Potential eBay Scam Alert

[Blaze163]

Lali ho.

After a recent purchase on eBay (MGS5), I discovered that on top of the one-off payment leaving my account as scheduled, someone (presumably the seller, known as 'thegamecollectionoutlet') has tried to establish a monthly direct debit to charge me for the item over and over again, without me being alerted or the transaction being in any way authorized by me. I've cancelled the direct debit to avoid any funds leaving my account, and now I get decidedly fishy looking daily emails claiming to be from PayPal, saying I can no longer use my PayPal account as a result.

I've forwarded the emails to PayPal's scam investigation team, alerted my bank, contacted the seller to demand an explanation and contacted eBay itself to alert them to suspected illegal activity. I just thought I'd mention it here so people are aware of the issue and can keep an eye on their online activities, just in case. Last thing I want is you guys not noticing and getting ripped off over Christmas. Probably won't happen to you, 99.9% of eBay users are sound, but best to be on the safe side. Basically just keep an eye on things if you don't already. Hope this helps.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

It's not possible for a PayPal payment agreement to be established without your consent. There was most likely a small note on the PayPal payment page that you missed, saying something along the lines of "This will authorize thegamecollectionoutlet to make charges to your PayPal account."

However that does sound rather bad, I didn't think eBay even allowed sellers to start payment agreements. Did you pay with PayPal directly through eBay or did the seller ask you to pay through a separate page?

Anyway, the person/people who did this probably have many throwaway PayPal and eBay accounts, so even if one is stopped they will just move on to the next account. It's too bad, but it's really difficult to stop online scammers/frauds. Luckily there aren't that many of them (and the ones there are are usually pretty obvious), you just had bad luck this time.

 

[Muffins]

EBay seems to be getting worse lately. Even when a seller seems to have a good rating, there are risks...

As an example-
I bought a "laptop" off eBay a number of weeks ago. The "seller" had a 100% positive rating on the surface and the description seemed good. However, all was not well, and that came to light once I looked at said seller rating. No ratings all all for anything they had actually sold- only some ratings for items that the person had bought. And the seller was selling 100+ of these laptops?
Yes, this was a person who had stolen the account of some little old lady who hadn't been active on eBay for some time so he could appropriate her feedback rating, steal as much money as possible from people who "bought" nonexistent items, and the presumably transfer the money to his own untrackable account before the stolen one was terminated.
And this is happening ALL OVER eBay now. I keep finding this same exact thing on auction after auction after auction and it seems like Ebay is doing little to nothing to prevent it.

 

[ElyosOfTheAbyss]

A few years back I remember buying Pokemon Black and White off eBay since every game store I went to didn't have the game.
I finally receive the game I put it my DS lite and It was obviously a fake box and the sticker was glued on. What I received was a Finding Nemo game that was badly damaged. Whats worse I started reviving fake paypal emails claiming I bought things like a $1000 Necklace.

 

[Subtle Demise]

EBay seems to be getting worse lately. Even when a seller seems to have a good rating, there are risks...

As an example-
I bought a "laptop" off eBay a number of weeks ago. The "seller" had a 100% positive rating on the surface and the description seemed good. However, all was not well, and that came to light once I looked at said seller rating. No ratings all all for anything they had actually sold- only some ratings for items that the person had bought. And the seller was selling 100+ of these laptops?
Yes, this was a person who had stolen the account of some little old lady who hadn't been active on eBay for some time so he could appropriate her feedback rating, steal as much money as possible from people who "bought" nonexistent items, and the presumably transfer the money to his own untrackable account before the stolen one was terminated.
And this is happening ALL OVER eBay now. I keep finding this same exact thing on auction after auction after auction and it seems like Ebay is doing little to nothing to prevent it.

As long as those commissions keep coming in, who cares where it came from?

 

[ElyosOfTheAbyss]

I decided to buy something from eBay again. Hope it goes well.

 

[Olmectron]

It seems I'm a lucky guy then. I've bought several things from eBay (3DS accesories, some rings, and whatever) and everything has gone smooth. I try to buy from Hong Kong sellers which send through free 1-2 month service, but always arrive alright.