looked pretty authentic with eBay logos and the whole nine yards.

I truly hope no one falls for this scam. Ultimately, I know I'm not responsible and there really is nothing I can do since eBay's e-mail filter blocks me from contacting these people I guess because to their filter my attempts to reply to these people appear like I' soliciting sales outside eBay. I don't know how eBay allows these people contact me, but I can't contact them to warn them even by clicking on the Respond Now icon.

It is sad that there are so many dishonest guys trying to rip audiophiles off because we are willing to pay top dollars for quality gears but at the same time always looking for bargains. It seems like B&W speakers are very prone to these kind of schemes along with Krell, McIntosh, etc.., because they are sought after items that are rarely discounted heavily by the dealers and people are dying to get them at great prices.

If anyone in this forum encountered e-mail solicitations about B&W 704 and HTM7 from someone pretending to be me, please do not fall for it without verifying it on My Messages page at the real eBay site. Do not use links that are given in the e-mail. I guess if I had to relist it because my highest bidder just can't pay for it, I may be in a world of trouble since people will be skeptical! This really pisses me off.

I will keep you guys posted since a lot of people who are interested in B&W speakers come to this forum. Once I get paid and ship my speakers, I can definitely tell people that anyone who is claiming to have the speakers in the following picture other than me is bogus.

[Race Car Driver]

There are about a doezen B&W ebay scams that pop up daily.
Ive seen the same Matrix and special white aniversery 801s on ebay starting for 299 and 250 a zillion times now. Along with 803s, Signature HTM1, etc etc.

Any auction that starts at that price, has a buy it now for 700 euros, and to contact so and so@saleslot.com.

Im sick of reporting to ebay, as they seem to not be able to do anything about it.

Same BS with krell, Mcintosh, etc etc etc.

B&W is really bad though.

[RobP]

These type of scams have been going on for some time on Ebay, I believe Ebay should add a watermark to the pictures showing the item number of that auction so it corresponds to that auction only, that would be one step in slowing the scammers down.

[Arneson]

Thanx for the heads up.
I use Ebay a lot, I'm very carefull, but I got scammed as well.
Actually I got Phished, a different story.
In general I get an Ebay delivery here every other day.
I have spent thrue pay pal easily one hundred thou in the past year.
I have nothing but good things to say about every transaction!
When I answered a bogus Email that was my mistake and it was taken care of in seconds with little hassle to me.

[Jesse111]

Been through the same thing myself. However, when those scammers copped my ads they were always for short auction hurry up and buy times. They looked suspicious and most could see the copped ads were scammy looking. Always troubled me how Ebay seemed powerless against these people.

[D-bucket]

I can also confirm Race Car Driver's observations. I see about 10 to 15 of these bogus b&w ebay listings daily that gets pulled by ebay. It is a shame that sometimes they will even pop back up immediately as a new listing under a different ebay user ID but with the exact:
- same listing description
- same picture
- same wording
- same text colors used
- same size large font size
- same contact email address
- same request not to place bid, but contact thru email
- same unofficial buy it now price of 700 euros

After you have seen a few of them, you can immediately spot them from a listing of search or browse results before even clicking on them. They usually have a starting bid of either $599, $399, or $299 and the same offer inside the auction listing description itself for a 700 euros buy it now direct sale for any of the b&w 800 series, including 800D's, 802D's, 803D's, 803S's, 804S's and 805S's .

It is really sickening that when I do happen to bid on some legitimate auctions for b&w speakers or other high end audio products, especiall musical instruments & pro-audio equipment, I often get flooded with obviously bogus second chance offers or unsolicited direct sale offers for similiar merchandise thru the ebay contact member system. I routinely report these instances to ebay.

BTW, I haven't seen as many of the bogus b&w listing most recently, so maybe ebay is finally making some progress in identifying these types of listing earlier.

[yourtoys7]

theMaximus, I have seen your set couple of times for sale now with 299., 399. and on.....
I'll often ask if could be picked up in person (I'm in area on business). and you start hearing stories how it is easier for them to ship the product) like N802.
It's getting to you after a while as I'm sure there are people that fall for these.......

[theMaximus]

theMaximus, I have seen your set couple of times for sale now with 299., 399. and on.....
I'll often ask if could be picked up in person (I'm in area on business). and you start hearing stories how it is easier for them to ship the product) like N802.
It's getting to you after a while as I'm sure there are people that fall for these.......

I just saw another one, this one copied most of my pictures and all of my words. I reported it to eBay yet again, but I'm sure it will pop up again. This bastard really needs to get a real job and stop ripping people off. If this worthless sack of xxxx puts as much time into real work as he does into being a con man, he wouldn't have problem making a living.

I sold my 603 S2 a couple of years ago and didn't have this problem back then (or maybe I just didn't realize it at the time). This problem seems to have gotten a lot worse in the past year or so.

