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Wow, this is the most elaborate eBay scam I've ever seen, and they tried to pull it on me.
Here's the anatomy. It's holiday season, and I thought it would be a good idea to sell an old Thinkpad (IBM notebook) of mine. When the bidding ended I couldn't believe my eyes. The notebook had been bid up to $440 as the email below confirms.
My joy didn't last long. Shortly thereafter I received an email telling me that the winning bid had been a fake. Someone had taken over the bidder's account and bid up the item without the account owner's knowledge. Thus eBay canceled the auction, leaving me stranded.
The previous two emails were genuine, as far as I can tell. Next, however, I received an email telling me that it was all a mistake and that the auction was proper and should go through. I was urged to ship the item to the buyer.
Uhh, a reversal of fortunes?? Looking at the email header suggested quickly that this might be a scam and I decided to wait---I filed a complaint with eBay in the meantime (probably to no avail).
To top things off, an hour later I received an email confirming a transfer of $640 into my PayPal account. What a nice gesture... The supposed buyer overpaid by $200. The email urged me to ship the item right away. You can see it below. To get a good laugh out of this, please scroll down and look at the shipping address---of all places, I'm supposed to ship to Nigeria. Maybe the extra $200 were supposed to cover shipping charges.
Well, what a nuissance. I have to try selling my notebook again, this time after christmas, and I will probably get $100 less or so than what I would have get now. A high price to pay for getting a first-hand education in online fraud. And I didn't even ask for it. So much for selling stuff on eBay.
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