(fwd) WARNING! New Ebay SCAM! (fwd)

From: John Lawson <jpl15_at_netcom.com>
Date: Sun May 16 14:26:09 1999

On Sun, 16 May 1999, Chuck McManis wrote:

> This may or may not be a scam. At least two (and like cockroaches if you
> see two you know there are really dozens) surplus electronic shop owners
> use Ebay as follows.
> o Follow the auctions that people are holding for stuff they
> have.
> o When the auction finishes offer their own stuff to
> the second through - 'n' bidders (depending on qty
> and price)


  This is an excellent point, and yet another dark facet of e-bay I
hadn't thought of... maybe for good reasons. And I spent years in
the electronic and aerospace surplus business.. I've been at
thousands of auctions of all kinds, good, bad, and really ugly.

  But in the case that I transplanted, note that the bidding was for
a ham radio Repeater, a device that is a) not made in quantity
because b) not that many people have use for them. And the other
'scam' tip-off to me was that the scammer is here in California,
where a good portion of the repeater frequency pairs have been
allocated for years. And note that he solicited money orders from
people who were obviously bidding on a one-of-a-kind item. I just
thought it sounded fishy.

  Okay, I don't want to start a big sort-of-off-topic flame fest,
just to give my Listfriends some info. If anyone is reading this
who wants more info on just what a 'repeater' is and what it does,
e-mail me off the list and I'll be happy to provide.


  Cheers

John
Received on Sun May 16 1999 - 14:26:09 BST