Please make me smarter.

What are these people after and how does it work?

Clearly an under priced vehicle, he wants you to email him.  Selling your email to spammers?

Your contact info and any other info they can dredge up to steal everything they can. They will push it as far as they can to get as much as they can. 

Funny enough, I setup a fake email account to see what the scam was just a few days ago.

Basically, it's like they use to do on CL.  You get some story about how they're out of the country and need to sell the car.  They will ship it to you at their expense for you to inspect and you have three days to do so because it's all handled through Ebay.  You just have to buy enough $200 Ebay gift cards to cover it and then call some number and read the "ebay person" the gift card numbers over the phone.

-Rob

In reply to rob_lewis :

How ignorant do you have to be to fall for something like that? 

Toyman01 + Sized and said:

How ignorant do you have to be to fall for something like that?

While it was obvious to me because I've seen these before, I'm sure they have lots of folks who would fall for it.  I could see how someone would see the "official" email from Ebay and convince themselves that because of internet safety, buying gift cards instead of "giving them my bank info" probably seems much more secure.  It's easy for me to see the scam, but I'm conscience enough to know that not everyone is an internet geek like me.  I would bet most folks use it kinda like AOL back in the day.  They check email, they read FB, they might venture to a couple of shopping sites or news sites and that's it. 

Sadly, they seem to have invaded FB, so you have to wade through a bunch of them (I flag them as scam, but have no idea if it helps) to see actual cars for sale.

If anyone is curious, here's the text of the email I got from "Ebay".  And the person who I emailed initially was nice enough to warn me that sometimes the Ebay email goes to my spam folder, so I should check there...... Gosh, I wonder why it would do that.....

How To Make The Payment

In order to reserve the vehicle and start the shipping process you need to follow the steps:

• Payment must be submitted via eBay Cards and they can be purchased with cash at thousands of stores nationwide.

• Through eBay Cards services we can guarantee you 100% protection and insurance in this transaction. eBay will secure the payment until the buyer receives, inspects and accepts the item. Or, if it will be the case, eBay will refund the payment to the buyer.

• For security reasons the eBay Cards needs to be completed in person at any Rite Aid, Target, Dollar General,7-Eleven , Best Buy, Walgreens, Ralph's, Safeway  Fred Meyer, K-mart, Kroger, Stop & Shop,  Hy Vee , Albertsons  and anywhere you see the eBay Cards sign. The cashier will collect your cash and load it into the eBay Cards. Just purchase your eBay Cards, use cash to load it and you are ready to go. In order to avoid any mistakes when buying the eBay Cards, you need to purchase the scratch able cards. 

 

For your purchase you need to buy 7 X $200.00 eBay Cards
If you need help to complete the payment, please call eBay Customer Support  +1 (252) 419-6416‬



NOTE! Once you bought the eBay Cards and loaded the debit, you have to confirm your payment by calling us  +1 (252) 419-6416‬
                                     You can add only up to $200.00 into a eBay Card. For your purchase you need to buy 7 X $200 eBay Cards
                                                                                                
How to confirm your payment ! Once you bought the eBay Cards and loaded the debit, you have to confirm your payment by replying to this email the 13 digit scratch off numbers from the back of each card so we can verify and validate your payment !

Payment Guarantee Policy

• 1. Buyer and seller agree to terms
• Both parties agree to the terms and conditions of the transaction, which includes a description of the item, sale price and number of days for the buyer's inspection of the item.
• 2. Buyer Pays eBay 
• The buyer submits payment via eBay Cards.
• 3. eBay ships the item
• Upon payment verification, eBay starts the shipping process. eBay verifies that the buyer receives the item. The inspection period begins once the item is delivered.
• To protect you against the risk of liability, eBay holds the buyer's funds pursuant to the terms of the eBay Money Back Guarantee Program Policy, and any other agreement entered between eBay and its customers. When payment is received, it will be verified and secured into a non-interest bearing trust account. After payment is secured, eBay ships the item to the buyer.
• eBay's Payment Guarantee Policy is a unique benefit that offers you protection from unwarranted refunds, allowing you to accept more high risk orders. For all eligible transactions, we will completely reimburse you for any refunds resulting from claims of unauthorized purchases and non-receipt of goods.
• eBay sends an invoice to a buyer only after our Financial Department has verified all the following information:
• -paperwork of the item, including ownership and clear title
• -seller's information and proof of ID
• -Possession of the item that is being sold.
• The item is currently stored in Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
  
  Once the item is delivered, the buyer has a five (7) days inspection period. After the inspection period is over, the buyer will contact eBay with the results of the inspection. If, for any reason, the item does not pass the Purchaser's inspection, it will be returned to the seller, on seller's expense and the funds will be returned to the buyer, in full within 12 hours.
  
