Consumer Alert! Avoiding online PowerBook & iBook scams II
March 14, 2003
by Steve Hildreth
Editor-in-Chief
We recently ran a report on PowerBook and iBook scams (see Consumer Alert! Avoiding online PowerBook & iBook scams) which garnered lots of feedback. Most of the comments revolved around eBay scams, with some of the messages making it seem as if eBay is crawling with scammers (Shameless plug: Why pay for eBay? Use our PowerBook & iBook Classifieds for free, and join a community of nearly 7000 registered users). It's not quite that bad, yet, but there are some steps you can take to protect yourself on eBay, our classifieds, or other online systems. In addition to reading the above-mentioned article, peruse some of the reader comments posted below:
"I am very curious about the apparent glut of very cheap PowerBook auctions on eBay. They all seem to follow the same pattern:
1- Bidding is private.
2- Buy It Now price is *not* specified in the auction itself - it's buried in the auction description or you are asked to send email to the seller.
3- Terms of sale are usually wire transfer or cashiers check.
4- Seller has feedback history - sometimes rather substantial - which indicates they are usually a buyer, not a seller. Generally they have never sold anything of equivalent value.
5- None of the sellers I contacted would accept escrow payment.
I've actually already confirmed that two legit eBay sellers identities had been stolen as part of scamming G4 laptops. This happened when I contacted two different sellers offering "amazing deals" using eBay's "Ask Seller a Question" form - instead of the email address listed in the item description ("Contact me before bidding....").
Another scammer was more clever and actually remembered to change the email address in the stolen account to one of his/her own choosing. This way "Ask Seller a Question" would vector inquires in his direction. There were three additional "tip offs" in this case:
1- The seller's feedback record indicated a history of buying and selling golf related items only - never anything electronic.
2- The seller's user name had been changed within the last 24 hours. [The the little sunglasses icon indicates recent name changes and I tracked that down using standard eBay web forms.]
3- The item indicated that the seller was in New Jersey but the person who wrote back to me wanted funds transferred to Denmark "where they live".
I think eBay has a serious problem they are not managing very well. It feels like negligence on their part not to warn users of the high frequency of scamming involved."
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"Just read your article on powerbook scams and thought you might be interested in seeing these emails I received recently, while bidding on powerbooks on ebay. I have no way to prove this is a scam as I will not send money to anyone like this. Here are the emails I received:
Dear Sir,
My name is XXXXXX and I would like to make you an offert. First I would like you to know something about me, my name is XXXXXX and I am a italian and my adress is:
street: XXXXXX
20156 city: MILANO
country: Italy
I noticed that you bid on a APPLE POWERBOOK G4 1GHZ brand new laptop and my offert is about a similar laptop with the similar specs: Here you have the specs:
APPLE POWERBOOK G4 1GHZ brand new
Processor 1GHz PowerPC G4 Level 3 cache 1MB DDR SRAM Memory 512MB Display 15.2-inch (diagonal) TFT Graphics ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 with 64MB of DDR SDRAM Hard disk drive 60GB Ultra ATA Optical drive Slot-loading SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW) Ethernet Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T (RJ-45 connector) Modem Built-in 56K V.92 modem Wireless networking Built-in AirPort Card System Software Mac OS X, Mac OS 9 Software QuickTime, iCal, iChat, iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, iDVD (requires SuperDrive), DVD Player, Mac OS X Mail, Microsoft Internet Explorer, EarthLink (includes 30 days of free service), Acrobat Reader, Art Directors Toolkit, FAXstf, Graphic Converter, OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner, PixelNhance, Snapz Pro X, Developer Tools, Apple Hardware Test CD Hardware Accessories Modem cable, power adapter, AC wall plug, power cord, S-video to composite adapter, DVI to VGA adapter.
Product contains electronic documentation. Backup software provided on DVD. Warranty 2 years.
If you are interested please e-mail me at XXXXX@yahoo.com to complete the deal. I would like to get for the machine just $1700us including shipping and insurance. If you agree I will cover the shipping costs and I will send the machine via UPS asap. Please check my feedback to see that the offer is serious and that I am a serious seller. Please let me know if you are interested.
Best regards"
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"One other scam you didn't mention that isn't that uncommon either. You send money and they sit on it for a few months and THEN send your product (sometimes used or "refurbished"). They've gotten to collect the interest from your money and now the price you paid is MORE than it's worth instead of less. I've gotten very good use out of my Mac but I got it when I ordered it."
