Ebay Dodgy Irish Mass Clearance Seller

ttm

jor el wrote: »

They don't actually state that at the time the auctions go live.

Just a small point just to be "fair" to the scammer . I haven't noticed that he has been changing the listings and adding words in his most recent scams.
The last lot of text I typed out is what you saw when the auctions where first listed and I'm fairly sure the listings weren't changed after the auction. Its been that way for the last 4 or so scams he's run on eBay.ie, eBay.co.uk and eBay.fr.
He seems to be trying to confuse people who wouldn't know the meaning of the word intangible to start with.

Totally Intangible URL only sale fixed at just 19.95

Totally Secure URL Delivery via Intangible Digital
Delivery service.

The scam is still basically down to the fact "there is one born every minute" and even if you state the obvious there seem to be enough buyers who will fall for it.

If I remember correctly the current format of the scam is the same as it was about 4 years ago when I first started noticing it.

When the scam includes changing the text you normally notice that there is a blank space in the listing when its live for text to be added later. Photobucket allows for online editing of pictures so I guess thats how its done. The before and after pics are vastly different in size which is another give away that they have been changed.

If anyone wants to check for changes just get the file size of the picture when its active and its URL then check to see if the file size changes later, but obviously you'll see if the text has changed just by looking.

sickofwaiting

This has probably been asked already but has anybody reported to the gardai the fact that there is an Irish citizen committing fraud to the tune of tens of thousands of euro?

This isn't some random guy in china/south america who can't be done, if he is in fact an Irish citizen the gardai can trace him and arrest him.

jimoc

If this guy went to court then I could see a scumbag lawyer getting him off because he specifically states he's only selling a url and its stupid people who don't read that that are making the mistake.

sickofwaiting

He might be doing that with the last scam but previously he changed the text only after the auction was over.

ttm

Glad to see some debate on the subject , always good to hear what other people think.

I'm only guessing but I think he might not be in the Republic. He was prepared to run the chance of getting caught for fraud on eBay.ie but I've not seen the same changing the auction terms after the auction trick on ebay.co.uk. Don't take that as gosple just a point for discussion if anyone is interested.

Also as I've said the same scam has been run for years and on one occasion when I reported it to eBay they responded saying it was obvious from the listing that it was a "list" that was for sale. The listing I reported was very very similar to the ones I've posted/linked to recently and back then ebay often left his scams run the full listing period.

Again just guessing but while I'm sure we'll see the standard "URL" sale scam time and time again we might not see the change the auction trick again.... at least for a bit.

sickofwaiting

Well first step if anyone wants to get something done about this scammer is to report him to the gardai.

Garda And Bailiff-URL Sale
Fixed Price 19.95

The fact that he has actually impersonated the gardai as part of the scam will ensure that they will want to bust this prick, whether he is based in Ireland or not. He is doing harm to the name of the gardai, they will definitely take action over this.

You could also let Revenue know that he is impersonating their "Irish Tax & Customs" department.

This guy has impersonated state law enforcement and financial bodies to scam thousands and thousands of euro, and that will not go down well at all with them when they find out about it. If anyone here has been caught by the scam, or is just interested in taking this twat down, go into the gardai and tell them an online scammer is making thousands by impersonating them and ruining their good name.

ttm

Some good points sickofwaiting, but where can these official bodies find this information and how many of their employees would want to spend most if Saturday night and Sunday morning getting evidence.

The problem is eBay and the way they "tidy" up the evidence on a Monday morning leaving nothing. Try finding any information about this scam anywhere other than this site (there is some but shout about it and it would also get tidied up)? So at this point in time if the Garda took an interest there is nothing for them to see.

Another problem is PayPal, if eBay stop an auction then PayPal should automatically pay out.

sickofwaiting

ttm wrote: »

Some good points sickofwaiting, but where can these official bodies find this information and how many of their employees would want to spend most if Saturday night and Sunday morning getting evidence.

Its not a question of employees wanting to do the grunt work. The gardai will look at this scam and a person or people will be ordered to investigate it.

The problem is eBay and the way they "tidy" up the evidence on a Monday morning leaving nothing. Try finding any information about this scam anywhere other than this site (there is some but shout about it and it would also get tidied up)? So at this point in time if the Garda took an interest there is nothing for them to see.

