Possible eBay scam

[gmloki]

I have recieved a call on my mobile phone from somebody "claiming" to be from eBay. His name was Acton Chow and he claimed to work out of the eBay office in British Columbia in Canada.

He stated other people have had difficulty getting hold of me on my mobile and he wanted to know my eBay user Id and password. I explained that as an employee of eBay he should know my eBay user ID and he should not need to know any of my passwords. I have asked him to put his request in the form of an email.

He went onto say that he could tell me that I had some PC's and a DVD player up for sale. All of which he could have easily got from my current items anyway.

It maybe genuine. Upto now there has been no email from him. I have also reported this to eBay. Keep an eye out guys for dodgy calls and emails

 

[tRoG]

Please note that eBay employees will never ask you for your password.

People still seem to fall for these scams, though

 

[Gumbo]

It maybe genuine.

It is in no way, shape or form, genuine. Anyone that falls for a scam like this deserves to be taken for all that they've got, for gross stupidity.

Never give anyone, any password, just ask yourself what would happen if you didn't.

 

[Tom]

God I wish I got phone calls like this, I could do with telling someone to fuckoff.

Its a load of bollocks. It sounds like he has hacked into another user's account, somebody who you have traded with in the past, and obtained your contact details using Ebay's system.

Have you received any emails showing such contact?

 

[Darthshearer]

Arses

 

[Wazzerphuk]

No-one will ever ask for your user/password for any legitimate reason. Ever.

 

[Utini]

Be careful of higher value items on ebay too, always go for some sort of protection or insurance.
I nearly got conned yesterday on an auction i won, but smelt sommt funny when the guy only wanted western union and googled his address, found several forum posts of fraud from his address, now reported to ebay , awaiting response. I think i'll use paypal buyer protection from now on.

 

[SilverHood]

Never give out your password, ever

 

[old.Osy]

Hey I work for Mythix. You nead to giv me oll yor pazzwords, becuase 1 lost yuor contact ifno. Thxkbye.

 

[Deacan]

Fact is that nearly every company say that they will NEVER ask for your password is a big enuth clue they are trying to scam you.

 

[Gray]

This isnt completely on topic, but it is about Ebay, did anyone see in the paper(s) where a kid of 7 bidded for some Power Rangers toy (Worth £37) for £750k ?

The story is here but what i find confusing is the parents where all panicky about "having to sell the house to pay for it".

Im like hmmm, why? The second highest bid was something like £60 for the toy (I did a checkup on ebay for it ) so in theory, they would have only had to pay what, £65 tops? But the fact that this kid got hold of said password for his mums account does seem dodgy.

Anything for a story i suppose... :/ but im still wondering why you would pay £60 for something which is only £40 in highstreet shops. buhh

 

[Wazzerphuk]

The story is here but what i find confusing is the parents where all panicky about "having to sell the house to pay for it".

What's confusing? A winning bid/any bid on ebay is a legal contract whereby you have agreed to purchase the item, regardless. The parents obviously thought it was final, and panicked: the seller was well within his rights to sell that toy only to the winning bidder for the winning bid, which would have been huge. Instead of being a **** though, he's done the sensible thing and sold it to the second highest bidder. Legally, the parents would have had to pay.

 

[Driwen]

What's confusing? A winning bid/any bid on ebay is a legal contract whereby you have agreed to purchase the item, regardless. The parents obviously thought it was final, and panicked: the seller was well within his rights to sell that toy only to the winning bidder for the winning bid, which would have been huge. Instead of being a **** though, he's done the sensible thing and sold it to the second highest bidder. Legally, the parents would have had to pay.

Wouldnt there be some way around it as the kid did the bidding and so made the contract (and if you arent of age you cant sign one). Dont think the parents would have had to pay in the end, however I would be scared on first moment aswell and besides I might be wrong and they would have had to pay up.

 

[Gray]

no i wasnt really on about the contract, i mean ebay uses a system where you bid the highest ammount you would like to pay (in this case it was £750k). But because the second highest bidder only bidded about what £60, so the highest the parent would have paid was about £65... Not the £750k unless the second highest bidder whacked an unrealistic bid of around £749k.

Its explained better here