eBay Scam Involves Second-Chance Offers
POSTED: 4:25 pm EST December 12,
2006
UPDATED: 10:16 am EST January 22,
2007
CLEVELAND -- Many of us click onto eBay to shop, but even eBay veterans don't know about the biggest scam on the Internet involving the giant online auction site, according to consumer reporter John Matarese. In this week's Don't Waste Your Money, Matarese warned that the scam is victimizing hundreds of people because it is easy to fall for. "I fell for it, and I can't believe I did ... because I'm pretty savvy on the computer," said Ramona Combs, a scam victim. Combs is a veteran eBayer, and she's now the latest victim of an online scam targeting its members. It started when she bid on a Sony laptop computer and lost. "I was outbid, but I received a second chance offer that looked legit to me," she said. Shortly after missing out on the laptop, she received an e-mail that she thought came from eBay. It said the winning bidder dropped out. "It has the eBay logo on this, and it had the link to the item," she said. Matarese said she was so excited, so she failed to notice a few obvious misspellings. For example, Luck was spelled Luch. She was asked for her name, phone number, and eBay user number to send an invoice. She gave all of her personal information, but never got an invoice. eBay said real second-chance offers don't come as unsolicited e-mail. You have to log into your account to find them. If you receive an offer, e-mail the original seller to make sure the offer is real. Matarese said it is important to consider any e-mail from eBay to be a possible scam, just like e-mails from PayPal or your bank. Also keep in mind that scammers will copy logos and e-mail addresses so that you think it is the real thing.
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