The gardai have statutory powers and get any information they want off Ebay. They can get all the details on this scammer and they can get access to historical data and logs on Ebays servers that will serve as evidence in a court case.

Impersonating a state police force, of all things, in an effort to scams tens of thousands of euros is a really really dumb idea. No police force in the world would stand for it.

This prick is definitely looking at some hard time if he goes down for this considering the amount he scammed. It's straight up fraud.



Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation

Address:Harcourt Square, Dublin 2
Telephone:+353 1 666 3776


Fraud based on impersonating the gardai and using their good name to steal tens of thousands from the Irish public will be taken very seriously. If I had been taken in by this scam I would be straight in to Harcourt Square to see about getting this twat locked up.

Grumpypants

I thought i saw something similar last night i was looking at an iphone that was listed as "Iphone 3G", when you clicked into it, it said it worked but the volume button was broken. It was at 100 euro so i kept my eye on it.

Came back to check it it was 240+euro but now it seemed to say you are buying an email with where you can buy it for as little as 150dollars ??

I just wasnt too sure if i was looking at the same listing or not. Does it not show up if the seller edits the listing.

He has other listings for the same thing at well over 100 euro.

ttm

Grumpypants wrote: »

I just wasnt too sure if i was looking at the same listing or not. Does it not show up if the seller edits the listing.

The answer is yes and no If the listing details are normal text then yes you see the revision history thats the way eBay is supposed to work but in the case of this specific scam THERE IS NO TEXT (in a copy and paste sence) as the text is part of a picture that is hosted on photobucket. eBay have no control over the picture hosted on photobucket so the scammer can change it at will.

I have asked eBay if they cache the picture so they know if it has been changed and no one at eBay will answer that question. Last time I asked about this I was told that the answer was eBays intellectual property which they could not reveal.

I doubt this is the same scammer but if you see the listing again just post some links to it so we can take a look.

okidoki987

Re-read this thread for about the 10th time and can't believe he is still getting away with it.
God knows how much he has scammed from the auctions but at this stage it seems to have been worth his while.
Why?, because Ebay/Paypal haven't bothered doing anything to stop this and a lot of the other scams that happen on the site.
They make enough money not to bother doing anything about it.
Ebay if they don't stop these scammers will find less and less people using the site and going elsewhere.

ttm should be given an award for all the hard work he has done warning others.

Would have thought a programme like Watchdog on the BBC would be interested?
Someone like Anne Robinson would give Ebay a hard time of it.

Grumpypants

Was watching judge judy of all things i know its a different country but a similar thing happened some girl was selling 2 phones for over 400 dollars and had in the small print this is for a photo only. She messed up by putting the phones stats including the weight. Judge ruled that the photos didnt weigh the advertised 4.9 oz and awarded the case to the buyer gave her 5 grand in compensation. There was some extra stuff about feedback too.

But surely something similar would happen here as the guy advertises a boxed item. So if your URL doesn't come in a box you could sue. ??


Ebay are very slow i had a buyer not pay and i made a claim got my money back but it still doesnt show up that he has an unpayed item mark against his name 3 weeks later.

jor el

Grumpypants wrote: »

But surely something similar would happen here as the guy advertises a boxed item. So if your URL doesn't come in a box you could sue. ??

Who do you sue though? He's obviously not using genuine information when he sets up the accounts and sales on eBay, so you'd find it almost impossible to track him down.

ttm

jor el wrote: »

Who do you sue though? He's obviously not using genuine information when he sets up the accounts and sales on eBay, so you'd find it almost impossible to track him down.

We don't even know what country he is running the scam from? Unless boards.ie want to tell us what IP address(es) the scammer uses when he posts here

jor el

Boards won't share that information with anyone without a court order. Only admins can see the IP address of posters.

Even then, there's not really any proof that the many posters (now banned) that we all know are the scammer, is actually the scammer. You'd need to get info from eBay and Paypal to be able to mount any kind of action against him.

ttm

jor el wrote: »

Boards won't share that information with anyone without a court order. Only admins can see the IP address of posters.

Even then, there's not really any proof that the many posters (now banned) that we all know are the scammer, is actually the scammer. You'd need to get info from eBay and Paypal to be able to mount any kind of action against him.

