Ebay scam targeting pilots

Dean

Dean

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Dean
There is a scam going on ebay that targets pilots. Subject states that he has 5 Garmin 396's or 296's for a buy-it-now price of $500.00 and wants you to email him at an email address in the ad. The seller ID is stolen and is not who is offering the item for sale. I emailed the subject and was ask to wire the money overseas via western union and he would ship out UPS 2nd day air. I contacted the person whos ID was stolen and they found 60 items listed under their ID.
Just a reminder, that if it sounds to good to be true, then it is!:yes:
 
If they do not accept Credit Cards or Pay Pal I do not do buisness with them but thanks for the heads up
 
Dean said:
wire the money overseas via western union
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Aaaahhhh-hahahahahahaha! (what is the icon for belly-laugh?)
Thanks for the headsup, Dean.
 
Dean said:
wire the money overseas via western union
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For other folks just tuning into EBay - please don't ever do this. Please. :target:

My flying club got bit with a similar scam over a "used in box" Garmin 430 about 18 months ago- to the tune of $2,500.00. :vomit:
 
inav8r said:
For other folks just tuning into EBay - please don't ever do this. Please. :target:

My flying club got bit with a similar scam over a "used in box" Garmin 430 about 18 months ago- to the tune of $2,500.00. :vomit:
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eek....thats not good. Ebay is good for some things. Airplanes and related goods - I'm thinking not so much.

Next time I need to buy another MP3 player - Ebay is the place. Next time I need a piece of essential equipment for my plane...not ebay.
 
A while ago someone was selling a bunch of Ipod.....boxes.
Yep, just the shipping carton, no Ipod. The pics all showed Ipods (well you assumed there was one in those factory new boxes!). Bidding was quite a bit higher than a cardboard box ought to bring.
My receptionist sold a computer to Russia in the earlier ebay days. Somehow they did NOT receive payment before shipping (about 2K). With great fortune the shipper could not prove anyone received it or signed for it and they were repaid by the insurance company! (I know, why would a US shipper/insurer guarantee such a thing?)
 
Yeah lots of scams on ebay, I think if you use your head and are careful on what you bid for you'll be okay. I bought just about all my pilot gear from ebay, with nary a problem, everything from a LED flashlight to my beloved David Clark headset, which I picked up for 60 bucks. Be careful on the headsets also, there are an awful lot of 10-76 headsets out there which are military impedance and don't work on GA aircraft. I fortunately lost a bid on one of these before I got wise, and ended up with my own 10-30's.

The pages for those GPS units look kinda scamy, but thanks for posting the exact details of that scam. Probably not a good idea to buy things which only have the company photos in the first place. I think that these types of scams are also popular in the stereo market too. Echoing an eariler poster, it's probably a good idea not to buy anything really expensive on Ebay.

Ebay is certainly caveat emptor, (and vendor)! Pay-pal at least provides a small level of protection.
 
That same sort of scam has been going on for years on Ebay with all sorts of high end merchandise such as current model laptop computers. Many of them are discovered by the Ebay folks and pulled but in some cases not before someone has tried to make a purchase.

It's definitely a "Buyer beware" situation when using Ebay. That being said, I have made several very good purchases on Ebay including the IBM Thinkpad I'm using to write this post.

As some one has already said, if it sounds to good to be true it quite probably is. When buying on Ebay you have to know all you can about the item you're looking it. What it costs new, what it's worth used and most importantly does the seller appear to be reputable. If they do not take PayPal or credit cards that's a big red flag. When they want you to wire transfer money to a foreign country, that's a huge red flag.

Jeannie
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Aaaahhhh-hahahahahahaha! (what is the icon for belly-laugh?)
Thanks for the headsup, Dean.
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This one??

HR
 

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Ebay has become a real haven to scams.

There is this sort of thing. There is pirated or restricted (demo) software sold as new. There are buyers that issue bad checks. There is Paypal that shuts off your account with no notice - and no phone number to call.

It's a great idea, but it's brought out the worst of scammers and criminals.

Part of the problem is the phishing emails that manage to get people to send their Ebay ID/password to criminals.

