Technically it's not really related to pearls

[Raisondetre]

But since I bought the camera just to photograph pearls I'm putting it here.

As you guys know I bought the camera off ebay. Ebay does not accept email addresses registered to webmail so I was suspicious, as I received several emails within minutes of the auction ending to both my gmail and hotmail addresses which I had never used with ebay. Those started with my ebay username. The emails stated that the seller was in Canada and that I should not pay the seller until I contacted him. I logged in through ebay and emailed my seller who did not appear to know about this. Having confirmed it was a fraud, I claimed that I could only do bank transfer, asking for an Australian bank account. I received an email asking me to pay some guy in Romania using Moneygram. The email was very authentic with all the usual ebay disclaimers. I had also emailed my seller earlier to ask for additional cords for the camera, so I knew straightaway it was not my seller.

I will be reporting this to ebay so they can lodge some form of investigation. If this guy were in Australia the chances of getting him through an actual bank account would be almost 100%. Romania would be a problem.

So folks, only go through the actual ebay website and pay through your own buying summary. Simple things like that to avoid hardearned money going down the drain.

 

[Nerida]

Interesting story, Raisondetre - there are some evil ebay lurkers out there! I once bid on a fairly expensive ($2K) item, lost the auction (it was to be pick up only quit locally), then had some very valid emails for some time asking for payment to an alternate address. I contacted the seller by phone - I had already dropped around to inspect the item..- emails etc had not come from him. It ALWAYS pays to double check, and set up good communication early with the actual seller, it makes it easier to check afterwards.

BTW can't wait to see your new pearl photos - hope you have lots of fun with the new camera when it arrives... also, coffee in Sydney sometime and hit the pearl vendors here??

 

[Raisondetre]

No probs. Gotta fix up the house and camera, then we can catch up. Loads of pearl-hunting!

 

[jerin]

Raison,

good for you that you spotted this, unfortunately here in Europe there are many people from Eastern countries who are involved in criminal activities of different kinds. I personally find it not easy to see on an email from Ebay that is not real, despite my having read the warning notes from Ebay and comparing addresses. Good photographing with your new camera!

 

[CLICLASP]

Hello,
1 - Whatever you buy on ebay, always pay it through paypal; no charge for the buyer and full garantee in case of a problem.

2 - Any mail claiming anything from ebay or paypal must start with the name under which you registered your ebay or paypal account , never your pseudo.

3 - Then, never click on any link inside an email even if it appears coming from paypal or ebay, copy and paste the link, and you will see of it is true or fraud.
good luck

***
Criminal come from anywhere all over the world...
Europe is not worst than eslewhere

 

[Raisondetre]

Nah, Europe is certainly no better or worse than anywhere else in the world. My father has in fact received multiple emails from people in Japan, the UK, Nigeria etc saying that they would give him a sum of money, but wanted his bank/credit card details etc.

This particular fraud was quite dumb because my seller was in Australia, and he claimed to be in Canada, then asked for payment to a Romania company. Common sense, anyone? And the spamming was quite typical of fraudsters.

I got the automated messages from ebay saying they would investigate, but I doubt so since nothing really happened. It was all quite patronizing, really. I just hope my seller will put a warning on his auction listings.

 

[Nerida]

Yes, when I was bidding on the item I mentioned, it was clearly something that had to be picked up - shipping just wouldn't work. However, the scammer was telling me that the goods were coming from the US, and that he, at the time, was in Asia..... the actual seller of the goods lived about 5km from me! The bank account that he wanted the $$ sent to was in Macau. I also reported to ebay, who sent the same stuff that they obviously sent to Raisondetre...

I'm glad you got the camera though, Raison!

 

[knotty panda]

Wow! Now that's scary. I've never purchased on e-bay but I lurk and have a sign-in. Severl weeks ago (I wish I had kept it) I received a very official looking e-mail from ebay saying they were having a security problem with my PayPal account and asked me to click the link and provide password information and such. I did click the link and it looked official enough, but since I don't have a PayPal account (unless someone set on up for me) I just closed the link and deleted the e-mail. Now I'm curious ...

