This is a new one on me and I have been using Ebay for years...……...I have been looking for a MacBook for a while and one came up on the local Craigslist at a very nice price. I sent an email to the seller and here is the reply......Thanks for asking about my MacBook, I have it for x dollars firm and it is at an Ebay warehouse # such and such. Send me your name address and PH number and I will send it to Ebay, they will contact you and send the Mac to you and you have 3 days to check it out before you pay for it, this protects me and you...……..Has anybody every heard of Ebay doing this??????????
I have seen similar scams. Someone created a Gmail address with my name and was opening Craig's List ads across the country for SUV and ATVs. If you sent a message to the Gmail, you got some story about the vehicle being in an Ebay warehouse that does not exist and a backstory that mixes facts and fiction about me.
The backstory was based on a public webpage that I used to be feature on with some professional biographical material. Quite a few people tracked me down through the webpage to ask if it was a scam, and I told them to flag the ads and report them as frauds to the FBI's cyber crime devision, which is exactly what I did. I believe the fraudulent activity continued until my bio was taken down.
I also reported the activity to Google, Ebay, Craig's List and various local Local Law Enforcement Offices. I never heard back from anyone. It should be noted that the big tech giants make it impossible for you to talk to anyone on this sort of matter and also make it very difficult to shut down accounts the use your name fraudently, so you are pretty much just F*****!
Initially the Gmail address was simply included in the Craig's List ad. This made it possible for me to search out and flag the ads in various states. In response to this, the email was embedded in the photo of the vehicles, so it was no longer searchable via Google. I only know this because I also found the ads by searching for the specific vehicles that I had previously seen. So I was able to continue flagging at least some of the scam ads. This went on for months so obviously Craig's List did nothing. For all I now the scam is still running, but without my public bio to create a persona of trust, it would not make sense anymore. So hopefully the scammer has moved on.
This sort of stuff is ubiquitous, and it's not just about taking your money directly. It's also about stealing personal info so they can engage in various forms of identity theft. I never messaged the account, but some of the people who were interested in the listed vehicles did, and they sent me some of the messages they got.
I believe if anyone did not see through the fraud, they would eventually be routed to a fake Ebay site to pay for the vehicle. Anyone who tried to complete the transaction would potentially compromise their Ebay and Paypal logon credentials, in addition to paying for a nonexistent vehicle. Hopefully no one fell for it.
