[GreenKeys] Ebay Problem

[tony j. podrasky]

Hey Guys;

Like the saying goes "if it sounds too good to be true,
it probably is".

The best scam was on a Porsche 993 S4 (the last of the
aircooled engine series) I was selling.

I had it listed at $56,000.

A guy from Japan said that "his buyer" wanted the car
and would make the arrangements to have it shipped to Japan.

"The thing was"... that he had a cashier's check made out
for $64,000. Would I take it, and send him the $8,000
that was over the $56,000 I wanted (wow - it must be
really expensive to get cashier's checks in some countries
that you are willing to trust someone to give you the
extra $8,000 back...   :-)).

I went straight to the bank manager at The Bank Of America
and asked him about it. He was rolling on the floor! He
said the problem is that with the fancy printers that you
can buy, you can make a bankcheck that looks complete
authentic. The only way to tell that it is a fraud is to
check the serial number and see to whom it was issued.
You deposit it. In a day or two it appears as a balance
on your account. Then, a week or two later when it is
verified with the overseas bank, it is found to be fraudulent.
By now you've sent the guy the $8K from your real account.
You're down $8K.

I wrote the guy back:

   "I'm sorry to inform you that my grandfather, who died
   20 years ago, just wrapped the car around a telephone
   pole. It is not driveable any longer. The only thing
   that still works is the knob on the ashtray".

He replied that his buyer still wants the car...

--

On another item:

A month or two ago one of the RTTY guys posted a note
that eBay no longer shows the bidder's name unless you
are the one selling the item. They were saddened to see
that you couldn't see who was bidding on what.

Well, the reason that eBay did that is because of the
2nd chance frauds. I bid on a laptop. I lost.
The next day I got a notice saying "the guy that bid on
it defaulted. The unit is yours for the bid you offered".
The seller was a blue-star computer dealer. The e-mail
came from Romainia, from an unknown e-mail address. I
contacted the REAL seller, including the e-mail, and
asked him if it was so. Of course he knew nothing about
it. I contacted eBay.

I also contacted the site (University) he was going thru
to mask his identity.

It all comes down to: if you try to work around eBay by
doing business under-the-table to get around their fees,
you're going to pay in the long run.

regards,
W6ESE - tony
NNNNZCZC

Jack wrote:
> 
> I recently sold off some UGC-74 parts to a very
> insistent bidder from Japan. Even though I clearly
> state I will only ship to the USA, this person
> bid on the parts and then sent me his Tokyo
> address. He also sent me four times the amount
> due in cash (which I refused from FedEx). He
> then gave me an address in San Francisco and
> again sent cash via FedEx. I shipped
> the parts and then got a call from the San
> Francisco address: they have no idea who this
> guy is! I have seen him bidding on a lot of
> stuff (he even went overboard $$$ on a complete
> UGC74). Sellers beware!
> 
> This person's name is....Kazuhiko Nishi.
> 
> His email responses are erratic...so I'm
> still trying to resolve the mystery address.
> 
> Jack WA2HWJ
> 
-- 
Tony J. Podrasky | "Thank you for coming, Mrs. Goddard.
                  | The school is concerned about your boy's math skills.
                  | Let's just say young Robert is no balloon scientist."
                  |                                         - Graham Alig