Romanian scam replaces the Nigerian one on eBay...

[ajkula66]

Make a long story short, my wife bid on something and won, and we happen to know the seller...here's an email she got to her email address registered with eBay...

Hi, Dear xyzabxc (croc@bol.com),
I am the seller of the Item# 1234567890 , . I have to congratulate for your winning bid of your exact amount. Regretfully, immediately after the listing closed I got an email from Paypal and I must advise you that my account has been compromised immediately after the listing closed, for your protection, if you have already made the payment through Paypal your account will be credited back shortly and you will not be charged twice. Due the occurrence we can complete the transaction immediately by the method of payment approved by Paypal only for this transaction is International MoneyGram. For More details please visit: www.MoneyGram.com.

You will find my informations (payment address) listed below:

- First name: Nicolae-Razvan;
- Last name: Eros;
- Address: Calea lui Traian No. 184;
- City/State/Zip: ! ; RM. Valcea / Valcea, 1000;
- Country: Romania.

Note: International MoneyGram apply additional fees to send a wire transfer, you will deduct them from the total amount and you will send the remaining amount to be the same like Paypal; The item is being shipped from US,the address from Romania is my actual payment address. This is not specified in the add because i didnt knew someone will hack into my account, complete the payment for your eBay purchase so i can mark this item as payment sent and leave feedback.

I`ll wait your confirmation with the details of payment as follows:
- Reference# - 8 digit numbers from the payment receipt;
- Your full Name and Address on file with MoneyGram;
- Confirm the money is sent to my name: Nicolae-Razvan Eros;
- Exact amount sent.

PS:Therefore, when the payment has been made you must provide the detailsof payment without missing letters or numbers, if possible, send thescanned paper of the wire transfer. I appreciate your prompt reply.Thank you again for your purchase!

Will this nonsense ever stop...

[Purcy]

croc@bol.com ??

thank goodness you knew the seller, to immediately know this was a scam, although there are several giveaways in their text.

[Brad]

How did they get her email address?

Brad

[ajkula66]

Brad wrote:

How did they get her email address?

That's the scary part and what we would like to know...my assumption is that there's a "leak" within eBay...we've known this particular seller for years and have conducted thousands of dollars worth of business with her, so she's ruled out in our opinion...

[Purcy]

just a thought, but I would immediately change my ebay and paypal passwords.

[ajkula66]

Already done, but thanks for the thought...

[AIX]

Sorry to hear that. Anyway, 21 persons were arrested a week ago:
Romainian Authorities Arrest Cybercrime Suspects

[ajkula66]

Hey, at least your government is doing something about it...when eBay won't...

[gator]

More scams from ebay, why am I not surprised The worst of the ebay scams in my opinion was the '2nd best offer' one, so many people would have fallen for it.

I have completely stopped using ebay (still have paypal though) ... it needs way more time than what I can afford to right now, and a lot of patience to find good deals ...

[NorrisCell]

It's truly a shame. Craig's List is the same way at times. I posted a TP on there two nights ago and so far I have four offers for "secure PayPal payments" of $200 more than my asking price. all I have to do is provide the tracking number and the money will deposit right into my account.

It's irritating how many of these solicitations I receive.

[crashnburn]

I traced one Romanian IP address long back.

[kunfuchopsticks]

Change password and request a security key: https://www.paypal.com/securitykey

[underclocker]

The PayPal/eBay security key is nice, however, it's weakly enforced by PayPal. If you don't have it, you just click on a drop down to select one more piece of information about your account for verification, like you bank account number. If you've ever written someone a check, they have your bank account number.

It should require a call to PayPal or, at least, answering a prepopulated security question.

We use secuirty keys to access work from the road, if you don't have a code, you don't get in. That's work, not your bank account.

[agarza]

2 years ago I must confess I almost fall victim of a scam. I was looking a new Z60 laptop, the seller insisted to pay him through Western Union. [censored] I was so close to deposit the money until I recapacitated and all the pieces came together it was a fake transaction.

[mattfromomaha]

I was selling my old T42 and got hit with the Nigeria scam....send the tracking number and we'll credit the money to your account...what a pain. What really angered me was that eBay totally deleted the auction - the 2nd highest bidder was only $2 lower than the winning scammer and I would gladly have sold it to him rather than relisting.

Anyways, I was able to pull the page out of my history and contact #2. Coincidentally he was in Romania, but everything worked out fine!

For Sh!ts and Giggles I mailed a small empty box to Nigeria and sent the tracking number via e-mail. Never got my money though! $12 wasted but still funny..