eBay & Amazon Scams To Watch Out For

eBay & Amazon

Lovemoney.com has posted warnings about scams for two of the most popular shopping websites.

The first scam warns of a problem for eBay sellers who could find themselves losing their possessions without being paid if they’re unlucky enough to sell their item to an unscrupulous buyer.

In the example given, the seller was parting with an iPhone, and not long after the £500  transaction went through, received a parcel in the post appearing to return the phone. In fact, it was a parcel full of wooden blocks. Once signed for, the buyer then contacts Paypal to say they’re returned their item, Paypal see evidence that a parcel (although not the phone) has been returned and signed for, and return the money. The original buyer keeps the phone and gets their money back.

The second scam is a classic email phishing campaign, with email purporting to come from Amazon. As with all succesful phishing attempts, they will come from an official looking address and in this particular case may have the Amazon logo on.

The e-mail will contain one of a selection of official sounding stories, such as that your credit card has been declined, or a recent order has been cancelled or that you need to re-register. There will then be a link in the e-mail directing you to a website that looks like Amazon (but is in fact the phishing site) where you can re-register and input your card details to successfully complete your order. Do this and your details will be sent straight to the fraudster. Bye bye money!

Have you been caught out by either of these scams or others on these sites? Let us know in the comments below.



2 thoughts on “eBay & Amazon Scams To Watch Out For

  1. Definately thanks for the heads up – my inbox is always crammed with emails from companies, and I probably don’t pay them enough proper attention at times.

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