Fraud on eBay

I expected selling my computer on eBay to be easy.

Attempt 1: I listed it. Within hours, someone bought it — from a hacked account, as eBay notified me, cancelling the sale.

Attempt 2: I listed it again. Within hours, someone bought it, and asked me to send it to her via FedEx overnight. The buyer sent payment via PayPal immediately, and then — near as I could tell — immediately opened a dispute with PayPal so that the funds were put on hold. And then she sent me an e-mail saying “I paid you, now send me the computer.” But PayPal was faster than she expected, I think. At the same time, I received an e-mail from PayPal saying that I might have received a payment that the account holder did not authorize, and that I shouldn’t ship the item until the investigation is complete.

I’m willing to make Attempt 3, if just to see what kind of scam happens this time. But I still want to sell the computer, and I am pissed off at what is essentially a denial-of-service attack. The facts from this listing are accurate; does anyone want it? List price is over $3K. Send me e-mail.

EDITED TO ADD (6/19): It’s not just me.

EDITED TO ADD (6/24): The computer is sold, to someone who reads my blog.

EDITED TO ADD (6/25): I’m not entirely sure, but it looks like the payment from the second eBay buyer has gone through PayPal. I don’t trust it — just because I can’t figure out the scam doesn’t mean there isn’t one. And, anyway, the computer is sold.

EDITED TO ADD (7/3): For the record: despite articles to the contrary, I was not scammed on eBay. I was the victim of two scam attempts, both of which I detected and did not fall for.

Posted on June 19, 2009 at 11:55 AM • 116 Comments