Dear eBay user

Warning Ebay "Second Chance" Auction Fraud!

The following was recieved via email and is an extreem example of a very effective ebay fraud that targeted myself and other bidders who were shopping for a canon GL2 semi-pro dv camcorder.

I bid on the auction refered to in this email but was the third highest bidder. The next day I recieved an email claiming to be from the owner of the auction saying that the winning bidder could not pay and I was receiving a second chance offer. Later after further investigation it turns out that this email was not sent by the auction owner but by a con artist posing as the auction owner.

After the con told me that he had a second chance offer for me on this auction he sent the following fake invoice.

Read closely the following clues that reveal fraudulent offers such as the one you are seeing right now:

1. If the message was actually sent through the ebay system it should appear in the myebay areas but this one did not.

2. If it was a legitimate second chance offer it would appear in my ebay as a second chance auction but this one did not.

3. I was not the second highest bidder... I was number 3 and an email to the 2nd highest bidder revealed they were contacted by the con artist as well.

4. Square Trade states the following on their website after you put in en ebay user Id to try and verify the sender of any offer claiming to be from a Square trade user:

"FRAUD ALERT: There are currently various attempts to defraud consumers using SquareTrade and other trusted companies. Please read warnings below, verify suspicious claims and be careful when making purchases online.

Beware of potential fake "spoof" emails that pretend to be an authentic email from SquareTrade or other trusted companies.

SquareTrade Never Takes Payment on Behalf of a Seller:
Scam emails will often request the consumer to pay via a money transfer service, such as Western Union or Money Gram, an escrow service, or by money order. BEWARE! SquareTrade will NEVER act as an escrow agent for a seller and will NEVER hold or transfer money on behalf of an auction or seller.

Claims of Large Insurance Backing Are Usually Fraudulent:
Scam emails often make false claims that the seller is backed by a large "protection account" or by 3rd party insurance or similar claims to make you feel safe. Verify such claims directly with 3rd parties."

5. The ebay user ID was not verified with Square Trade and Square trade does not ensure any transaction from a party that is unverified. Even if the ebay user ID was verified it is important to point out that the owner of this auction did not know about this con artist who was posing as him.

6. The auction was legit. So was the seller. The con artist had been watching the auction and emailed the other bidders posing as the seller. I spoke on the phone with the winning bidder and he did not default. In fact he spoke with the owner of the auction who was unaware of the con artist who was pretending to be him and sending out "spoof" emails with fake second chance offers requesting Western Union.

7. Never pay for anything western union. Western union is for sending your relatives money... It is not a payment method used by legitimate business people. If it is high ticket use a legit escrow service. I personally know three people who have been conned by scammers using western union as a payment method in various business transactions and these three have lost over $20,000 between them with no ability to regain their losses.

8. Because I was the third highest bidder and this auction was for only one item an second chance offer was highly unusual.

I hope that some of this information coupled with the fraudulent invoice that I received below will save some online auction users heartache.

Dear eBay user,

Thank you for contacting eBay`s Safe-Harbor team!Per your request,we have verified all the details of this transaction.We concluded that they are accurate. Please follow our instructions to complete the transaction safety.

eBay Transaction # 7526534155 confirmed!

Current status: Payment pending

SquareTrade protects auction item # 7526534155

The following item is protected in this eBay transaction:

Item name:	Near New Canon GL-2 3CCD Digital Camcorder w/Case!
Item number:	7526534155
Item price:	US $ 1,676.00 Amount insured
Shipping:	Ready to ship The price includes shipping and insurance fees.
Payment:	Pending

 Complete your eBay transaction in 5 easy steps:

Buyer and seller agree on the transaction terms and a selling price.
Seller contacts eBay with the transaction details, eBay accepts the transaction and offers purchase protection to the buyer (if the transaction is declined, no further action is required from either the buyer or the seller).
The buyer sends payment and the seller receives it. After the payment was received, the seller must notify eBay. Buyer will send the payment details directly to the seller email address. The seller has three business days to send the buyer and eBay the tracking number of the shipment. If no tracking number is provided, a full refund is immediately sent to the buyer.
Buyer receives the item and has five days to inspect it. If it is complete and as described, the buyer should accept the item. If he refuses the item, the buyer must ship the item back to the seller within three business days.
After the inspection period is over, the buyer must contact eBay with the result of the inspection. If the buyer refuses the item, the refund will be sent to the buyer after the tracking number for the returned shipment is verified.

 Payment must be sent by WesternUnion Wire Transfer to:

Name:	David Curcan
Address:	33 Lavender Avenue,London,NW9 8HB Country: United Kingdom

Then wait for the confirmation the payment was received. Within 3 business days, you will receive the tracking number for your item.The seller is not able to withdraw any money from this account while there are any possible refund request (30 days since the last transaction).