It's almost as bad as a street bazaar in Egypt (from whence the word "gypped" came from)....
 
You'll also see users with a good bit of feedback (100%) but under scrutiny, all of their feedback came from a barrage of auctions on a single day with a number of usernames that all look like gibberish, and all of the items were identical and went for about 2.30$ USD each. Plus the feedback responses are identical even though they are from (supposedly) two different users.

All this to sell a "New" GPSMAP 60CSX for (buy it now) 300$ less than retail.

Some people just make it obvious. But I don't know how eBay can effectively monitor all of these listings except through the help of their more wisened customers. Problem is, can those who know how to spot a scam get to it before someone who doesn't know any better?
 
I saw that one (Garmin 396 for $500) a couple of months ago. I emailed the sellar and asked which one was $500, the 296 or the 396. He wrote back that they were both 500, and to 'specify' on the bid which one i wanted. I wrote back and asked him how he could be selling a $2600 garmin for only 500 bucks. He said he 'scored a deal' on a truck load of them.

Yeah, right. Find some other sucker.
 
DeeG said:
He said he 'scored a deal' on a truck load of them.
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Yeah, a truck load of those plastic non-working display models. Or better yet, a truck load of open boxes he fished out of trash bins.
 
I bought a huge lot of flying stuff from somewhere, I can't remember if it was ebay or not, but I had qualms about sending $600 to some random guy that I ever met. It was a radio, a bunch of King tapes and software, and all the pilot stuff you could use as a Private pilot.

I found Escrow.com and the seller and I split the fee. I think that it was about fifteen or twenty dollars. He knew that I sent the money, and I escrow to pay him after I tried out all the stuff for a couple of days.

It worked out really well. Just something to consider.
--Matt
 
The rogue said:
I bought a huge lot of flying stuff from somewhere, I can't remember if it was ebay or not, but I had qualms about sending $600 to some random guy that I ever met. It was a radio, a bunch of King tapes and software, and all the pilot stuff you could use as a Private pilot.

I found Escrow.com and the seller and I split the fee. I think that it was about fifteen or twenty dollars. He knew that I sent the money, and I escrow to pay him after I tried out all the stuff for a couple of days.

It worked out really well. Just something to consider.
--Matt
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Be warned that the scammers will point you to an escrow service, maybe 1st-escrow.biz, that they prefer. You will find that they prefer it because they or or their buddies run it.

To the original topic. You wanna know what happens when you click on a link in the "Your eBay account will be suspended" email? The scammer uses your eBay account information you so helpfully gave him to offer incredibly cheap avionics to pilots.
 
mikea said:
To the original topic. You wanna know what happens when you click on a link in the "Your eBay account will be suspended" email? The scammer uses your eBay account information you so helpfully gave him to offer incredibly cheap avionics to pilots.
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I almost always enter info on those emails....all bogus, of course.
 
DeeG said:
I almost always enter info on those emails....all bogus, of course.
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Y'all need to be careful about even clicking on the links in those emails - they can bury a bit of cookie-type code into the website that will enable them to access yer magic box o' circuits, to no good end.
 
DeeG said:
I almost always enter info on those emails....all bogus, of course.
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I just got an amazingly good one at work supposedly from a buyer relayed "from eBay" asking if my item (no item number) was still for sale. "Use the link below to reply"

Well...if I had ever used my work email to sell an item I might have fallen for it.
 
etsisk said:
Y'all need to be careful about even clicking on the links in those emails - they can bury a bit of cookie-type code into the website that will enable them to access yer magic box o' circuits, to no good end.
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:D They will turn on the web camera and see ya, too! (That actually has happened to those who allowed trojans to install remote control programs. The script kiddies couldn't resist opening up a chat window and making wisecracks.)
 
etsisk said:
Y'all need to be careful about even clicking on the links in those emails - they can bury a bit of cookie-type code into the website that will enable them to access yer magic box o' circuits, to no good end.
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That's fine by me. I usually only do that from my work computer, which is used by 35 other people. The only 'personal' info that gets put on that computer is a couple of passwords. AOPA, POA, couple of my 'junk' email addresses, etc. I never use that computer for my 'main' email box, or to buy anything.
 
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