Don't worry I've no illusions about boards.ie releasing IP info, proof of anything is always tricky which is why I just blog what I notice here. Anyone with a will can do with it what they like. I might even one day shame eBay/PayPal into working out a system that makes the scam either unworkable or no longer viable.

ttm

This week he is seized-goods-sales selling at Fixed price 19.95 tag line on listing is "garda seized goods sale"

If you have bid on any of these you've been scammed...

120591116997 03-Jul-10 06-Jul-10 17:14:15 BST EUR 19.95 Toshiba Satellite Pro S300-11Y - Core 2 Duo T5870
120591117009 03-Jul-10 06-Jul-10 17:12:47 BST EUR 19.95 iPhone 3GS 32Gb smart phone unlocked to all networks.
120591117006 03-Jul-10 06-Jul-10 17:11:46 BST EUR 19.95 Acer laptop 4Gb ram and 250Gb hard drive, windows vista
120591117001 03-Jul-10 06-Jul-10 17:08:05 BST EUR 19.95 Xbox 360 120Gb with cod4 game.
120591117088 03-Jul-10 06-Jul-10 17:06:21 BST EUR 19.95 Nintendo Wii with Wii sports game
120591117027 03-Jul-10 06-Jul-10 17:05:53 BST EUR 19.95 Nokia n95 8Gb mobile phone,unlocked to all networks.
120591117005 03-Jul-10 06-Jul-10 17:05:41 BST EUR 19.95 Canon slr dslr eos body + lens EF-S 18-55 mm
120591117084 03-Jul-10 06-Jul-10 17:02:35 BST EUR 19.95 Nintendo DSi with 2 games and case.
120591117079 03-Jul-10 06-Jul-10 17:01:48 BST EUR 19.95 Philips LCD 42" 42PFL5603H HDTV 1080P with ambilight.
120591117071 03-Jul-10 06-Jul-10 17:01:45 BST EUR 19.95 SAMSUNG PS50B550 50" plasma tv with glass stand. e
120591117017 03-Jul-10 06-Jul-10 17:00:26 BST EUR 19.95 Nokia n97 32Gb smart mobile phone, unlocked.

ttm

I'll post the shill bidders list and links to all the graphics files that seized-goods-sales is using later this evening. If anyone else wants to do it feel free.

ttm

When eBay remove seized-goods-sales listings you won't be able to see the orginals so here are the links to the hosted pictures that are used in the listings...


http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/seized-goods-sales/toshiba1.png
http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/seized-goods-sales/iphone1.png
http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/seized-goods-sales/acer1.png
http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/seized-goods-sales/xbox1.png
http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/seized-goods-sales/wii1.png
http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/seized-goods-sales/n951.png
http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/seized-goods-sales/canon1.png
http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/seized-goods-sales/dsi1.png
http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/seized-goods-sales/philips1.png
http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/seized-goods-sales/samsung1.png
http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/seized-goods-sales/n971.png

jor el

Over 100 shill bidders, and all of them with private feedback. He's been busy this time.

I see the pictures now say he is using an intangible digital delivery system.

All auctions reported.

ttm

Thanks jor el thought I was the only one watching this tonight.

One negative there followed by some cover up shill positives.

Good man j1mmysmit but I think he had probably just discovered that the seller has set up his account so you can only buy one item from him so we won't be hearing from j1mmysmit again tonight.

ttm

List of shill bidder accounts also used by the scammer. If eBay are reading this these accounts also need deactivating....

denabroderick
paitencebrinton
marciahoratio
cissiegottfried
maxineleighton
wynncarver
clarkanderss
dirkbenedicts
daisywallaces
paigehogan
harryrowlands
noeleenlothaire
zelmaellery
dotmilton
carycampbell
jeremiahhogworts
grantduffin
josiegalloways
staceycolemans
benjiphipps
treod44
tramel341
davehyde
pippagolding
stuartliming
scarletknight10
deanwigon
grahamslothe
paulwrite2010
grahamspinner
chrisiescross
annesummers609
destinychild
soffiachester
sharonowenss
lennyfrench
brettallanson
sianjamess
anitaquantro
paigebowls
lisafresher
warrenbuxton
hannahfirth
jamesmoonies
kevinstrider
colinbrosnan
meryldooms
sophiafabria
jillygrant
trentbywater
sammyrosebud
sennenwalkers

jor el

No longer a registered user, all auctions gone.

