Jul. 31, 2006 - Scams from Another Angle

I've written about a number of scams from the perspective of consumers who get ripped off, but here's an interesting angle to "phishing" scams that I had not considered.  What happens when scam artists "hijack" a legitimate eBay business in order to trick people into making payments for goods they never purchased, giving their bank or credit card information, or disclosing personal information that can be used to create false identities?

An Incredible Saga

This is the story of one such eBay retailer as told in a comment she left on my recent post, A Powerful Scam to Resist.

"My ebay store ID is involved in a phishing campaign right now.  The crook is using my store name (heartnsoulauctions) and pairing with various item numbers and then sending fake 'non-paying-bidder' threats to the victims telling them to pay up in 7 days or they will have a strike against them and other threats.  Since my ID is real I am the one fielding the literally hundreds of eBay messages from the victims of the spoof.  It's been 5 months with no help from eBay.  I have been preparing to drop the store and my 100% feedback score, it's very disappointing.  Anyway you wouldn't believe how many of those people really thought someone in their household may have purchased the item without their knowledge and were wanting to work something out to fix the problem." [emphasis added]

She goes on to provide a link to a video about fraud on her blog and also a separate post she wrote about her experience.

I had never given much thought to what it must be like to be in her shoes.  What a pain to deal with it all!  Imagine helplessly watching your business name and reputation being trashed by a hidden foe.

They Took the Bait

The amazing thing in her comment is the point about "how many of those people" receiving the scammer's bogus emails actually contacted her believing there was a problem they needed to work out -- all based on the claims of an email message with no other proof.

And that my friends is why the scam artists keep at it.  Lots of people fall prey and make it worth their while.

Be careful.  Be on guard.  Don't be a victim.

Related Tags: phishing, scams, identify theft, eBay, scam artists