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"If only I had found your editorial on "Avoiding online Powerbook and iBook scams" sooner. I was taken for $2500 from an online scam the day before your article first appeared. Since then I have tried fuitlessly to get my money back. In spite of the shame, stress and frustration (not to mention lost money) of this experience, I am determined not to let another person fall prey to this sceme.
I was in the market for a new Titanium PowerBook when I ran across the exact model I was seeking on ebay. I contacted the seller who told me that while the computer would ship from California, I would need to send payment to him via Western Union or MoneyGram to him in Europe. Despite not knowing then that Western Union and MoneyGram are the preferred payment of choice by scam artists I was still a little wary of this arrangement and voiced my concerns to the seller. The seller, Mihai Marica (XXXXX@aol.com) of Romania, was very convincing, telling me that he and his company, Apple 4 Less Inc., had been in business many years and personally guaranteeing that delivery would be made. He provided me a contract of sale signed by George Pop, General Manager of Apple 4 Less. The terms of the sale provided immediate, 2nd day delivery upon receipt of funds by someone from Eureka, CA. I was even provided with a serial number of the computer they were going to send me, and a detailed set of delivery and return instructions. Every question I asked was answered in an assurring manner. His ebay feedback rating was excellent. There was one neutral comment from a buyer of PowerBook who stated they felt uncomfortable with the terms of payment, but they stated the issue had been resolved. I felt confident and wired money to the seller on January 31, 2003.
As instructed, I sent the seller the reference number from MoneyGram after payment had been made. Conveniently it was a Friday night, meaning that shipping would not be able to take place until Monday morning, February 3. Over the weekend, a few details began to nag at me. The first being the price. "If it's too good to be true, it probably is." I took a second look at the contract the seller had sent. It seemed like a normal-looking invoice with an address and phone number for Apple 4 Less, but on further review I noticed a glaring typo I hadn't seen earlier. The company was registered with "the camera of commerce" in the city they do business. Camera of Commerce? I checked further into the sellers ebay rating and realized that the seller had amassed the rating primarily as a buyer of items that were non-computer related.
On Monday, the day the computer was to be shipped to me, I was informed that "due some problems we had we will ship the item to you on Thursday" (Feb. 6) This was unacceptable and I e-mailed the seller complaining. I got no response from him but then noticed the following day that the seller had placed a quickie three day auction on ebay for the same computer I had purchased. I e-mailed the seller again saying that if he was not able to give me a tracking number so I could verify shipment on the computer by Thursday, that I wanted my money refunded. The seller never bothered to respond. In the hopes of getting some help, I e-mailed the manager of Apple 4 Less and relayed details of the transaction and my concerns. The response I got was omnimous: "what does this have to do with us?"
On Friday (Feb 7) the seller finally e-mailed me saying there was a problem and that the money I had sent was never received. According to Mr. Marica, someone had hacked into our e-mail correspondences, read the information and then went out to MoneyGram with a forged ID and stole the money that I sent to Mr. Marica. He further suggested that if I send an additional $1250 he would surely ship my computer -- "this way we both lose half the money." OK. And how did he suggest I send the money? Well, I got no response to that question. In fact, I haven't received any more responses from the seller. I have sent many requests to the seller but he will now not respond to my messages. Recently I e-mailed Apple 4 Less and the manager again claimed not to know anything about the transaction. Nor did he make any attempt to find out or try to resolve this botched sale.
After over three weeks, I think the only thing that is safe to say is that I'll never see my $2500 or the computer I bought. I've filed fraud complaints against the seller and Apple 4 Less and will also file a police report for theft. I'm sure little will come of it, especially since I am in the US and the seller is in Romania. I contacted ebay and since learned that the seller had stolen a legitimate ebay user ID and was using the account to perpetrate the frauds. The person in Eureka, CA who was suppose to ship my computer was actually the person whose ebay user ID had been stolen (he had no connection to this whole scam).
In short, beware. If you're buying from ebay be sure of the person you are buying from. If the seller or company is overseas, be very careful. If they want payment by MoneyGram or Western Union, forget it. MoneyGram and Western Union only accept CASH and there is NO recourse in cases of fraud or non-recept of items. I know price is a big concern when buying a computer, but don't be tempted by too-good-to-be-true prices like I was. Buy only from Apple authorized re-sellers. I know this sounds logical, but believe me I've wondered how I fell prey to this internet scam. I'm not an idiot, I am careful. It happened to me, but I don't want it to happen to anyone else. $2500 is too much money to lose. I hope it burns a hole in the pockets of the people who have my hard-earned money."
