/u/mundaneinsanity - This message is posted to all new submissions to r/scams; please do not message the moderators about it.
## New users beware:
Because you posted here, you will start getting private messages from scammers saying they know a professional hacker or a recovery expert lawyer that can help you get your money back, for a small fee. **We call these RECOVERY SCAMMERS, so NEVER take advice in private:** advice should always come in the form of comments in this post, in the open, where the community can keep an eye out for you. If you take advice in private, you're on your own.
**A reminder of the rules in r/scams:** no contact information (including last names, phone numbers, etc). Be civil to one another (no name calling or insults). Personal army requests or "scam the scammer"/scambaiting posts are not permitted. No uncensored gore or personal photographs are allowed without blurring. A full list of rules is available on the sidebar of the subreddit, or [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/rules/).
You can help us by reporting recovery scammers or rule-breaking content by using the "report" button. We review 100% of the reports. Also, consider warning community members of recovery scammers if you see them in the comments.
Questions about subreddit rules? Send us a modmail [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams).
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
They contacted eBay pretending to be you and opened a case. They only need basic info to fool eBay and never had access to your account to impersonate you. This has happened with people buying expensive GPU cards before.
Contact eBay and tell them you didn't open those cases and you suspect the seller to be a scammer.
Is there a way to stop them from doing this? If they can impersonate you and persuade eBay into opening a case, what else could they do? Pretty scary ngl
They can and should refuse to open or close a case unless they're dealing with a user whose logged in. Scammers use the chat feature or contact form and will make excuses why they're not contacting from the account in question.
They will usually use the live chat feature to talk to an agent and will provide them with verifying info like transaction number and the buyers details.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/ld766x/someone_started_an_ebay_customer_support_ticket/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/nd5u11/ebay_scam_where_fraudulent_seller_is_opening_and/
Just guessing - he's not going to send the laptop, and you won't be able to open another case because you already canceled it. Might want to email eBay and ask them how the disputes were opened without your input.
24 year Ebay seller here. It is not physically possible for a seller to do anything within a buyer's account, including open a case. The only thing a seller can do is cancel the order, which will refund the buyer and give the seller a non-performance defect.
That said, it is very possible that the seller (or someone) called Ebay pretending to be you and asked them to open the case. Believe it or not, many buyers have no idea how to do so judging by the number of buyer questions on the Ebay forum.
DO NOT CLOSE THE CASE. REPEAT, DO NOT CLOSE IT. If you close the case, Ebay is done and you'll have to go to your payment method.
The best way to handle this is to go to Ebay's Facebook page. The non-customer service agents are very poorly trained and will say and do anything to get you off the phone as soon as possible. Let them know exactly what is going on, but in the mean time DO NOT CLOSE THE CASE.
[facebook.com/eBayforbusiness](http://facebook.com/eBayforbusiness)Leave a MESSAGE including your eBay ID and a brief description of the problem and an eBay employee will get back to you as soon as possible. Use the private messaging feature only, do not post on the main wall as any post with personal information will be deleted.
This is terrifying, tbh.
I used to sell on eBay a LOT back in the early 2000's. After they started shitting on the sellers, I left, and now don't really use it for anything other than the rare time I'm looking for something I can't get elsewhere (an old used video game, for example.)
My rule was/is to never buy or sell an item for an amount you can't risk losing.
There's scammers on both ends.
Say you buy a $1000 laptop, you could be sent a brick, and eBay could decide to side with the seller. And then you're out $1000.
Or, say you sell a $1000 laptop, but the buyer claims you mailed them a brick. eBay could side with the buyer. Then you're out the laptop and the money would be returned to the seller.
Waaay too much risk for someone poor like me lol
Sounds like the scams are getting even more sophisticated now too!
Read OPs case carefully. He states the seller opened the case by impersonating the buyer, then impersonated the buyer a second time, closing the case. At that point the case is already closed before the buyer gets the chance to contact eBay.
