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ebay User
Background Check |
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According to Fortune Magazine,
fraud and theft could represent as much
as 5% of all auctions online, specifically in the computer and
consumer electronics category. In 2002 the Federal Trade
Commission logged 51,000 auction-fraud complaints which is
double the number in 2001. Feedback rating on ebay is very easy
to manipulate and generally does not give a true picture of the
user and con-artists are constantly devising new ways to
manipulate it. It is also not uncommon for someone to hijack an
ebay users identity. Comprehensive ebay User Background Checks
help you minimize risk. |
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Protect yourself
and your money by checking out the background of an ebay
user before participating in any transactions. These ebay User
Background check Reports typically search
Name, Age,
Aliases / A.K.A. used by the subject listed addresses,
phone numbers,
Others listed at subjects addresses,
Other people listed at neighboring properties,
Real Property ownership. Previous and non-verified addresses,
Property assessments,
Possible associates,
Possible Relative(s) name, month, year of birth, phone listings and
more. Bankruptcies,
Liens, Judgments, Court cases involving subject,
complaints, praises, rumors and other postings found outside of
ebay. |
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A student at Radford University, Michael
Paul Jackson would get photos of laptops and digital cameras
from other people's auctions or elsewhere on the Internet and
pretend that he owned those items. If the product retailed for
$2,500, he'd sell it for $1,500, offering a killer deal people
found hard to resist. When someone "won" one of his auctions,
he'd ask for a bank check or money order and within a week or
two the payment would show up in his post office box. He stole
$120,000 from more than 100 eBay users, most of whom won't get
any of it back. |
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The ebay User ID "skunkker" had more than
100 positive comments on his ebay feedback. Actual User Nelson
used multiple user IDs to buy his own auctions, generously
giving himself rave reviews. He also created the illusion of
authenticity by initially selling computers legitimately at
crowd-pleasing discounts. In other instances, he purchased lots
of low-priced items and promptly paid sellers. Thats how he
generated favorable reviews. He stole nearly $200,000 from
buyers and by the time the negative ratings started coming in he
was on to a new ebay user ID. |
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Christina, a pre-med student at Georgetown University bought a
pair of trendy, low-slung jeans on eBay. But after three weeks,
she still had no jeans and no response from the seller to her
repeated e-mails. Christina, who declined to give her last name,
knew she had been gypped, but other than leaving the seller
negative feedback through the voluntary review system, there was
little she could do but file a complaint with eBay. "I got an
e-mail from eBay that said, 'You are not at fault, but we're not
going to do anything about it,'" Christina recalls, interpreting
the company's response. |
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Joseph D'Amelio thought he'd found a great deal on eBay: a 2000
Porsche 911 for $50,000. After talking to the seller and getting
a copy of the car's title sent to him in advance, he wired the
money to an escrow company--and fell victim to an elaborate
scam. The seller had actually hijacked a legitimate eBay
member's account and set up a fake escrow service.
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Imagine Melissa Perenson's (Associate editor of PC World
Magazine) surprise when a Good Samaritan suggested by e-mail
last week that she withdraw her recent eBay bid for a notebook
because the seller appeared fraudulent. She hadn't placed a bid
on the site since before Christmas. Turns out somebody
commandeered her eBay identity and went on to win two separate
bids for $1400 notebooks from a seller claiming to be in
Romania. No money or products changed hands (it turns out the
seller's contact information was hijacked, too.)
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