  For safety reasons the payment details will be dealt with the utmost security and will not be handed to any third parties. eBay will be in full control of the funds as soon as it reaches our trust fund account, so we will be able to protect and guarantee your funds. Once the funds have been sent to our trust fund account, no one but the Purchaser will have access to it.
   

  eBay will release the funds to the Seller only after the Purchaser receives and agrees with the item.                                                                            

For any questions related to your sale contact eBay Support Department by calling us +1 (252) 419-6416‬

We are available at the following hours:
     6:00 AM to 6:00 PM Mountain Time Monday through Friday
  6:00 AM to 6:00 PM Mountain Time Saturday and Sunday

-Rob

No mention of the owner being Nigerian royalty?

Toyman01 + Sized and said:

In reply to rob_lewis :

How ignorant do you have to be to fall for something like that? 

 

As the great George Carlin once said:

"Think of how stupid the average person is, then realize, half of them are stupider than that."

I'm seeing more and more of these on FBM. I flag them all as scam. What is even more interesting is that these are usually posted from a FB account that has obviously been compromised/duped. If FB & CL utilized Hammurabi code for scammers where they lost a finger for every account they breached/fake ad they posted it would nip this right in the butt.

Did anyone call the number?

Kendall_Jones said:

Did anyone call the number?

I thought about taking it further and calling the number as an FBI agent or clueless idiot with a bunch of fake numbers or acting like a serial killer/creep type, but I don't have a burner phone and wouldn't want to call from my personal phone.  They asked for an address (I used the state capitol address) and a phone number (I used the local time and temperature number, which still exists to my surprise), so they have no real info from me. 

Plus, while it might be kinda fun, I didn't want to waste time trying to keep them on the phone for as long as I could.  If someone wants to call for fun, my "name" is Malcolm Reynolds to them.  Feel free to mess with them.

-Rob

In reply to Kendall_Jones :

Not from my phone I'm not.

I find it interesting that FB can identify fake news or graphic images and cover them or even suspend the user, but they can't manage to identify a scam and suspend those users. 

In reply to Toyman01 + Sized and :

Isn't that the truth.  I report all of them I see.  They follow the exact same formula.  Easy as pie to spot.  

Toyman01 + Sized and said:

I find it interesting that FB can identify fake news or graphic images and cover them or even suspend the user, but they can't manage to identify a scam and suspend those users. 

They do, to my knowledge, the same way that they identify disinformation. Other users report them, then it is reviewed. I've had at least 7 "users" removed from the platform (or else they blocked me?) from scams. 

Just had one of these myself.  It was a motorhome with one picture.  It looked like it should be a $6000 camper that they were selling for $2500.  The ad was written well, said email for more pics.  I figured the reason for only one picture (and the cheap price) was that the other side had been T-boned or something.

Nope... I got pictures of a pristine RV and a whole diatribe about "Son in the Army in Germany just died and we have to leave immediately... The item (really?  Item?) is at shipper ready to be sent to you immediately... cashier's check only... must sell today.... other assorted BS."

Yeah.  Right.

The scam is... there is no truck.  You send the $1400 to a P.O. box and the only thing that happens is the "seller" collects your money.

Toyman01 + Sized and said:

In reply to rob_lewis :

How ignorant do you have to be to fall for something like that? 

 

Well, not this time.  But something plausible at the low end of the FMV scale, I could fall.

914Driver said:

Toyman01 + Sized and said:

In reply to rob_lewis :

How ignorant do you have to be to fall for something like that? 

 

Well, not this time.  But something plausible at the low end of the FMV scale, I could fall.

Nah, I wouldn't worry about falling.  As soon as they tell you shipping is included in the low price (without knowing where you are) and they want to be paid in gift cards, you'd nope right out of there.

-Rob

Toyman01 + Sized and said:

I find it interesting that FB can identify fake news or graphic images and cover them or even suspend the user, but they can't manage to identify a scam and suspend those users. 

The same menagerie of idiots and shiny happy people that programmed (and signed off on) the marketplace filter and search (dis)functions, likely also programmed the security and integrity 'protections'.

Can you flag or turn in an ad on FBook?

914Driver said:

Can you flag or turn in an ad on FBook?

Yep, I just figured that out yesterday.  click on the 3 dots on the upper right of the ad and "report post".  

Look at me, giving FB tutorials...

I normally tag them as "scam." Not sure if it does any good, but I figure it can't hurt.