[misterdoggy]

Listen Guys to some Advice

I am an old Ebay and sell regularly on ebay. The guy got Maximus in a fake email where you fill in your name and password. It looks just like an email from ebay but instead of being a https its just a http and its a url created just to fool people into filling in their info.

Be very careful of all ebay communication and use the website to sign in and fill in your info, never fill in info from emails asking strange things. You can usually sniff it out if you pay attention.

This is how they get your password and then use you name for putting up a sale. They say "don't bid contact me direct and buy it for X dollars" and the people contact direct and send a western union (not paypal) money order and its lost.

Protect your login name, password and only go to the website to fill it in and NEVER type in your password unless its a HTTPS not a http which is not secure.

Feel free to ask questions if you want as I am pretty knowledgeable on the subject of how to avoid scamss selling on the internet and also selling on ebay.

Heres the link put up by ebay to protect against buying fraudulent items

http://reviews.ebay.com/FRAUD-Auctions-WARNING_W0QQugidZ10000000001625942?ssPageName=BUYGD:CAT:-1:SEARCH:1

More important to protect your password using only https ebay sites

[B&W 700 Guy]

Listen Guys to some Advice

I am an old Ebay and sell regularly on ebay. The guy got Maximus in a fake email where you fill in your name and password. It looks just like an email from ebay but instead of being a https its just a http and its a url created just to fool people into filling in their info.

Be very careful of all ebay communication and use the website to sign in and fill in your info, never fill in info from emails asking strange things. You can usually sniff it out if you pay attention.

This is how they get your password and then use you name for putting up a sale. They say "don't bid contact me direct and buy it for X dollars" and the people contact direct and send a western union (not paypal) money order and its lost.

Protect your login name, password and only go to the website to fill it in and NEVER type in your password unless its a HTTPS not a http which is not secure.

Feel free to ask questions if you want as I am pretty knowledgeable on the subject of how to avoid scamss selling on the internet and also selling on ebay.

Heres the link put up by ebay to protect against buying fraudulent items

http://reviews.ebay.com/FRAUD-Auctions-WARNING_W0QQugidZ10000000001625942?ssPageName=BUYGD:CAT:-1:SEARCH:1

More important to protect your password using only https ebay sites

Thanks for the great information! :T

[theMaximus]

Listen Guys to some Advice

The guy got Maximus in a fake email where you fill in your name and password. It looks just like an email from ebay but instead of being a https its just a http and its a url created just to fool people into filling in their info.

Yeah. Some guy sent me a message through eBay as if he is interested in bidding on my item. He asked some weird question about if I also listed my speakers on some other website and gave some web address. Surprised that someone may be trying to con people, I typed in the address given, and it took me to a eBay log on screen. I typed in my ID and password, and it then took me to some weird looking page. Realizing I just got deceived, I immediately changed my password within a couple of minutes. I guess it may have been a couple of minutes too late.

I was surprised by how authentic looking the eBay log on screen was. Obviously, this guy does this a lot and must be pretty good at it. When I saw another one of his listings today, I signed up for a hotmail account and sent him an e-mail suggesting that he go have sex with himself and stop trying to rip people off.

Anyway, I got paid and shipped the speakers today. I guess I don't have to worry about relisting my speakers, and that is such a relief.

[misterdoggy]

Yeah. Some guy sent me a message through eBay as if he is interested in bidding on my item. He asked some weird question about if I also listed my speakers on some other website and gave some web address. Surprised that someone may be trying to con people, I typed in the address given, and it took me to a eBay log on screen. I typed in my ID and password, and it then took me to some weird looking page. Realizing I just got deceived, I immediately changed my password within a couple of minutes. I guess it may have been a couple of minutes too late.

I was surprised by how authentic looking the eBay log on screen was. Obviously, this guy does this a lot and must be pretty good at it. When I saw another one of his listings today, I signed up for a hotmail account and sent him an e-mail suggesting that he go have sex with himself and stop trying to rip people off.

Anyway, I got paid and shipped the speakers today. I guess I don't have to worry about relisting my speakers, and that is such a relief.

Maximus,

Thanks for sharing your experience. This is how it works.

If you pay attention to the page that comes from ebay where you fill in your password, there are two types

1. Secure https

2. Bogus http only

An http page can be created by anybody and its a "live" url. The moment they get your password and they are waiting instantaneously, they log on on to ebay with your password.

https urls are protected and secure and if its https ebay something then its for real.

If you are in doubt and afraid of everything that comes to you in emails, then you don't have to click on the link in the email, just go on to ebay separately and login and go to "my ebay" and you will see all questions people are sending to you and all business with ebay. This is 100% sure !

[Arneson]

I should add that this exact same advice applies to any banking and credit card Emails.
Even the bank robbers are cyberized!