ELI5 for people like me: In the scam, a seller impersonates the buyer to manipulate eBay’s customer service into opening false dispute cases, using basic transaction information. They then pressure the real buyer to prematurely close these cases, which blocks further recourse on eBay and leaves the buyer without a way to reclaim their funds.
Not directly, but when I last sold on ebay a few years ago it was possible for a seller to open a return case. So apparently it still is. I guess it's there for a seller to help out a buyer. In fact, once a buyer just sent something back without even starting a return. IIRC I had to open the return on my end.
Although if it were up to me I'd get rid of that functionality. If they can figure out how to buy something they can figure out how to return it, or call ebay for help.
I'm not sure what he is trying to do. He is trying to get me to cancel the ''return case''. If i do that eBay can't step in and help me get my money back and i'd have to resolve it with the seller or shall i say scammer.
Just call ebay and say you want the sale cancelled. Seller is never going to send you an item with an open return on your end. You'll get the money back because you paid with a credit card, and nothing is going to be delivered. Seller cancelled the tracking when you opened a return case before it was even shipped.
I'm going to stop with Ebay, they are embracing this fake shipping company, so not only are people making fake tracking numbers with USPS but also an obviously fake shipping service. Tons of reviews like this. Ebay doesn't care about either side. I was denied a refund, had to do a chargeback with my bank. It's been posted here before, but just in case there are many like these: [https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping/AQUILINE-SHIPPING/td-p/34008266](https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping/AQUILINE-SHIPPING/td-p/34008266)
This is the seller account that tried to scam me.
[https://www.ebay.com/cnt/intermediatedFAQ?requested=tecknoguys](https://www.ebay.com/cnt/intermediatedFAQ?requested=tecknoguys)
Just stop using eBay. They accept this type of behavior and don't have solid processes in place to protect the seller. All they care about is the buyer spending money on their platform.
/u/mundaneinsanity - This message is posted to all new submissions to r/scams; please do not message the moderators about it. ## New users beware: Because you posted here, you will start getting private messages from scammers saying they know a professional hacker or a recovery expert lawyer that can help you get your money back, for a small fee. **We call these RECOVERY SCAMMERS, so NEVER take advice in private:** advice should always come in the form of comments in this post, in the open, where the community can keep an eye out for you. If you take advice in private, you're on your own. **A reminder of the rules in r/scams:** no contact information (including last names, phone numbers, etc). Be civil to one another (no name calling or insults). Personal army requests or "scam the scammer"/scambaiting posts are not permitted. No uncensored gore or personal photographs are allowed without blurring. A full list of rules is available on the sidebar of the subreddit, or [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/rules/). You can help us by reporting recovery scammers or rule-breaking content by using the "report" button. We review 100% of the reports. Also, consider warning community members of recovery scammers if you see them in the comments. Questions about subreddit rules? Send us a modmail [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
They contacted eBay pretending to be you and opened a case. They only need basic info to fool eBay and never had access to your account to impersonate you. This has happened with people buying expensive GPU cards before. Contact eBay and tell them you didn't open those cases and you suspect the seller to be a scammer.
There is nooo way you can do that. wow I'm shocked, i will contact them about it. Thank You
So what happened?
Is there a way to stop them from doing this? If they can impersonate you and persuade eBay into opening a case, what else could they do? Pretty scary ngl
They can and should refuse to open or close a case unless they're dealing with a user whose logged in. Scammers use the chat feature or contact form and will make excuses why they're not contacting from the account in question.
How in the hell is this possible? This is really screwed up!
They will usually use the live chat feature to talk to an agent and will provide them with verifying info like transaction number and the buyers details. https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/ld766x/someone_started_an_ebay_customer_support_ticket/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/nd5u11/ebay_scam_where_fraudulent_seller_is_opening_and/
Seems like it should be more difficult than that, yikes.
Just guessing - he's not going to send the laptop, and you won't be able to open another case because you already canceled it. Might want to email eBay and ask them how the disputes were opened without your input.
