Believe I am being scammed, how to get out of it? wwyd?

amother

Babypink

Sat, May 13 2017, 11:35 pm

mfb wrote:

For future items, one of the first rules on ebay is to never ever do a transaction off of ebay after posting the item. This is definitely a scam!

For sure! thanks.

amother

Babypink

Sat, May 13 2017, 11:40 pm

amother wrote:

I think if you call the bank of the check you should be able to confirm if it's fake or not.

I like this idea too...so I can call the bank that issued the check and if they say it's fake then I can text the "buyer" the following "the bank said there are no funds so I cannot complete the transaction with you, please do not contact me again"

my only concern is if this actually was legit then the "buyer" has no way of getting their money back. I know that this is most likely a scam, but what if there is some tiny chance that it's not.

amother

Denim

Sat, May 13 2017, 11:41 pm

I had calls that I suspected scam. I googled the number and found reviews saying exactly what I feared. Maybe if you google any info you have from the buyer you can find your answers.

amother

Denim

Sat, May 13 2017, 11:43 pm

First of all, I care for other people but not in this situation.
The issuer can go back to the bank, deposit it in his/her account and the money will be there that day. So don't worry for that person whoever it is.

amother

Babypink

Sat, May 13 2017, 11:49 pm

amother wrote:

I would be more concerned that they have your home info.

That does concern me too Sad

So, you are saying to do "return to sender" on the mail item sent to me and drop it in the post office and then they will be able to get the money back on the small chance that it is legit?

debsey

Sat, May 13 2017, 11:49 pm

mfb wrote:

For future items, one of the first rules on ebay is to never ever do a transaction off of ebay after posting the item. This is definitely a scam!

This. Call the cops. I know you're scared, but these people usually won't come after you, especially if the cops are involved.

amother

Babypink

Sat, May 13 2017, 11:50 pm

amother wrote:

I had calls that I suspected scam. I googled the number and found reviews saying exactly what I feared. Maybe if you google any info you have from the buyer you can find your answers.

Just tried googling the number but didn't find anything

amother

Babypink

Sat, May 13 2017, 11:52 pm

debsey wrote:

This. Call the cops. I know you're scared, but these people usually won't come after you, especially if the cops are involved.

I am mildly nervous now but will be scared for a very long time if I go through the cops and they get busted, I will be TERRIFIED and so will my kids. I really just don't want to go that route.

amother

Babypink

Sat, May 13 2017, 11:56 pm

amother wrote:

I would be more concerned that they have your home info.

Can you expand? I am kind of nervous but want to understand better how I am in danger because they have my address? Since I am assuming that they really live in my state (NY), is it possible that they would G-d Forbid just come to my house and knock on the door collecting money or whatever and then try to rob us? I figured we would need to be wary of any callers asking for any info or credit card info, etc. since this "buyer" can easily use 411 to look up my home phone number. What else should I be wary of?

amother

Fuchsia

Sun, May 14 2017, 12:09 am

amother wrote:

I had listed the A/C on ebay and they "buyer" contacted me at first via an ebay account that was opened the same day as the auction and gave me their cell number to go over details. I am very new to ebay and was excited (I am probably the best person to scam). The person texted me back and forth and when they said they are sending the check then I asked what to do with the ebay listing and they said End it, so I did (I am assuming that is a legit thing to do, but I don't know). I asked who the A/C is for and they said their wifes store. I thought it sounded nice Banging head

Tell them you just found out that eBay doesn't allow you to complete transactions outside of eBay and you don't want to get in trouble. They are more than welcome to pay through eBay if they want but you are unable to accept the cashiers check.

amother

Babypink

Sun, May 14 2017, 12:12 am

amother wrote:

I like this idea a lot.

amother

Mauve

Sun, May 14 2017, 12:24 am

This is a classic, classic scam. No one is coming to pick up your item. Don't cash the check. Google it, there are many good ideas how to handle it. Very likely the scammer is not even in America. They do this to get your information to steal your identity and such. You didn't give them enough info yet so don't panic. This is 10000% a scam.

strawberry cola

Sun, May 14 2017, 3:35 am

great idea, fuschia. This type of scam has been done many, many times. They are cowards and are just looking for easy money. They just want you to give money to the person who comes to your door. I know someone who placed an ad for a sponsor for a project for his yeshiva and someone said "I will donate ten thousand dollars I am sending you a check for $10,500" please give the person who comes to pick up the check the $500 in cash.
Do not give these people a penny. They go on ebay to look for someone to scam.

amother

Cobalt

Sun, May 14 2017, 4:02 am

First tip for knowing it's a scam - buying a used air conditioner is not so hard to do that someone would be motivated to buy one in a different state (for a pretty high price), mail a check, and arrange and pay movers to pick it up and get it. They can almost definitely get one for $100 in their own neighborhood.

imasinger

Sun, May 14 2017, 5:54 am

amother wrote:

This.

Nobody is going to come to your door and rob you because of this. Your address is public information, anyway. If they really cared about having the check returned, they can give you a legitimate address to send it back to, so don't worry about that.

You don't owe them anything. Do contact police and eBay, but don't lose sleep.

You learned your lesson before losing your money, that's the good news.

FranticFrummie

Sun, May 14 2017, 10:44 am

OP, I'm sorry you got scammed, and that you're scared. You've got lots of great advice here.

From now on, Paypal ONLY! No exceptions, no matter how good the sob story is.

jkl

Sun, May 14 2017, 12:47 pm

I've been an ebay seller for over 10 years now and this is very common. They contact multiple sellers at once, hoping one will take the bait. But they usually back off as soon as they realize you're onto them. I'd suggest going with imamother "fuchsia' advice (this is against ebay rules....) and offer to return the cashiers check or return to sender. They may try to contact you once or twice more afterwards, but if you hold your ground, they'll back off. They won't risk exposing themselves in any way, since this is a lucrative business for them. Don't worry about them coming after you in any way.

Also - if the initial contact was done via an ebay username, report it to ebay so they can deactivate the account. (They probably have multiple ebay accounts, but at least this will alert others that are currently dealing with them.)

imasinger

Sun, May 14 2017, 3:48 pm

But the way, scammers often sell numbers to other scammers, so be extra careful.

Don't answer calls from numbers you don't recognize. If one of those robocallers asks , "can you hear me?", don't answer yes. They can record your voice as having agreed to charges you don't want.

If it's someone real, let them leave a message.

debsey

Sun, May 14 2017, 3:55 pm

imasinger wrote:

these people are also essentially lazy. They're not going to come after u they will just look for the next naive first time eBay user. As lessons go, this one was relatively cheap. As was suggested above, say u realized this type of transaction is against eBay rules, report them and move on.