IMPORTANT UPDATE: The eBay scammers are getting creative! They are using fake emails/spoof emails - mostly directed at eBay motors sellers advising them that those sellers are on fraud list and pretending these spoof emails with beware-of-fraud eBay user ID. If you get such email, please report it / forward it to spoof@ebay.com - this email is fake - probably contains PHISHING links and who knows what malicious code.
Here are some emails I recently received from sellers/recipients of those spoof emails:

1/24/2008 : We received a message on our email account about the Chevrolet. It was addressed from you and mentioned something about a scammer list and eBay message warning you that we do not sell cars honestly. We have contacted eBay and they say there is no such list and no alerts or anything on our account. We assumed this is a fake email and if you did not send it then someone is trying to scam with your eBay name. This has all been reported to eBay safety department and hopefully something will be done.

1/21/2008 : Hi You emailed me about the 01 Ford and I have no clue about the fraud thing first I heard about it I have the vehicle in my yard if you are still interested in it you can call me at

1/19/2008 : I tried to sell a truck and it did not sell. Then I'm told someone else tried to sell it. some kind of scam! Now I'm told by other ebayer that I am on some sort of scammers list and to avoid me. I intended to shot some more photos and relist my truck but can;t with this hanging over my head. I was told that you are part of the scam warning and hoped you might be able to help clear my name so I might contimue selling. Can you help, what can I do to clear my name. What can you tell me.

Thank you eBay memebers for alerting me, rest assured there is no such list and these emails are created by eBay scammers to most likely get you to click on some link in that email that would most likely lead to spoof / phishing page that looks like eBay login page designed to steel your eBay login and password. Do not click on any links and simply forward such email to spoof@ebay.com

This page is created to assist eBay members in identifying and preventing fraud and scams on eBay site.

• 3/12/2003 Ming the Mechanic: ebay scams
• 5/11/2003 Online Auctions Have Everything -- Including, Increasingly, Scam Artists WashingtonPost.Com
• 6/13/2003 International Western Union Fraud FAQ Post on Ebay Forums This thread was started more than 5 years ago and you will see NEW victims reporting their losses there constantly!

Here is a typical post of an eBay scam victim who was just scammed - here is a post : [Scam] Victim of Romania Ebay fraud just got scammed 9/13/2006 and this is just a drop in the ocean. No one has full figures but based on my personal observations I can estimate a range of 200 - 400 victims every month sending their hard earned money to the scammers and this is just my tip of an iceberg, based on my specific numbers in limited observation area I have. I suspect total numbers of fraud victims are staggering.

Who are the eBay scammers? Well there is a division of labour, like in any organized outfit. You have the :

• Hackers whose job is to ferret internet servers, find those that are not secured properly and hijack those. Once hacker gains access to someone else unsecured server, they upload fake eBay looking websites so the Phishers can take over and do their part. (Often Hackers and Phishers are one and the same). Wanna meet one, say hello to Mr. Borcila Andra : Who are they ? Ebay Phisher, Meet and Greet !!
• Phishers then take over and start sending thousands of emails to internet users - these phishing emails change format all the time, one looks like an official email ASK Seller a Question type - but beware if you click on RESPOND button in that email you will end up at a PHISHER site, that looks just like eBAY Login Screen asking you to login with your eBay user name and password. Never - Ever respond to ASK a QUESTION by clicking any buttons in any EMAILs, go to your eBay account, click my messages and respond from your eBAY inbox.... unless of course you have 0 feedback like this account, then you cannot respond even from there... but that is another subject all together. Phishers will send you clever emails like this one [Phishing] E-bay phish disguised as survey as well as Unpaid Item notice ... so do not trust any emails, do all your communication via official eBay site in MY MESSAGES area.
• The Hackers and Phishers usually sell the hijacked eBay user logins/password to the Scammers. The Scammer's job is to upload as many Frauctions and coax the unuspecting eBay buyers into thinking they just found some expensive item at 1/3 of a going price and to convince the Buyer to contact the Scammer to an email address outside eBay and to coax the buyer to pay via unrefundable and untraceable cash method such as Western Union. Once the Victim sent money, the Scammer dissappears and the Victim never sees the item they think they bought.

  Meet Zuzzy, one hacker/phisher who spoke out just recently, he/she/it will explain why they do it: Zuzzi tells you why it's OK to Scam Americans. Later on Zuzzy is joined by Dumi, the other Hacker/Phisher who explains that scamming from Americans is really not stealing at all.

How to spot a fake auction?

Well that is the EASY part! Read up on it in my SCAM Auctions WARNING Guide and then you can head on to a Real Time SCAM Auctions Tracker to check some of the SCAM Auctions on eBay right now. Also BEWARE there are SCAM Auctions converted to PHISHING right on eBAY pages, check out a Video Showing EBay Phishing right on eBay site. You will NEVER see a login on auction detail page, if you do, it is a PHISHING attempt, return to main eBAY page login there if you need to but never ever login on auction detail page, Scammers inject malicious code into auction pages that super-imposes fake login page layer into the auction to scam eBay users into giving up their user logins/password directly on eBay site.

So now what, what can YOU do?

• Be Informed, Beware! eBay maintains they are purely place to bring Buyers and Sellers together but they cannot police everything and everyone. They have a good point there. Here is a good link with more info how to protect yourself from SCAMS: Consumer Guide To Avoiding eBay Fraud.

• If you wanted to help:If you receive FAKE EBAY INVOICE from the scammers, please forward them in its entirety to beware.of.fraud@gmail.com with a subject FAKE EBAY INVOICE. We have a contact in law enforcement who asked us to gather these fake invoices - I guess they are investigating and those emails and email source headers help them track the scammers.

  Update 5/3/2007 ---- Thank you all for sending the fake invoices ! Keep them going!!!!! If possible please include headers of the emails so we can see which mailservers and IP addresses the scammers use.

• Latest Scam Auctions Archives with screenshots of past scam auctions on hijacked sellers.

• Visit Mioka's About ME page on eBay to get quick links to agencies offering assistance when you have been defrauded on eBay.

  This page was origially created on 9/15/2006... Here is how it all started. Back in fall 2005 I was looking for some Roland printers because we print on our photo christmas ornaments and we needed couple of those expensive machines. At least 50% of auctions were scam auctions on hijacked seller accounts. I was dissappointed that eBay has such a scam problem and bought the printing equipment elsewhere. Year later we again needed some equipment for our shop that does personalized christmas stockings namely embroidery machines and to my surprise, the same scammer group dominated that area of eBay as well. I was not comfortable buying in that equipment category either so I purchase the embroidery machinse from our local SWF dealer. We love our SWF embroidery machines, they sure are little workhorses! Now last season we needed a Summa printer expanding our custom ornaments production and again, although this printer was available from one seller, I could not trust eBay marketplace enough so spend this much money here. So this effort started, in hopes that we can help c;ean up the eBay marketplace exposing those pesky little scammers, educating eBay members and make it unprofitable for the fraudsters to scam on eBay.

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