[Test-Equipment] New eBay phishing scam (FW: Second Chance Offer Item : 3...

[John Miles]

The crooks are actually trying all sorts of tricks in the spectrum/network
analyzer category lately.  I have a 497P up for sale now, and I'm somewhat
worried that the rise in criminal activity has depressed the whole market.
A friend has been keeping an eye out for an HP 8753A VNA for some time now,
but all of the reasonably-priced ones have turned out to be bogus.

Watch out for the following factors in any deal you consider:

1) Any equipment offered under "Contact seller for payment details" terms,
in which the seller requests a Western Union transfer.  This is now against
eBay's rules due to the fact that 99% of Western Union transactions are scam
fodder.  Walk, do not run, away from Western Union or any other form of
payment that the buyer can collect at any 7-11 in the known universe.

2) Any seller who claims to be in either (a) the UK, or (b) Chicago, without
disclosing as much on the auction text.  These have been particular problem
areas lately.

3) Anyone using the name "Marconi".  I have received several scam offers
from "Lora Marconi", making me think there is more than one scammer using
the same template.  This may suggest a boiler-room type of operation.

4) Anyone using pictures that seem a little too familiar.  Right-click (in
Windows) to check the photo URL.  If an auction from the UK has its images
hosted at the University of Iowa, for example, that's a red flag.

5) HP 8565Es do not sell for $5000 unless they're being sold by a
marine-salvage firm.  If it sounds too good to be true, it IS!  Watch out
for bargain-basement deals on HP 8753 VNAs, 8560-series SAs, Tek 2780-series
SAs, and high-end Racal receivers.

6) Check the seller's history to see what other items they have been
selling.  An account which sold doll clothes up until last Tuesday, when
they diversified into the test-equipment market, has probably been hijacked.
You may be smart enough to avoid following links in emails, but was your
seller?

7) Finally, don't fall prey to the "Oh, eBay doesn't care, they won't do
anything" mentality.  That's what the scammers want you to think.  It isn't
true, in my experience.  They will generally shut down bogus auctions... if
you can find the magic link to report them.  The two keys are spoof at ebay.com
for spoof emails, and the "report" links buried in boxes 7 and 8 at
http://pages.ebay.com/help/pay/payment.html .  These channels get results in
my experience.  Scammers can't easily operate without untraceable payment
methods like cash and Western Union transfers, and you can get them shut
down in a hurry on that basis if you report them for violating current
policies.

Most of the time, these scammers are subliterate morons, and you'd have to
be pretty dumb to fall prey to their schemes.  Dr. Darwin says we can expect
that to change any time now.

-- john KE5FX
  -----Original Message-----
  From: W0EOM at aol.com [mailto:W0EOM at aol.com]
  Sent: Friday, June 18, 2004 6:45 PM
  To: jmiles at pop.net; TekScopes at yahoogroups.com
  Cc: Test-Equipment at mailman.qth.net
  Subject: Re: [Test-Equipment] New eBay phishing scam (FW: Second Chance
Offer Item : 3...


  John  - thanks for the info.  i got one of these about two days ago on
another analyzer.   thought it a little strange.

  Will