The Scammers back

[Chris KC]

The mystery is why eBay do not involve the police?

[Ian M]

Maybe they do, but remember that the scammer could be absolutely anywhere in the entire world, which makes him just a bit tricky to catch!

[Parazine]

But what does Uncle Alan do when a prospective punter sends him an email? Direct him to a malicious website or something? grab his email address for spam?

It all seems a bit clumsy.....

[Ian M]

I don't know the detail, but payment is made to the scammer electronically, coupled with a promise to deliver the car to the unsuspecting buyer. Once the payment goes through, the scammer vanishes into thin air, and of course there never was any car.

[Chris KC]

I'm no expert in international cyber-crime, but surely Uncle Alan's IP address can be traced?

[Parazine]

And people fall for paying money for a car without seeing it?

Wow! I'm amazed!

[Edgar Lowe]

most common fraud is "I have somebody coming to look at the car but if you leave a deposit I will keep it for you" this is how people fall for it, they send a deposit. They can collect few deposit from people and disappear. They maybe lucky in the process to find somebody who will pay the full amount without seeing it.

[Ian M]

I'm not. Having participated in discussions about this on other forums, it's evident from posts I've seen that some folk are easily taken in. Everyone loves a bargain, so the artificially low prices advertised by the scammer will grab the attention of any bargain seekers who are also susceptible to being scammed.

[Austin Carr]

I'm no expert in international cyber-crime, but surely Uncle Alan's IP address can be traced?

Just search "hiding IP address" and you will see how to hide the IP address.

e.g. TOR being a widely accessible, free and anonymous network, it has become a hub for criminal activity.

[Ian M]

Just picking up on Chris KC's comment about tracing IP addresses, which escaped my attention earlier. The scammer will be well acquainted with covering his tracks in this respect, plus of course will very likely be operating via mobile devices only.