Caution: Ebay Scam Alert

Anybody ever heard of the ebay user champ3??

A friend of mine got taken for $5000 from this guy. Anyone ever heard of this cat?

 

More details please prix.

 

Why do you say that, Gary? That's interesting because we were thinking about that as a possibility.

 

Anything particular?

 

A mode of operation would be a good start.

Was it a credit card scam? ie. take your friends payment and run away with using your friends ID and credit.

 

Okay, well I think I've uncovered a massive ebay scam thanks to Gary's suggestion. I think this guy is definitely stealing ids and continuing to operate. Here is a copy of an email I just typed to my friend Keith, who is the poor guy who got ripped of for $5000, explaining the whole thing:

Keith,

I hate to tell you this, but I think you've been ripped off. In fact, I know you have been ripped off. I advise you to contact the FBI and the local police immediately. I got to thinking about the fact that the last user to leave feedback for champ3 was aranhues. Well, the email I sent to aranhues bounced. It was to an aol address. As we know, our buddy champ3 uses aol also. Furthermore, I couldn't stop thinking about that "Sarah" comment in champ3's feedback. I think he stole this ebay id from "Sarah". He was caught and that is why he is no longer registered. I also didn't notice that champ3 was the buyer in his transaction with aranhues, not the seller. That takes us over to aranhues' feedback. The last person to leave positive feedback for aranhues is champ3. Also take note that the last five people to leave aranhues positive feedbacks are 'no longer registered', as we talked about earlier. This is because, as I am about to prove to you,....champ3, aranhues, heatherandchrislovestiffany, fereef, referion, aplprg, etc are probably all the same person! Okay, check this out...in aranhues feedback, the fifth person down is the user aplprg who is also 'no longer registered'. If you look at aplprg's feedback, the last comment that was left for him was a negative that says "Be very cautious! Money sent, no merchandise received Documentation on request". I've already sent a message to the person who left this comment asking for details regarding their transaction. Anyway, now look at the user who is number four in aranhues' feedback, referion. There is a positive comment in referion's feedback from aplprg and vice versa???!!! Coincidence? I don't think so. Here's another dead giveaway: check out the item in aranhues' feedback that he supposedly sold to heatherandchrislovestiffany, number 3628680459. Look familiar? A stock photo and down at the bottom of the ad is the dead giveaway; the tell-tale blue font with the aol contact address should the buyer have any questions, identical to champ3's Hales auction. This guy has a major operation going on. He's moving around a lot, he's got who knows how many user ids, and he's making a fortune. I'm onto his trip, though, and he's pretty obvious. I think I can catch him because he's going to do it again and probably is operating as we speak. He leaves a trail, though, and he's sloppy. I'll bet you that Hales photo was taken right out of someone else's auction. I'd also be willing to bet that user yzn-imr who is one of the more recent people to leave champ3 positive feedback is actually another of champ3's bogus accounts. I also think you should leave champ3 negative feedback immediately saying something like "This guy is a scam artist. Let's catch him together. If this happened to you, contact me". I'll tell you something else about our man. He collects sports cards. I'll tell you more about that when we talk next. In fact, I think I'm going to try calling you right now even at the risk of waking you up. I feel sick to my stomach when I see what it looks like this guy has done to you. Am I wrong? Maybe, but I don't think so.

 

Gorts, could you please change the title of this thread to "Caution: Ebay Scam Alert" and stick it over in the "everything eBay" section?

 

Good job, prix.

Each of those "sellers" ads end with "Contact me for but it now and shipping costs, then an AOL address. Most of these hijacked accounts have no activity for a few years, then BOOM. They are all definately the same guy.

What a scum.

 

I just looked at champ3's feedback. Notice that there is a break in feedback from November 26, 1998 to October 2, 2003! I also noticed that champ3 left champ3 neutral feedback in '98. I guess you could do that back then.

Why doesn't eBay void user IDs that are not active? That way, no one, not even the original user of the ID, could use it again.

 

Thanks for the heads-up prix!

If Ebay were half as diligent as Hotmail, this would not have happened. I forgot vital info. on one of my hotmail accts. and there's no way in Halifax they're going to let me use my chosen email handle again. Tried to open it again 3 months later, figuring that they would allow the name to become public domain again,......NOT!