[Alloroc]

I should add that this exact same advice applies to any banking and credit card Emails.
Even the bank robbers are cyberized!

To show you how low scum can go - get this.... I'm now spending most of my time working for a charitable organisation. Our charter is to deliver aid - emergency and development - to the poorest of the poor in Africa and Asia (I've traveled to some of these countries in the past year or so (particularly Niger, Sudan and Burundi) and I can tell you it's changed my life).

Anyhow, scammer and phishers are now using fake mails and web links and pages with our logos and content to con people.... It almost always leads to Eastern Europe.

It's a massive problem. Not just for financial institutions and e-shopping, any online financial transaction is vunerable....

[D-bucket]

theMaximus

Thanks for sharing, your recent experience make me better appreciate tdiciple's response in the following sequence of posts from the Pictures of your B&W Set-up thread:

post #488

Time for me to share my setup.
Front are 804s, HTM3S, and Parasound Amp, and Vsx-56Txi Pre.

Too bad the HTM3S is in Rosenut. I would love the Black Ash.

I will need to rid the Rosenut/Red Ash HTM1 and Rosenut HTM7 to probably get a better pre...

post #614

Finally my system is coming up as I wanted, All Black Ash speaker

Brand New HTM3S in Black + 804S in Black + FS-HTM.
System is: BK Ref 200.7 + BK Ref 50 + HTPC + PLV Z4
Screen: Sony Chromavue 84...

post #615

ROFLMAO, I must admit, that copyright message is about the silliest thing I've seen in a long time...

post #616

You will stop saying that if your pictures had been stolen for fake auction multiple times...

[Arneson]

It's a massive problem. Not just for financial institutions and e-shopping, any online financial transaction is vunerable....

I have a Cashiers check to prove it. Local Bank, misspelled words, strange bogus names, and the clincher is, Please send us some of the money as soon as you deposit the check.
I Emailed the guy back saying that the King of Nigeria had cleaned out my account as soon I deposited his check.
We went back and forth like this a bit till I said I had called the Treasury Dept. to try and locate him.

[P1et]

eBay is one big scam, I refuse to use them. It's full of Nigerians trying to rip honest peopel off. Stay away from it as this scum has gotten good at looking ligitimate.

[misterdoggy]

The lettering in the picture makes it un-usable for someone who wants to use it for their purposes. No way around re-touching the foto, to make it look good. This is a good way to prevent image theft. :T

Ebay is a safe place to sell and I sell Beatles Poster sets by Avedon regularly on Ebay. I sell other posters too. I also find hifi and posters on ebay regularly and have no problem.

Yeah they are controlling the world, but you need to know the rules of the road.

1. Buy only from people that have lots of good feedback.

2. When buying something expensive always try to contact the person by telephone before paying to confirm its condition and that the person sounds legitimate.

3. Keep all your payments paypal or by a system that you can track it. I bought a mark levinson 390s once that the guy didn't announce it was an upgraded from 39s and I had a dispute which was protected by paypal and my money was refunded.

4. Keep all your communications on ebay, or thru paypal.

5. You will be able to tell that someone is legitimate easily, and the ones that you are concerned about, there is usually a reason :T

[Arneson]

Reading feedback and checking what a person has sold are good tips for a buyer.
When I see negative feedback, quite often it's, Item doesn't work or damaged, etc.
I actually get on Ebay looking for things that don't work.
In fact my main serch criteria is "as is".
I love to fix things, and if, like some of the cameras, I can't fix it, or even get it back together, I have paid almost nothing for it but the shipping.

For example, I want a 28 inch toshiba lcd tv, and I search till I find one that won't power, and one with smashed screen. Same with laptops.
Another great trick is misspelling, you will be alone in the bidding.
I'm pretty good at the misspelling thing.

[Race Car Driver]

Just look for a poster that is located in US and shipping from the UK..
That tells ya something.

Also, check the feedback. If you see the last 10 things they bought and sold were used nike shoes and baby clothing, then all of the sudden they are selling a 8k$ Krell amp... little odd huh?

Stolen account.

[misterdoggy]

My mark levinson 432 is up for sale in the UK, but I'm in france and the market is better in the UK than france usually.

However, when someone has bought only $1.25 comic books for their 15 good feedbacks then bids on your $7K amp, well watchout

[steelhead]

EBAY Scams

I also recently bid on a pr of 803s. After the auction was over I received more than fifty bogus 2nd chance offers using the same photos from ebay. Ebay had to have provided my personal e-address to these rip off artist.

[misterdoggy]

steelhead,

more likely that you fille din something somewhere with your address unknowingly

[BassThatHz]

misterdoggy you would be surprised what someone with Photoshop CS2 can do to an image in 5mins.

