A reader alerted me to an eBay scammer.
“Get this, Cynthia:
I just sold my previous phone, a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 (only because I got the Z Fold 4) on eBay. Within hours of the auction’s end, I got a message from someone pretending to be the buyer and asking me to ship it to their friend as a gift!
I’d already sent a message congratulating the actual buyer, so this was an unfamiliar username. In typical fashion, the supposed shipping address is typed using an array of different fonts and type styles, hoping to confuse monitoring software. However, eBay caught this scum-puppy and advised I make no contact. And definitely don’t ship anything!
The scammer isn’t out anything, really: it was a brand new account with a profile of 0, so no history of purchases or sales on eBay. eBay will probably delete that account… but the scammer probably has dozens of similar accounts going. They swoop in at the end of an auction and attempt to redirect the shipment to themselves or accomplices after the actual buyer pays for it. That way, the buyer can file a claim against the seller claiming the item was never shipped: a seller who shipped it to some random person, who merely asked for it, would be responsible for refunding the buyer’s money (as well as losing the item if the shipment can’t be stopped).
Pretty skunky stuff! Let’s all be careful out there…“
Good catch! Wherever there are buyers or sellers, scammers are sure to sneak in there. That’s why it’s important that we always think before we click, ship, or do anything else. Thanks for the heads-up!