Ebay scam?

[Nick Salmon]

I have noticed two recent listings for A7s that bear a similarity and something about them doesn't feel 'right'.

In both cases the cars have been previously listed as I recognise the photos but I believe the seller's names are different. The odd thing is that in both second listings the description is pasted in as an image. That is highly unusual. And in both cases the description says that the listing is 'on behalf of my uncle'. It shows an email address to use to get more info/photos. 

The use of English is slightly odd too.

Also note that in both cases the item location is 'U.K.' No town is shown. Again that is unusual.

First one was a two seat special which is no longer visible (which I have a feeling was first listed as having a reliant engine). Latest one is a maroon 36 Ruby.


It may be completely OK but I would advise caution.

[Mike Costigan]

The maroon Ruby is one of almost a hundred identical style adverts for a variety of cars (at least most of which have been recent eBay listings under other sellers) - I have reported them to eBay. This seems to be a growing problem with eBay; sometimes they are Buy-it-now listings at ridiculously cheap prices, or in this case 0.99p starts but with a cheap purchase price in the listing, all with gmail email addresses for direct contact.

[Nigel was in Brittany]

Looking at his profile its all from sellers ,if you look at his articles for sale Uncle Alan must have a very large Garage and a private Marina , its amazing what 9 Measham Road , Dagenham has got !

[Derek Simmons]

Does 9 Measham Road Dagenham exist?

[merlinart]

Looking at his profile its all from sellers ,if you look at his articles for sale Uncle Alan must have a very large Garage and a private Marina , its amazing what 9 Measham Road , Dagenham has got !

A 2011 Harley Davidson heritage soft tail classic.....for just £3600!!! Looks very odd indeed, could be a scam, could be stolen, who knows!

He has some ridiculous buy it now prices.

A 3 litre Healey for £3600....he'd have thousands biting his hands off at that price....most certainly a scam! I've seen this thing many times before.

He's a business seller with 100% feedback, mighty odd all round.

Arthur

[Nigel was in Brittany]

Yes ,feed back as a buyer not a seller
  According to Google Street view , 9 Neasham Road ,Dagenham does exist with a BMW up the drive ,but  there is no room there for Uncle Alan,s cars and boats.

[merlinart]

Yes ,feed back as a buyer not a seller
  According to Google Street view , 9 Neasham Road ,Dagenham does exist with a BMW up the drive ,but  there is no room there for Uncle Alan,s cars and boats.

Yes you're right.

Thinking further though, it is also possible that his user name has been "hijacked". This has happened to me a couple of times, when mysteriously I was selling I-Phone X models from New York. Hijackers then try to log into one's paypal account and strip out the money coming from "buy it now" clients. It then takes some pretty daft calls to ebay, often in the Phillipines, to get it sorted out. I have 400 items on ebay at all times on constant repeat and when it happened last time had to reset passwords and on one occasion reload each item.

If this is what I think it is, it can be a nightmare to sort out.

Let's face it, that Ruby looks a bargain, but it won't be there!

Arthur

[Nigel was in Brittany]

Well Uncle Alan has not registered the Ruby on the chassis register, it must have been registered with its new number early in 2017 ( VXS 361 ) as my Ruby was allocated VXS 456 in the early summer.

[merlinart]

Right....Uncle Alan is definitely a scam merchant....beware

He has cropped up elsewhere, under a different user name now and different name and address

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/G-FORCE-RELIA...SwNMVac2y3

This time, he is Afeez Yussuf (good old anglo-saxon name!), in Oak Park dive (his spelling not mine!) in Havant Hants.

Lots of chaps selling very cheap cars and boats all seem to have an uncle called Alan.

Uncle Alan possibly waves a sharpened scimitar when approached, who knows, so best not go near him.

Arthur

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This scam is outrageous.

I know a thing or two about values of 3 wheelers....a Messerschmitt for £5500, a Grinnall Scorpion for similar....then a TR3B, now these are as rare as the proverbial...for £7500!

He must be relying on just one or two very silly people to agree a stupidly low price, then send a "buy it now" upload, the person pays in full or a nominated deposit by paypal, then the "seller" possibly has not only a deposit or full price for a non existent car, but has most likely hacked into the paypal account and stripped not just the contents but might also be able to hack into the backup bank account as well.

There are some real rogues about and ebay/paypal do not know how to control it.

Arthur

[Nigel was in Brittany]

Plenty of Afeez Yussuf,s on Facebook but they are all in Nigeria, bit of a shortage of them in Havent.

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And now they are gone !