 The item will be sent from:

Seller`s name:	David Curcan
Seller`s address:	33 Lavender Avenue,NW9 8HB Country: United Kingdom

 The item will be sent to:

Buyer`s name:
Buyer`s address:

 Next step to be taken:The buyer must send the payment to the seller

We know that we learn every eBay member to use services such as PayPal, Escrow which are safer than WesternUnion Money Transfer. But is our responsability to make every option safe and tell that this seller is verified by our services and you can have all the trust in his requests.

 Payment instructions:

To submit the payment with WesternUnion Money Transfer, you have 2 options:

Pay for the transfer with cash at a local WesternUnion agent. Click here to locate the agents in your area. Go to one of them and send the payment to the verified name of the seller.

WesternUnion Money Transfer is the only service that has ultimate authentication of the identity of the receiver of funds. Several IDs and utility bills are required before the funds are paid. Therefore, no one else but your seller can pick up the money. Your payments cannot be lost in the mail, like money orders or checks.

WesternUnion Money Transfer is designed mainly for sending cash to friends and family in need, so telling them you are sending the money to an eBay seller will prevent your money transfer to go through and you will be unable to complete this transaction. Because the fee to send a WesternUnion Money Transfer is high, compared to other methods of payment, we have arranged with the seller to compensate for half of this fee (i.e. if it costs you $100 to send the payment, take $50 from the amount insured and send the balance).

Once the payment was sent, email the seller the following information:

1. MTCN:10 digits number Money Transfer Control Number;
2. Exact sender`s name on file with WesternUnion;
3. Your street address on file with WesternUnion;
4. City and country where you sent the money from;
5. Amount sent.

Purchase protection and refund:

Currently, this seller has a US $5,000.00 deposit in an eBay managed purchase protection account. Transactions with this eBay seller are covered by purchase protection against fraud and description errors. For your safety, this account was locked today, for 90 days time period. The seller is unable to withdraw any money from it, within this period.

Should you need a refund for this transaction, the insured amount will be taken from the seller`s purchase protection account and sent to you. The refund is sent to your bank account, or by check or money order. The way you are refunded is at your choice. You have 90 days from the above verification date to request a refund. Refund requests are processed within 3 days.

The insurer of this transaction is eBay Inc., located at 2145 Hamilton
Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125, United States of America.
The account is managed by eBay`s Square Trade center..

This transaction is supervised by eBay`s Safe-Harbor team.

 Conditions to be met before you may ask for a refund:

Here are the situations suitable for a refund request:

1. If the item doesn`t arrive and or the seller stops communications after the payment was received;

2. If the item you receive has different specifications than the ones you agreed on;

3. If your item arrives in a much longer period than the one you agreed on (more than 15 days from the payment clearance day);

For cases 2. and 3. you have to send back the item to the seller prior to ask for your refund. If you did not pay the seller by payment method required by us, your refund request will be declined.

 Important Usage Guidelines:

1. The contact information should only be used for resolving matters related to eBay. Any other use is strictly prohibited.
2. This transaction is protected by eBay services such as insurance, feedback and dispute resolution.
3. You may buy and sell with confidence in all transactions with this eBay member.
4. Should you need to dispute this transaction, keep the transaction number at hand when contacting eBay. Any complaints must be filed within 90 days from the verification date.

This e-mail $message1 was sent to you from eBay Safe-Harbor team, with the full support of the SquareTrade center.
The seller was informed about this transaction being started and is awaiting your payment. It is recommended to send the payment as soon as possible, because your purchase protection is valid for 30 days only.

If you encounter any problems with this transaction, please contact us.
When contacting our support team, use the reply feature so that all previous correspondences are included in your email. Otherwise, we will not be able to process your request.
To ask for a refund, simply reply to this notification and enter in the subject line:

Refund request for eBay Transaction # 7317363812

Helpful links

Leave feedback - Tell us how the sale went
My eBay - Track your buying and selling activity
Discussion boards - Get help from other eBay members
Learn more: Looking for a hard-to-find item? Use favorite searches to find out when matching items appear on eBay.
Contact Information - Exchange contact details

Account Protection
Protect your eBay account - eBay will not ask you for sensitive personal information (such as your password, credit card, bank account numbers, etc.) in an email.

Thank you for using eBay!

This eBay notice was sent to you based on your eBay account preferences because one of our sellers required us to send you a confirmation in his behalf.

As outlined in our User Agreement, eBay will periodically send you information about site changes and enhancements. Visit our Privacy Policy and User Agreement if you have any questions.

eBay and the eBay logo are trademarks of eBay Inc.

. .