Have Nigerian Scammers invaded eBay?
I have used ebay for several years now, starting out with small sales and purchases then, after a few years, branching out into bigger deals. For the most part, this involves selling high value electricals for friends and family. For a fee, of course.
Now the advantage of that is that I have become respected through the feedback system and also have attained Powerseller status (you don’t get too much for this achievement by the way, unless you are earning ebay an utter fortune).
However, there are drawbacks too. The main one is that the types of items I am looking to sell are exactly the sort of high value, desirable items that scammers are looking to get hold of for nothing.
Their methods for doing so are numerous, from using hacked ebay and paypal accounts, to using stolen credit cards, fake websites and less than secure payment processors – the mere mention of Western Union is enough to get me to ban someone from bidding on any of my auctions!
Spotting a scammer takes a bit of experience but isn’t too difficult. Offering more than an item is worth and offering to pay excessive shipping costs to faraway places are the most common signs. The most obvious giveaway though is one simple question – “Do you ship to Nigeria?”
It’s unfortunate for the honest people of Nigeria but that country is probably the biggest haven of scam artists and fraudsters in the world (quickly followed by Russia, Amsterdam and France).
Be very wary if someone asks you to ship to one of these destinations – on ebay these days there is a very high probability that they will take your item and leave you without a penny in return.
Now the advantage of that is that I have become respected through the feedback system and also have attained Powerseller status (you don’t get too much for this achievement by the way, unless you are earning ebay an utter fortune).
However, there are drawbacks too. The main one is that the types of items I am looking to sell are exactly the sort of high value, desirable items that scammers are looking to get hold of for nothing.
Their methods for doing so are numerous, from using hacked ebay and paypal accounts, to using stolen credit cards, fake websites and less than secure payment processors – the mere mention of Western Union is enough to get me to ban someone from bidding on any of my auctions!
Spotting a scammer takes a bit of experience but isn’t too difficult. Offering more than an item is worth and offering to pay excessive shipping costs to faraway places are the most common signs. The most obvious giveaway though is one simple question – “Do you ship to Nigeria?”
It’s unfortunate for the honest people of Nigeria but that country is probably the biggest haven of scam artists and fraudsters in the world (quickly followed by Russia, Amsterdam and France).
Be very wary if someone asks you to ship to one of these destinations – on ebay these days there is a very high probability that they will take your item and leave you without a penny in return.
posted by Guru Creation at
9:34 AM
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