FYI: identity theft

From: Joe R. <rigdonj_at_cfl.rr.com>
Date: Tue Nov 23 20:59:46 2004

   I've been noticing something else new to E-bay too. I've sold several
items to someone in Europe and they respond aaking for my banking info and
claiming that they want to pay by wire transfer. I've been scammed once and
now I don't give out ANY crdit or banking info to anyone else for ANY
reason so I reply that I don't take wire transfers and suggest that they
use western Union, BidPay or something similar. After that I never hear
from them again. I strongly suspect that this is some new scheme to find
their way into my bank account. Anybody heard of anything like this?

   Joe


At 10:37 AM 11/23/04 -0600, you wrote:
>
>Bound to happen! A few odd charges showed up on my business
>credit card. I caught it quickly, then went into gumshoe mode.
>
>The largest charge was to Staples.com. Someone knew all my info:
>name, address, credit card number, three-digit code from the back,
>so Staples processed the order. They had the new iPod sent to a
>fellow in Los Angeles.
>
>Said fellow was surprised to hear my card had been used:
>Why, he'd recently bought an iPod on eBay at a great price.
>
>The seller wanted to be paid via eGold.com, and had sent detailed
>instructions as how to send money to an exchange company that
>would convert dollars to eGold, which could be used to pay him.
>
>I tracked down several other eBay buyers who had the same
>experience with the seller. In three of four cases, the buyers
>somehow screwed up the payment process, yet had received their
>goods (directly from Staples or BestBuy) in the same fashion.
>Meanwhile the seller has disappeared: Yahoo email unanswered,
>fake phones and addresses.
>
>This may never happen with classic goods, of course, but you
>can see how the scam will work with new goods. It also makes
>me wonder if some of the "how to get stuff for free" packages
>on eBay aren't promoting this sort of scam. You can see how
>thieves could make a lot of money, converting credit card
>info to cash.
>
>- John
>
>
Received on Tue Nov 23 2004 - 20:59:46 GMT