eBay/Craigslist Tractor scam on ebay

[joester]

I was making my morning check of Ebay yesterday for tractors in my area when I ran up on a JD3520 with FEL & backhoe that looked like new with a buy-it-now price of $5500.00. The price told me immediately that it was a scam but I thought I would play along and emailed the guy. The listing on Ebay said the tractor was 35 miles away from me and 10% of the sale went to an Ebay sponsored charity to fight breast cancer. I emailed and asked to come and view the tractor. Below is the reply I received to my email. I took the guys name off the end because I'm sure the account was stolen and the auction was taken off Ebay sometime last night so I'm guessing ebay took care of it.

Here is the reply....
Hello,

I have received your email regarding my tractor.
I will sell it for US $5500. The price includes shipping and insurance to your address.
I will ship it via a reputable shipping company and it will take almost a week depending of your location. I want to close it through a safe service recommended by eBay who will hold the payment until you will receive, inspect and agree with the tractor.
Email me if you are interested.

Thanks
-----------

I really wonder how many people would jump in and buy something in this manner? I wouldn't buy anything that expensive without seeing it in person no matter how good a deal it seemed to be.

I just thought I would share the story. I replied back to his email this morning and told hiim if he were a thumbtack it would take the world's stongest man to drive him into a stick of butter with a sledge hammer.

 

[JBob]

I once posted my tractor with pictures forsale on a trader website. A few weeks later someone E-mailed me the link to my tractor pics on ebay. They were using them to scam people with a deal of a lifetime. Their response was similiar to what you received.

 

[Cyberroc]

You would think ebay and other sites would wise up to this issue, it's not difficult to implement better options to solve this issue:

Some of my idea's

• 
  Host all pictures at ebay

• All pics should be watermarked with user id and auction id on each pic by ebay - no links

• Email verification of any auction must be verified using a registered email address

• Auctions may not be posted within 48 hours of changing an email address or account info

• Account changes must be verified using prior account info before changes are allowed

Maybe the above is not the best or cheapest way to get the scammers out of business, however you would think that there is something more that could be done.

IMO there are more options that could be used...

 

[MikeD74T]

The police log of a local paper just had an item about an EBAY buyer who "inadvertantly" added a zero to the purchase amount (but wrote out the incorrect amount correctly) and the seller refunded the difference only to have the original check bounce? Who'd think that could happen today ???
MikeD74T

 

[awlchu]

You would think ebay and other sites would wise up to this issue, it's not difficult to implement better options to solve this issue:

Some of my idea's

• 
  Host all pictures at ebay

• All pics should be watermarked with user id and auction id on each pic by ebay - no links

• Email verification of any auction must be verified using a registered email address

• Auctions may not be posted within 48 hours of changing an email address or account info

• Account changes must be verified using prior account info before changes are allowed

Maybe the above is not the best or cheapest way to get the scammers out of business, however you would think that there is something more that could be done.

IMO there are more options that could be used...

Ebay does not do enough automated checking. Many scam ads embed email addresses in the text of the ad stating "my account is hosed" please email me this way.

Also, for high ticket value products, insist on a listing fee that is refunded if the tractor does not sell. Hit the scammer where it hurts the most, in his pocketbook.

 

[Surewhynot]

Craigslist is another place to find great deals on tractors! The same BX tractor with MMM, FEL AND Backhoe has been listed here on the Iowa site over and over for only $4500!! Now if you don't snap that deal up soon, well, I guess you could wait a few days and buy it when it is posted again, only this time the photo will be in front of another building. I know with thousands of ads placed every day it must be hard to screen them all, but come on...the same tractor time after time after time, with the same price? There must be a filter someplace they can use.

 

[LD1]

I am not as familiar with ebay as most of you on here but I think I found another listing like you are describing. item #160250063975.

It is a Kubota 3400 w/71 hrs, loader, backhoe, bushhog, box blade, and a 16 ft trailer all for $5500.

They don't give an item location. It just says Free Shipping.

 

[Slade]

. . .It is a Kubota 3400 w/71 hrs, loader, backhoe, bushhog, box blade, and a 16 ft trailer all for $5500. They don't give an item location. It just says Free Shipping.

Anyone that would buy that needs to contact me; I have some nice bridges to sell -- cheap.

 

[California]

Ebay does not do enough automated checking. Many scam ads embed email addresses in the text of the ad stating "my account is hosed" please email me this way.

They get around that scam-testing by putting their email address in a graphic, a picture. Since it's not text, ebay's filters don't catch it, and we can't see if the same graphic was used in another ad.

Here's a tip: put
$4200 kubota site:craigslist.org
into Google search.
Today it returned:
Results 1 - 100 of 161 English pages from craigslist.org for $4200 kubota.

That found the same tractor advertised from Guam to New Hampshire. Substitute the tractor you found on ebay and see if it also appears in these scam ads, as a first simple screening.