Probably fraud alert

[scott kirkpatrick]

I recently won an EBay auction for a clean looking APO Summicron M 50 for an attractive price (below $5000). The listing showed the lens, its original box, the silk-lined jewel case that the lens comes in, its lens case, and caps. But the seller either didn't really have the lens, or just wanted my money without having to deliver a lens. I'm getting my money back, but will describe the warning signs for the benefit of the next person to see it. The first sign of a problem was that after the auction closed, the seller's agent ("the man in the middle") explained that his "partner in Sydney, Australia" couldn't ship the lens until the money cleared and reached him. But EBay has rules to escrow the funds to prevent this exposure. So My payment was refunded, and I was presented with an PayPal invoice to pay instead ("for quicker payment"), which had the effect of moving the transaction out of EBay's scrutiny. In the mean time, the seller had generated several "purchase has been shipped" forms, each of which said that there was no shipping company and no tracking data. That didn't fool PayPal, I guess, because the second transaction was blocked and my funds refunded again. At this point, the seller gave up, claiming that his "partner" was no longer responding to his emails. If anyone sees this package being offered again on EBay, please let me know and I will report it. The pictures could also have been stolen from some earlier sale. Does anyone recognize this?

scott

 

[algrove]

No, but why not give the sellers specifics to us which would be a lot easier for any ebay buyer to know the sellers ebay name?

 

[scott kirkpatrick]

No, but why not give the sellers specifics to us which would be a lot easier for any ebay buyer to know the sellers ebay name?

My seller was named shermel11 and he had 87 successful previous trades. The hypothetical "partner in Australia" with this lens never had a name. The seller sounded genuine, as if he was being scammed as well, and he did refund my money, which is now sitting in a very slow PayPal delay line. One clue that this didn't look well-founded was that the rest of the goods he was offering for sale were under $10, and unrelated in purpose to photography. So he may be a rather clueless, harmless small E-Bay seller who was contacted by this evil Australian.
It's more the pattern that the rest of us should be aware of.

scott

 

[Hosermage]

There are lots of fraudulent listings on ebay for the Noct. I can usually tell when the seller hasn't been active for a long time and it's a no-reserve auction.

BTW, don't be tempted by the a-la-cart M7 currently in the Buy/Sell section because the images are stolen from an ebay auction that the seller has confirmed that he's not a member of this forum.

 

[Jan]

My seller was named shermel11 and he had 87 successful previous trades. The hypothetical "partner in Australia" with this lens never had a name. The seller sounded genuine, as if he was being scammed as well, and he did refund my money, which is now sitting in a very slow PayPal delay line. One clue that this didn't look well-founded was that the rest of the goods he was offering for sale were under $10, and unrelated in purpose to photography. So he may be a rather clueless, harmless small E-Bay seller who was contacted by this evil Australian.
It's more the pattern that the rest of us should be aware of.

scott

Always check the feedback and other items the member has been selling/buying. If there is never anything photography wise involved and 'all of a sudden' exotic photography items appear one can smell a rat from a mile away.

Ebay accounts get hijacked a lot to make the scam more honestly looking. Be aware.