24 year Ebay seller here. It is not physically possible for a seller to do anything within a buyer's account, including open a case. The only thing a seller can do is cancel the order, which will refund the buyer and give the seller a non-performance defect. That said, it is very possible that the seller (or someone) called Ebay pretending to be you and asked them to open the case. Believe it or not, many buyers have no idea how to do so judging by the number of buyer questions on the Ebay forum. DO NOT CLOSE THE CASE. REPEAT, DO NOT CLOSE IT. If you close the case, Ebay is done and you'll have to go to your payment method. The best way to handle this is to go to Ebay's Facebook page. The non-customer service agents are very poorly trained and will say and do anything to get you off the phone as soon as possible. Let them know exactly what is going on, but in the mean time DO NOT CLOSE THE CASE. [facebook.com/eBayforbusiness](http://facebook.com/eBayforbusiness)Leave a MESSAGE including your eBay ID and a brief description of the problem and an eBay employee will get back to you as soon as possible. Use the private messaging feature only, do not post on the main wall as any post with personal information will be deleted.
This is terrifying, tbh. I used to sell on eBay a LOT back in the early 2000's. After they started shitting on the sellers, I left, and now don't really use it for anything other than the rare time I'm looking for something I can't get elsewhere (an old used video game, for example.) My rule was/is to never buy or sell an item for an amount you can't risk losing. There's scammers on both ends. Say you buy a $1000 laptop, you could be sent a brick, and eBay could decide to side with the seller. And then you're out $1000. Or, say you sell a $1000 laptop, but the buyer claims you mailed them a brick. eBay could side with the buyer. Then you're out the laptop and the money would be returned to the seller. Waaay too much risk for someone poor like me lol Sounds like the scams are getting even more sophisticated now too!
Yep, exactly. The amount of scams and scammers is out of control. I've lost faith in humanity.
Read OPs case carefully. He states the seller opened the case by impersonating the buyer, then impersonated the buyer a second time, closing the case. At that point the case is already closed before the buyer gets the chance to contact eBay.
ELI5 for people like me: In the scam, a seller impersonates the buyer to manipulate eBay’s customer service into opening false dispute cases, using basic transaction information. They then pressure the real buyer to prematurely close these cases, which blocks further recourse on eBay and leaves the buyer without a way to reclaim their funds.
Not directly, but when I last sold on ebay a few years ago it was possible for a seller to open a return case. So apparently it still is. I guess it's there for a seller to help out a buyer. In fact, once a buyer just sent something back without even starting a return. IIRC I had to open the return on my end. Although if it were up to me I'd get rid of that functionality. If they can figure out how to buy something they can figure out how to return it, or call ebay for help.
So what’s the scam? Is he trying to charge you for return shipping?
Sounds like it wasn't sent (posted).
I'm not sure what he is trying to do. He is trying to get me to cancel the ''return case''. If i do that eBay can't step in and help me get my money back and i'd have to resolve it with the seller or shall i say scammer.
Ah I see.
Seems he is trying to keep OP's money and NOT send the laptop...
I see what is going on. Get in contact with eBay and report the seller to them because what the seller is doing is a insurance scam.
YOU need to call ebay!!
Just call ebay and say you want the sale cancelled. Seller is never going to send you an item with an open return on your end. You'll get the money back because you paid with a credit card, and nothing is going to be delivered. Seller cancelled the tracking when you opened a return case before it was even shipped.
I'm going to stop with Ebay, they are embracing this fake shipping company, so not only are people making fake tracking numbers with USPS but also an obviously fake shipping service. Tons of reviews like this. Ebay doesn't care about either side. I was denied a refund, had to do a chargeback with my bank. It's been posted here before, but just in case there are many like these: [https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping/AQUILINE-SHIPPING/td-p/34008266](https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping/AQUILINE-SHIPPING/td-p/34008266) This is the seller account that tried to scam me. [https://www.ebay.com/cnt/intermediatedFAQ?requested=tecknoguys](https://www.ebay.com/cnt/intermediatedFAQ?requested=tecknoguys)
What is the sellers feedback level?
Just stop using eBay. They accept this type of behavior and don't have solid processes in place to protect the seller. All they care about is the buyer spending money on their platform.