Online sellers! Beware the scammers on eBay or they may steal your credit card detail
…without you even noticing your money is gone! It’s easier for e-sellers to fall prey to cybercriminals than you may think. This is how it works.
There are dishonest online retailers who sell in-demand products at a discounted price. What is interesting about their actions is the fact that these fraudsters don’t own the aforementioned products yet. All the same, they organise an auction and once it’s over, the products are purchased and later shipped to the auction winner. In the meantime, stolen credit card details are used to make a purchase from an online store that has the items in question.
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How it works
An auction scammer sells legitimate products and sets up one or a few eBay accounts. A product is purchased on eBay and the money is deposited in the scammer’s PayPal account. Then the scammer uses the eBay order information to buy the product from another online seller and ship it to the buyer who ordered the item from the scammer. Finally, the scammer takes the money.
Funnily enough, since the action winner gets what they bid on, they never question the company that sent them the item. Also, to the retailer, the order looks pretty standard. This is the sneaky part of this scam and fraudulent transactions before the items are shipped may not be detected.
This is not a new scam, but it’s becoming more widespread, automated and more sophisticated. It doesn’t happen on eBay only either. To help alleviate the problem, merchants should understand their buyers and implement correct credit card authorisation protocols.
If you buy from other online sellers, remember to pay attention to your bank statements and report anything suspicious!
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