 

[pattye]

Hi Knotty,

Yep, that was a scam thing also. I buy on ebay quite a bit, and one just has to be wary--if paypal or ebay needs to send you something, they will do it through the ebay messages. Don't trust anything that just comes to your email, it is virtually always a scam. I just forward suspicious messages to where ebay wants them sent. Thankfully, I have never had a problem.

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

 

[Reiah]

The way I'll look for fraudulent links in emails is by hovering or right-clicking on the link. At the bottom of your browser, you should see the link address on the Status Bar. I usually check to see if the domain is what I expected. For example, the domain name for this forum is "pearl-guide.com". If you see a web address like "www.pearl-guide.fraud.com", then the domain is fraud.com.

Here is an example with my browser, right-clicking on Pattye's name.

You can enable Status Bar in your browser under the View menu, if you don't have a status bar.

Hope this helps.

 

[knotty panda]

Wow! That has got to be one of the most important security things I've ever seen. Thanks!

 

[jerin]

Hi,

this does not work the same way for me but after the right-klicking I have to click "Proprieties" to get the same information in a separate box..

 

[Caitlin]

Can you please explain that again. I don't understand.

 

[Reiah]

Hi,
this does not work the same way for me but after the right-klicking I have to click "Proprieties" to get the same information in a separate box..

Jerin,
What browser do you use? I'm a PC-user, so my method may not work on a MAC. But the properties method also gets the same result.

Caitlin,
When I suspect a link in an email is not a valid one, or did not come from the correct source, and the email is asking me to update my information by clicking on a link, then I will do a check on the address that the link goes to.

The way I do the check is by
1. Hovering my mouse over the link and checking the status bar on my browser. (I get phish emails everyday and I got one for Paypal today as my example in the picture attached).
2. As Jerin said, you can also right click on the link and then go to properties to see where the link will take you to.

Now that I have the link, so what? Well, the first "?????.com" or "????.net" or "????.gov" is the domain name. This domain name equates to IP addresses. If the first "?????.com" is not the name you expect, then don't click on the link.

The Paypal phish email example: See how the status bar shows the link is going to the address: "Http://syrianagrosynd.com/paypal.com/index2.htm"

The domain name here is "syrianagrosynd.com" And it is not Paypal. Even though the second ".com" is paypal, that just indicates that the words "paypal.com" is a subfolder on the syrianagrosynd website.

This is how the scammers try to scam us. I used to be a web developer, so these things are pretty transparent.

I hope this helps. I'm not very good at writing explanations, so I hope the pictures can help. If you have specific questions about your browser on a PC, I can try to help. I use Internet Explorer and Firefox.

 

[jshepherd]

Wow! Now that's scary. I've never purchased on e-bay but I lurk and have a sign-in. Severl weeks ago (I wish I had kept it) I received a very official looking e-mail from ebay saying they were having a security problem with my PayPal account and asked me to click the link and provide password information and such. I did click the link and it looked official enough, but since I don't have a PayPal account (unless someone set on up for me) I just closed the link and deleted the e-mail. Now I'm curious ...

That is called phishing. Very, very dangerous. If you did have a PayPal account and fell for that trick they would have cleaned out your paypal and your personal bank account. You should also run a scan on your computer because you opened the email and clicked a link. You can actually get a virus from just opening an email now.

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Reiah
Thanks! I do that the next time I get a phish, though so far, I have recognized phishes from other give aways like not not using my real name or asking for me to click on something. I always forward to Ebay or to paypal and do not expect an answer, but the phish usually disappears for a few months.

send anything that troubles you to spoof@ebay or spoof@paypal

 

[jerin]

Hi Reiah,

Jerin,
What browser do you use? I'm a PC-user, so my method may not work on a MAC. But the properties method also gets the same result.

I am a PC-user and yes, the properties method does work as well. However, today I saw my status bar, it is just so bleak, I never saw it yesterday, only the activity-list.... Thanks for explaining about the domaines. Very useful, if sub-files are used with the "right" name.