Well done people.

quip

So who is clever enough to work out the ID the scammer will be using next time Google some of the names on TTMs shill bidders list you will find some more info from the cached results so you will see that annesummers609 and paulwrite2010 have left feedback for euroauctions09

Edit> nah not as clever as I thought as that was an ID for a scam he ran 3 months back.

jor el

Got a response from eBay on my shill report about his feedback accounts

Thank you for taking the time to report a suspected case of Shill
Bidding to us. I understand you're concerned because you sennenwalkers's
listings and I appreciate the chance to assist you regarding this
matter.

Please be informed that we take Shill Bidding very seriously and we
investigated your report immediately.

When we investigate a case of Shill Bidding, we look at the information
you provided and compare it to our records of bidding patterns.

Sometimes, what appears to be Shill Bidding may actually be legitimate
bidding and, if we find there's not enough evidence of Shill Bidding,
which is the case here, we do not take action against any of the
reported accounts. In many cases, a bidder enters a maximum amount for a
bid and the system then bids for them until their maximum is reached. If
you see that you are automatically been outbid, this is usually the
reason: the system is bidding for the other member.

We know your time is valuable and we appreciate you taking a moment to
express your concern to us, James. I trust this information helps you
make a decision on how to proceed with your bid.

:rolleyes: is about all I can say to that. Are they blind, stupid or just plain lazy? Why do we even bother.

jor el

And a reply to my question asking them are you blind?.

Thanks for getting back to us regarding your report about this member
"sennenwalkers" whom you believed to be related to a no longer
registered member "seized-goods-sales". I can understand why you're
concerned that someone you feel is a bad eBayer is still active on eBay.

James, it's our top priority to ensure eBay remains a safe and reputable
place and we take reports of members breaking our rules very seriously.
Let me assure you we have investigated your report in this case.

Our disciplinary action ranges from formal warnings or temporary account
restrictions to indefinite suspension of a member's account. In some
cases, the member may continue to use eBay.

Please understand that before we take action, we consider the
circumstances of an alleged offence and the member's feedback profile,
as well as any previous warnings or offences. To be fair to all members,
we won't take action unless a complaint can be proven with certainty.

I trust this information helps to clarify this matter for you. We
greatly appreciate your time and support in helping us keep eBay a safe
and fun place to buy and sell.

Can anyone find an actual answer in there, or is this just a collection of random and non-associated sentences?

Judgement Day

I have said it so many times, they just don't give a damn - just like Irish hoteliers/restaurants/shops etc who think that they don't need repeat business and can depend on an unending supply of fresh customers to fleece time and again. Ebay have an unenviable reputation for scammers and it is only their sheer size and lack of serious competition that has kept them going - they have achieved critical mass. I remain convinced that the wheels will yet come of this particular wagon but I'm not sure how or when.

ttm

Another conversation with eBay regarding the same scam.

After question the responces they made to my questions we finally got down to this dialog....

ebay rep:

Regrettably, I am not in a position to discuss internal processes and technical issues with you at this time, as these are a part of the company's intellectual property.

So I just had to follow up with "Is eBays intellectual property an intangible item?"

ebay rep:

Yes, Intellectual property is considered 'Intangible' item.

Not sure what that proves except that eBay have a policy of "say nufink".

Wolfe Tone

I hope others dont read this thread and think its a good idea to copy this scumbag.

Tiesto

jeez been a few months since I looked at this thread and im absolutely shocked to see that this guy is 'still in business'.
Says alot about Ebay and reassures me to keep clear.
How much longer is he going to get away with this?
he must have made an absolute mint at this stage!?!
How are the Gardai not involved!?

Max Power1

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

I hope others dont read this thread and think its a good idea to copy this scumbag.

seems a foolproof scam doesnt it.
All I need is an address in france!

Wolfe Tone

Max Power1 wrote: »

seems a foolproof scam doesnt it.
All I need is an address in france!

This bloke has had to have made some serious moolah. Its a joke.

Max Power1

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

This bloke has had to have made some serious moolah. Its a joke.

