Ebay Stage 2 block scam

[turbodave231]

Buyers beware!!

There was recently an Indy Lights S2 block listed on Ebay. The seller said it was an offcenter block.

I did not win the auction, but the seller Tim Smith, contacted me just after the auction ended and said that the winner backed out of the deal. The seller listed his location as West Jefferson, OH and his auction said he would accept Paypal or a cashier check/money order.



I tell this guy that I will pick the block up and bring CASH. This guy sends me a link and insists on a Western Union funds transfer to an account in Italy.......and he wants to ship me the block. He is real evasive about answering any questions....like Why are you selling the block? Who did you buy the engine from? What is the part number on the block? etc.

I contacted Ebay and they say this guy is a Fraud!!!

Don't get taken in by this guy. I'll bet he'll try the same crap on the other bidders too.

For-warned is for-armed!!

Dave

link to auction

 

[geno]

I dont get it?
He has a 100% perfect feedback rating out of 186
I read through them and some were indy car parts

 

[norbs]

Yes , i saw the postive feedback also. Did you ask why he needs western union overseas?

 

[turbodave231]

This guy is either a fraud or a squirrel, I don't know which. Ebay told me he was a fraud.

I asked him if he bought the engine from Ohio George. George built almost all of the Indy Light engines. He never answered me. I know George and I'd call him for some background on the engine/block.

He said the numbers were ground off the block. Why would anybody prep the outside of a block? (the pictures didn't show the inside of the engine polished).

He said he lives in West Jefferson OH. Why does he want funds sent offshore?

If this guy is a fraud I want to expose him. If he is just a squirrel, I hope to avoid doing business with people like him.

 

[Louie L.]

Plain and simple. His feed back comes from other scammers. This type of crime is on the rise. They have networks of such people working out of office buildings.
We have seen a rise in this type of internet fraud either from Ebay scams or Nigerian email scams. I just took a report on one today.They almost took this guy for 40k. Last week we had one actually get scammed out of 30k +

One of my coworkers, a papers crime detective showed me an add out of a foreign news paper. There are pictures of 100s Nigerian young men behind computers in a non descript office all sending out mass emails or scanning the internet for a chance. It was an ad offering jobs for such people.

Lets be carefull and look out for each other.

 

[750H.P.V6]

Dave,

I had something very similar happen to me on the last On center Stage II block that went thru Ebay. I was contacted after the fact to say the deal had fallen thru and the block was still for sale. I had been in contact with the "real" seller while I was bidding so I called him on the phone. He said the block and parts had been sold and paid for waiting to ship. I forwarded the scam e-mail I recieved to him and I believe he contacted Ebay.

Neal

 

[BAGN]

Dave,
He tried to scam me also. He sent me an email after bidding was complete to offer me a 2nd chance buy.(since the highest bidder fell through) I wasn't even the 2nd highest bidder, there were two other bids higher then mine. He wanted me to send a money order western unoin to the U.K.,even though his location said he was here in the states. Every time he sent me an email it came from a differant email address. I contacted ebay to check out his 2nd chance offer, they confirmed that it was a fraud. Its a good thing I found out before I wasted my money. I would have hated to fly all the way to the U.K. just to kick him in the NUTS & get my money back Always beware of these types of guys & good luck in the future.

 

[ijames]

The last two items I bid on, I did not win and I also got these second chance messages from ebay. The headers looked legit, but in the text they wanted me to respond directly to an email address instead of going through ebay, and the username and address weren't those of the seller. Called one seller, and he had already been paid and shipped the item to the winner and knew nothing about the second chance offer. I forwarded them to ebay but haven't heard back (probably never will), and I don't plan on ever believing a second chance offer again unless I contact the original seller directly.

 

[Cheeseburger]

I was the 3rd highest bidder on the block.......i also got the second chance offer.
Another scam i saw was Bryston 9b amp and pre amp priced at $500 a piece brand new.............meanwhile they are worth $4-$5000.
Was on and off ebay within 24 hours.

 

[turbodave231]

I have verified that the Seller was NOT the person who made the second chance offer.

I could have been taken in by this guy. Its a good thing I lived close to the seller and I smelled a rat early on in the process.

Here is the response from the orginal seller:


Hi Dave
I did not email you. This Tim Smith should be KILLED or worse! Ebay is getting a bad name because of A-holes like this. ebay dose not need these kind of scams to make it a bad place to do biasness the government will get to that in dew time.
Let ebay know about the email .
Thanks MIKE F.

 

[Razor]

I think whats happening is these guys are cruising auctions for high ticket items. Then as soon as the auction closes they email you with the second chance offer using the positive feedback the person has garnished.

I think the seller of the block is legit, if you look at feedback and the time it was collected..they would have to had been planning this for a very long time. What is not legit is the dirt bag scanning through high dollar parts and then getting in touch with the losing bidders.

Options are do the buyers identities concealed..but that runs people off(electric superchargers) for example... other is use common sense.

Criminals keep trying to get smarter..

 

[norbs]

now theres a new scam i am getitng emails to sign in to ebay and update my information. These emails look so real, anyone would be a sucker