Ebay Fraud

[Ken Pachkowsky]

This guy is unreal. Why can't they catch him? How does he hack all these accounts? This has to be the 15th one he has hacked in the last week.

http://cgi.ebay.com/JBL-L300-Speaker-System-no-reserve_W0QQitemZ8700120535QQcategoryZ46143QQrdZ1Q QcmdZViewItem

I hope they catch this prick.

Ken

[Zilch]

These are probably people who gave up their eBay passwords to phish eMails.

The scammer likely has hundreds, if not thousands, of accounts to work with.

By my count, he's used about 50 in the last couple of weeks so far....

[P.Warner]

Why don't we start building a profile? A clearer outline of the variety of scams would make them easier for all to spot.

[johnaec]

Why don't we start building a profile? A clearer outline of the variety of scams would make them easier for all to spot.'You want a real eye-opener? One of the emails he uses is Loleky@aol.com - do an eBay "title and contents" search on that - he currently has over 30 fraud listings on eBay, with the same for other addresses he's using! Literally within minutes of eBay pulling one of his listings, it's back up again, under a different username. If eBay can't reign this guy in, they can't be serious about security...

John

[porschedpm]

....If eBay can't reign this guy in, they can't be serious about security...

You're absolutely right. The Fraudster(s) is consistently posting the same items over and over again and using the same format for his description. Even the email stays the same. Even a blind man could see a pattern. If eBay were serious they'd put a hold on and scrutinize any auctions ads submitted that fall into a certain pattern, such as:

Auction ads that have an email address in the description.
Auction ads where the user's profile information was changed recently.
Auction ads whose item location doesn't match the user's email address location.

In addition, after a user's profile is changed, eBay needs to continue notifying the user's old email address of the changes and further changes to the account or auctions listed for at least 14 days.

Shoot, I'm not an expert at this stuff and even I can figure it out.

[johnaec]

At the bare minimum they should prohibit the " @ " symbol in listings. I know this wouldn't prohibit using "at" or "dot" and people figuring that out, but they might at least figure out it's a fraud by then. All the other measures you mention should also be used.

On a brighter note - when I checked eBay first time today, I didn't find a bunch of new listings from him. Maybe they finally got rid of him, at least in this iteration, (time will tell...).

edit: 'Spoke too soon - he's back... :banghead:

John

[Zilch]

If I were eBay, I'd encourage him to keep posting until I had compiled the requisite resources for the policia to grab him by the nape of the neck at whatever internet café or wireless node he's using.

I'd expect that, even in Romania, use of fraudulently secured ID's for international larceny would be punishable, there, perhaps, even by death.

[Or government employment, perhaps.... :p ]

[P.Warner]

What type of thing could the buyer do, or EBay require, that might add to the veracity of the seller and his wares without becoming an impediment?

[Ken Pachkowsky]

I have a hard time believing they can't put a stop to this. As suggested, a query could be created that constantly queries the database looking for an email address in the description that does not match the registered users email address.

I suspect they use Oracle and that query would be simple to write.

Ken

["Duke" Spinner]

your forgetting ....

he pays a listing fee each time

don't think for a minute fleabay want's to put restrictions on generating That revenue ......

it ain't gonna happen ....

[johnaec]

your forgetting ....

he pays a listing fee each timeNope. The listing fee is charged to the hijacked user account, which is invariably refunded to the real user once fraud is established. All it's costing these scammers is their time and energy, which they obviously have plenty of...

John

[Mr. Widget]

I imagine it is costing eBay money... I bet they are onto this fellow and are trying to stop it. Perhaps they are just inept or worse maybe they hired some of Michael Brown's other college roommates to get in good with the administration?


Widget

[John]

"Brownie You Are doing a heck of a job":rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: