Bogus/scary 2nd chance offers on eBay BEWARE

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by peterose4hof

Are all these items from the same seller?

Different sellers, but each email/notice traces back to the same email address (listed in above posts), which in the notices is provided as the sellers'. This single person is posing as the seller offering a 2nd chance offer on a closed item that we've actually bid.

To add: I do not think any of the sellers are involved

[Blinky]

Hi gang, I am not a baseball card enthusiast, but I have been getting a 2nd chance offer from this same person jrenv.engineer@gmail.com. I did a google search of his email and your forum came up so I wanted to post my info from this individual. It even went so far as to inform me to look in my spam folder to find is email correspondence. I think this is a definite scam, but a good one as he had me tricked until I found your forum. Here is what was sent to me:


from:

engineer

reply-to:

jrenv.engineer@gmail.com

to:

date:

Mon, Apr 1, 2013 at 8:48 PM

subject:

Re: You've received a Second Chance Offer on eBay item #300872690518: VTL Ultimate Pre-amp w/phono cable (90 degree DIN plug to XLR connectors inc)

mailed-by:

m3kw2wvrgufz5godrsrytgd7.apphosting.bounces.google .com

signed-by:

engineer.wor44.info

[Eric72]

The specificity involved with the emails people are receiving is fairly alarming. If this is a hacker/scammer situation, they appear to have worked out a somewhat sophisticated little operation that will almost certainly dupe quite a few people.

Another possibility is that there may be someone running rogue at eBay.

Either way, it may be time to sound the alarm before too many people fall prey to this.

Best Regards,

Eric

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by Eric72

The specificity involved with the emails people are receiving is fairly alarming. If this is a hacker/scammer situation, they appear to have worked out a somewhat sophisticated little operation that will almost certainly dupe quite a few people.

Another possibility is that there may be someone running rogue at eBay.

Either way, it may be time to sound the alarm before too many people fall prey to this.

Best Regards,

Eric

Couldn't agree more, this is much more specific and targeted than the spam eBay/PayPal mails that try to steal you login/password.. And have nothing in common with seller sending a bogus 2nd chance offer after shilling his own auction.

The information this guy is gathering is secret to the bidders and sellers, and if he can get this.. I assume he figure out how to send false invoices, or best offer acceptance emails. The red flags were are there, but I think he'll probably only get better at hiding them.

I've connected eBay, have not heard back yet

[Eric72]

If this indeed turns out to be someone attempting to commit fraud through email, I believe the laws regarding mail or wire fraud would be applicable.

If I also understand correctly, each use of the email to make this attempt would be a separate violation of said laws. Thus, the criminal sanctions in such a case could be staggering.

So, here is my question. Does actual economic damage need to occur, or does the mere attempt to defraud constitute a violation of the law?

If the mere attempt is a crime, this joker could be teeing themself up for some very serious legal issues.

[itjclarke]

Regardless of how severe his crime, law enforcement has all sorts of ways to locate people using false email addresses (see David Patreaus scandal). So far at least 5 received this notice from email the same yesterday.

Lets get it done FBI!

[jtschantz]

Got one today also listing the same email address. Glad someone alerted me to this post!

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by Eric72

The specificity involved with the emails people are receiving is fairly alarming. If this is a hacker/scammer situation, they appear to have worked out a somewhat sophisticated little operation that will almost certainly dupe quite a few people.

Another possibility is that there may be someone running rogue at eBay.

Either way, it may be time to sound the alarm before too many people fall prey to this.

Best Regards,

Eric

Sorry to quote myself; however, I still contend that someone at eBay doing nefarious things is a strong possibility.

They are a publicly traded company. Investors and stakeholders deserve answers here...just my two cents.

Best Regards,

Eric

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by Eric72

Sorry to quote myself; however, I still contend that someone at eBay doing nefarious things is a strong possibility.

I agree Eric... or that there's someone has been able to hack into places on eBay's site they have no business being.

Been a hectic week and still haven't found time to read the article (my firewalls are blocking it now) but I'm glad this has at least caught someone's attention.. even with the article's aforementioned flawed logic. Seems like many weren't too bothered when the original emails started going out.. but now that it's gotten a little press, eBay has to act like they're acting, right??? Unless of course they're behind the article and Mr. Siciliano's logic... have to read the article and judge for myself.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Eric72

Sorry to quote myself; however, I still contend that someone at eBay doing nefarious things is a strong possibility.

They are a publicly traded company. Investors and stakeholders deserve answers here...just my two cents.

Best Regards,

Eric

If there is someone doing something at ebay, in a nefarious manner, my guess is it would be a rogue employee and not company related otherwise.

[arc2q]

The article makes a key point that offers a clue that this is not an internal job or even a rogue employee but a very sophisticated scheme involving an actual legitimate seller (or someone with access to a legitimate seller's account).

It supposes that jrengineer70 has actually previously sold things to the people he/she is scamming. So he a) knows what you are interested in, and b) knows your email address from previous winning bids. Then he looks for similar items to the one he sold you (say he sold you a T206 Southern Leaguer he knows you may also be into other T206 SLs of a higher price tag). Then he matches your known eBay handle to one of the other bidders on someone else's auction. Say your actual handle is T206lover with a 56 feedback score and he sees other bids that are T*******r56 he knows it is probably you who did the bidding. He knows your email address from a previous sale and takes a chance by sending you the second chance offer.

The interesting question would be whether any those who posted saying they received these offers have actually won auctions through jrengineer70 previously? If not then this theory is totally bunk...but it seems like it would be plausible.

[arc2q]

Actually, one clarification...if he sold something previously to those he is now scamming he probably did so with a different account name. Obviously. So I guess there really isn't a way to know whether you have previously done business with this same person. Maybe he only has access to someone else's account and can tell what you are buying and your actual email address...then he sends the fake scam emails to people he has matched to other sales as low bidders. Sophisticated but not at all out of the realm of possible. It would not require an inside job at all...just access to a legitimate buyer's account and the time to match email addresses to under bidders on other people's items.