Question
This story on msnbc.com EBay thief reveals tricks of the trade
Kenneth calls his victims “my customers,” and the scam they fall for is relatively straightforward. It starts with a “phisher” e-mail to perhaps 1,000 eBay users, telling them their accounts will be closed unless they supply their user name and password. Sometimes, as many as 200 people reply, he said.
Armed with access to these eBay accounts, Kenneth impersonates a long-time eBay user with ample positive feedback, and he approaches other eBay users actively engaged in an auction. Via e-mail, he tells them he can offer a better deal. When they bite, he slowly lures them down a patch which eventually leads to a fake escrow Web page. Under the false security of an escrow service, victims wire money to Kenneth, and he disappears with their cash.
Every day it’s new morons, but the same questions,” he said. “Every moron says, ‘Hey, that’s a pretty good business you have there. How can I send you the money?”
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>MSNBC - It starts with a “phisher” e-mail to perhaps 1,000 eBay users, telling them their accounts will be closed unless they supply their user name and password. Sometimes, as many as 200 people reply, he said.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I doubt those numbers for several reasons.
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how come you doubt the numbers...
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Just a guess, but if he's targeting "long-time eBay users with ample positive feedback" for accounts to hijack, I'd think those people would be knowledgeable enough not to fall for the scam at a rate of 1 in 5.
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mrp, you'd be surprised. I've had several long-time eBay customers fall for this.
While one out of five may be on the high side, I don't think it's that far off the truth.
Sad . . .
mostlyclassics at eBay
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believe it or not, not everyone is as educated as us
because
not everyone visits here. http://community.here.com/infopop/em...on_biggrin.gif
This place "pays'" off again.
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>believe it or not<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Based on the "Is this a scam?" posts that show up here regularly, I believe it. http://community.here.com/infopop/em.../icon_wink.gif
I have no way of knowing for sure, but I just don't think that the number of people who fall for them is as high as the 20% figure noted in the original post.
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If you think about the number of sellers on eBay - in the millions. I'd believe it. Some people just fall for anything, and I don't think a high feedback rating equals a high IQ rating! http://community.here.com/infopop/em.../icon_wink.gif
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by gabs-a-lot:
how come you doubt the numbers...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
1. The person offering those numbers is an admitted thief bragging about his accomplishments.
2. I've known a lot of novices on computers that were instinctively wary of such a scams.
3. I've never personally known anyone that's fallen for such a scam.
4. With such a success rate I'd expect more "phishing" emails than offers of generic viagra.
5. If the success rate approached 20% the ecommerce businesses would be in an absolute panic.
The success rate might approach 20%, I don't have any proof it isn't. I'm just giving the reasons I doubt such a number.