[D-bucket]

"Shame, shame shame, it's a shame I tell ya". 8O Which visually drives home in an amusingly graphic manner just how carefull & alert an audiophile has to be these days when seeking cost conscious avenues to audio nirvana via way of online used resources like ebay & audiogon.

[misterdoggy]

misterdoggy you would be surprised what someone with Photoshop CS2 can do to an image in 5mins.

Actually I'm an expert with Photoshop and Mac Tiger and have worked with Photoshop everyday for the last 8 years as I am the websmaster of my website and do all the photography myself.

I'm more an expert with photoshop than in the domaine of Hifi actually, which don't mean much here, but putting a name across the object presents more hurdles than most experts in photoshop want to deal with.

No matter what there is going to be traces or blotches in the shading of the silver portion. Shading is very hard to do, not impossible, but these guys won't want to spend the time.

Extra work = more protection

Better to have something than nothing

[Charles]

Mister Doggy, went to check out your amp on Ebay and saw where it appears someone already stole your pics.

[Race Car Driver]

HAHA, are u serious.

[Arneson]

He's spoofin, I looked.

[RobP]

Mister Doggy, went to check out your amp on Ebay and saw where it appears someone already stole your pics.

:scratchhead: Yeah I didnt see anything on there either.

[Charles]

Looks like the same pic item #110030546025. It is late, could be wrong.

[Arneson]

I saw it now and you are right.

[misterdoggy]

Yeah Its my pictures. When I first put it up I didn't have misterdoggy written across and then later in the first day I put up the protection. I guess it was already too late.

or its photoshop work and they are good. Sucks huh

[misterdoggy]

I reported it

[Charles]

It does suck! These criminals are so obvious out there, but hiding behind too many smoke and mirrors to catch. Theres got to be a way to nail these guys before they completey smell up E Commerce. Any ideas out there?

[misterdoggy]

Well as long as people get fooled into giving their passwords away, it will be difficult.

They use the password with images they steal to setup a sale.

Ebay should be able to build in a non-link or no -email function in their listing. The only way these guys get away with it is asking people to email directly to them

There should be a automatic detection of the @ sign in a listing as you are not allowed to put email contacts in the description. Why they can't figure this out I don't know.

[misterdoggy]

Figured out where they got the fotos from. I listed it on Audiogon WITHOUT the writing across the pictures.

Voila...... They search out stuff even on Audiogon and put it up on Ebay

[Charles]

Amazing, I've seen several with pics directly from the manufacturers website. Great idea on the @ detection.

[D-bucket]

I reported it

Good for you! Ebay has now pulled that auction (item #110030546025), but it had been running over 8 hours when I last saw it last night. When I checked again this morning the auction had been pulled, but the user id used however is still actively registered and could be used again to post fraudulant listings.

...There should be a automatic detection of the @ sign in a listing as you are not allowed to put email contacts in the description...

Whatever detection feature(s) Ebay should use would have to include more than the typical search type function that only scans the auction description for the text symbol "@" because that auction with your stolen photo that was just pulled did not contain the @ symbol anywhere in the text, but was embedded in the html code with a mailto:xxxxxx____@____yyyyy.com link using only the text "CONTACT ME"

Some cautionary or potential red flags easily observed in that auction listing upon close inspection when weighed as a whole. Each of these observations by themselves would not be cause for alarm but when view together, the alert audiophile should not only just see red flags but also hear a piercing loud siren as well on this auction listing.

1. The Seller

- is listing a big ticket item
- has small feedback number (7)
- has been a member a long time with low feedback (since march 12, 1998 )
- hasn't had a feedback in 10 months (last was Nov 15, 2005)
- all feedback was obtained as a buyer (not 1 single feedback as a seller)
- has been basically inactive as a seller with no listings in the last 30 days
- has bidded on and won items in last 30 days but received no feedback
- all recent activity (bidding only) has been for items in a different category (computers) than consumer electronics
- a request for direct contact in item description ("PLEASE E-MAIL ME BEFORE BIDDING TO CLEAR EVERYTHING OUT")

2. The Item

- this is a consumer electronics item but it is listed under Sporting Goods > Athletic Footwear > Men's category
- only a 3 day listing (high ticket items do much better as 7 or 10 day listings)
- does not use the auction's the Buy-it-now feature but does mentions a price ($2000) that you can buy the item for in the text description
- both seller & item are listed as located in the United States but the item shows 230 volts instead of 110 - 120 volts
- shows an exact picture that has been seen on the internet before (much easier to detect & remember with high ticket items)
- low starting bid ($1.00) with no or Buy-it-now or reserve protection in a short duration auction
- "Ships Worldwide" on high ticket item yet seller has no history at all selling anything.
- item msrp is around $8500 but indicates this item can be purchased for only $2000, yet the better used prices are around 3x as much as that
- auction sub-title emphasizes "Liquidated Inventory", yet nothing else in the auction suggest a business or reseller