Indeed. But they will be caught.
A scam only works in small scales. Ie if he had made a few hundred, or even a couple of grand, its probably not worth pursuing it. however this guy could easily have made 50 grand or more. Im sure ebay/paypal/someone will chase him for the money!

Wolfe Tone

It has been going on for over a year and no joy. Despicable.

Max Power1

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

I has been going on for over a year and no joy. Despicable.

:eek:

Interesting. Are you pursuing ebay or the guy himself? Id say he covered his tracks very well indeed if he was making that amount from it.

ttm

Max Power1 wrote: »

Indeed. But they will be caught.
A scam only works in small scales. Ie if he had made a few hundred, or even a couple of grand, its probably not worth pursuing it. however this guy could easily have made 50 grand or more. Im sure ebay/paypal/someone will chase him for the money!

Think you might be wrong there. Why would PayPal or eBay chase him for anything?

If you read back (or somewhere in another thread but its there somewhere) RasTa clearly states that after 6 months PayPal have to let the account owner have "his" money as they (PayPal) can't keep it.

So if the scammer runs for example a 10k scam and 50% of the buyers complain correctly and get their money back then after 6 months the 5k less eBay fees is his to walk away with. I don't think he clears it down as the scam runs as that would leave him to open to being identified (so probably can't use a PayPal account linked to a back acount/credit card and the amounts may be too large to quicky move to anonymous 3V accounts) the advantage there is that PayPal will payout the succesful claims and the scammer gets the rest after 6months and can use some anonymous method however limited and slow to get "his" money. So in that senario why would PayPal chase anyone that doesn't owe them money?

If he does get stopped my money would be on UK Trading Standards doing it afaik they are the only people that actively chase and prosecute scams on eBay.

Max Power1

well paypal would chase him if he cleared out his accounts before the buyers got refunded, so paypal had to refund the buyers from their own pockets. I think ebay do the same

ttm

Max Power1 wrote: »

well paypal would chase him if he cleared out his accounts before the buyers got refunded, so paypal had to refund the buyers from their own pockets. I think ebay do the same

If you can explain how you move several tens of thousand euro out of an account leave the account with a negative balance and not leave a trail that leads back to you then you have a point.

The front end of the scam is a total fraud but I bet the back end which we can't see the workings of is played in a completly different way. The scammer relies on the "intangible items" ebay "get out of jail free card", provided he uses that then their is no sencible reason for him to piss off eBay or PayPal as he relies on their rules to rip people off.

sickofwaiting

I can't understand why ttm and jor el are spending so much time emailing ebay/paypal and compiling lists of this guys' accounts instead of taking the obvious step of phoning/sending registered letter/calling into/emailing the gardai fraud squad and telling them that this guy has impersonated their organization as part of his scam that has netted him tens of thousands of euros. They are guaranteed to follow it up out of spite.

jor el

sickofwaiting wrote: »

telling them that this guy has impersonated their organization

Come again?

ttm

Me I just compile data

A warning from France - http://avis-membres.ebay.fr/ENCHERES-DE-POLICE-OUTRE-90-DU-PRIX_W0QQugidZ10000000004499714

And another thread here that shows this scam is at least 2 years old (also this one), that one does make it look like the scammer was trying to work around using the word garda but even so I still can't see how he can said to be impersonating them?

Getting historical now same scam reported nearly 3 years ago again in France http://avis-membres.ebay.fr/enchere-de-police_W0QQugidZ10000000004508913

Some other warning on ebay.fr
http://avis-membres.ebay.fr/ENCHERE-DE-POLlCE-90-OUTRE-DU-PRIX_W0QQugidZ10000000006298496

http://avis-membres.ebay.fr/arnaque-de-police_W0QQugidZ10000000004630004

the French Connection

sickofwaiting

jor el wrote: »

Come again?

At least one of his adverts for his scam specifically used the word Garda/gardai.

jor el

sickofwaiting wrote: »

At least one of his adverts for his scam specifically used the word Garda/gardai.

Oh, yes. That's a matter for eBay to report though, as we don't really have anything to report. eBay are the ones with the personal details, names, addresses, bank/credit card details, and so on that are needed.

Anyone who has fallen victim to this scammer can report it to the Gardai if they like, but we don't even know where this person is located.