Warning: eBay Scam (Item 190195958868)
I receive a ton of spam every day which usually gets caught by my spam filters, but over the past few days I’ve seen a variation of the same one come through, six of which were in my inbox this morning (I’ll post four examples). What irritates me the most is that the account it came to is not given out to third parties. And of course the spelling errors.
Here’s the main content of the spam messages for eBay item number 190195958868. If you have received this spam as well, I encourage you to report this item to eBay or forward the message to eBay at spoof@ebay.com.
My hunch is that eBay can’t do anything about it since this is clearly not inside of their system (send me an email at…which is outside of eBay’s rules), but they could at least slap some sort of spam/phishing warning on the item itself (Warning: Please use caution…).
Related, check out eBay’s spoofing tutorial (how to spot them, not how to send them).
E-Mail #1…
I have for sale: 190195958868 At your last bid price $120.00 . If you are interested just give me a fast reply on this email address and you will find all the info that you want. Please contact me as soon as possible for more details directly at kroberts40@gmail.com !
Thank You For your Time
E-Mail #2…
I am the seller of the eBay item : 190195958868, and I want to let you know that I have another 7 similar items for
sale and I want to sell them at a very good price. From the results that you recently bid for it, I want to sell it
at a very good price that I’m sure you will like as eBay policy automatically proclaims you to be the winner by default.
Nevertheless, I need your agreement on this so I may contact eBay to confirm your winning position otherwise I’ll relist the item.
If you’re interested please confirm by forwarding this message to leu00ars@hotmail.com and include your name, address, phone#, item#.
Please contact me at leu00ars@hotmail.com with your response,either yes or no.Thank you for understanding.
E-Mail #3…
I’m the seller of the item that you’ve recently bided through the eBay system.
Item name :Dell E198FP 19″ LCD Monitor New in box, not refurbished Item number:190195958868 and i’ve just been contacted by the eBay staff who informed me that due to some reasons the eBay policy automatically proclaims you to be the winner by default because i want to end my item. I need your agreement on this so I can contact eBay to confirm you that you’re the winner, otherwise I’ll relist the item. I am sorry for the inconvenience, but I need an answer asap to facemcash1@gmail.com including this email from eBay.
What is your price for my item ?You have oportunity to purchase my item if your offer is resonable for me !!
Waiting for your answer!
E-Mail #4…
You expressed interest in item #190195958868 however the auction has ended with another member as the high bidder.I will make this Second Chance Offer because the winning bidder was unable to complete the transaction. If you are still interesed to buy it , please let me know your best price, a resonable price. The transaction will go strictly according to eBay’s RULES and POLICY and will be supervised by eBay Trust & Safety Department. Contact me as soon as possible for more details about closing the transaction !
Waiting for your answer!
Best regards!
PS: For you can see the auction again, please click on the item number .
Popularity: 68% [?]
February 19th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Hi, I received the same e-mail from leu00ars@hotmail.com and he try to sell a camera. He told me about a really strange story, he was in alaska for a buisness trip and the day after he was in romania because his wife is dead.
February 20th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
This has nothing to do with bidding on ebay. I got same emails eventho I have never used this email address even once. I have only used for storage. So noneone is aware of the existence of the email address other than gmail and me. The spammer might be using sequence wordlist mail creater alike thing Orrrrr orrrrr and an orrrr I have to blame google by giving away email lists.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
In addition to my post,
Perhaps they are using some kind of word generator.
My email had the word “janissary” in it ending with “@gmail.com”. [Janissary = Elit Ottoman soldier(Historical)] And the 11 spams I got was about bidding on an Historic Ottoman coins