Slashdot Mirror
Newest Scam: Fake Escrow Accounts
MImeKillEr writes "MSNBC is running an article warning about the latest auction site scam: Fake escrow accounts. The article claims scam artists are tricking Net users into wiring thousands of dollars to fraudulent bank accounts. The criminals do this by setting up a trap auction and when the winner asks how to make a payment, the criminal tells them to pay into an escrow account. One legit escrow account who had a criminal mimic their site said that as many as 50 users had lost and average of $10,000 with at least one being conned out of $30,000 in such a way. There are reportedly at least 150 fake escrow accounts. The FBI is currently investigating the matter."
Where's the article link? .. It must have been auctioned off...that'd odd.
Fake escrow site scam widens
the problem i see with alot of these online auctions is the level of trust needed. Sure there are checks in place to try make sure everyone and everything is legit...but still, out in the land of the 'net, where anonymity is king, its not to hard to fix these kinds of things (and the impetus to do it is also high, because of this feeling on anonymity) and lets face it, there are lots of people out there that will fall into these traps....i dont feel too sorry for stupid people (at least, until i become one) but still, would this happen in a real life (ie, non online) auction
all you are, is all you are, i'm so sorry for you.
Being that the editors didn't provide one... I don't know if this is the same article, as it's dated July 3, but it's from MSNBC and relevant.
Link
Escrow services suck, and nobody should use them; here's why.
I buy something at an auction. I pay the escrow, and the seller sends the item and I receive it. However, I tell the escrow that I haven't received the item. I get my money back, and the item for free!
Escrows still rely on the truthfulness of the buyer.
And there's this fake escrow thing, too.
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
Do they mean Accounts or Sites? I'm currently being "scammed" by a chap in france, who wants to buy 30 mobile phones off me. He insists we use www.golden-escrow.co.uk for "safety" and I'm playing along.
:)
;) )
I'm seeing if I can get him to wire me a £30 admin charge before we do business, after all, that's a drop in the ocean for him!
I'm actually quite impressed with the fake escrow site, the registration and setup process seems to work quite well. A few things give it away though, no real contact details, lack of SSL even though privacy policy mentions ecryption, and the fact the the scammer insists I use it of course.
I can see this as being so very dangerous for non-technical people. The scammers must be making thousands. The only thing we can do is to warn people.
A few tips:
* See if you can contact your trading partner on the phone or whatever BEFORE you do business
* DON'T send money outside your own country (especially not to Indonesia
* Only buy from people with positive feedback
* NEVER ship goods before you have Actual Money in your pocket
* Be suspicious of EVERYONE
I'll post a follow-up if I hear back from my scammer chap today!
Who saved the Slashdot editors time by not even posting a link to the article! Brilliant!
For those who actually want to RTFA:
Fake escrow site scam widens
Hint: Google News is our friend
It's a bank account associated with an escrow service, which is a service which holds a buyer's money in trust, until they have received the item from the seller, and then forwards the money on to the seller. This protects the buyer, but not the seller. The account is the one which the buyer pays in to.
I never understood why escrows weren't 2-way things - ie. the seller also sends the item to the escrow, and when the escrow has received both parties' payment, they forward them along. I guess it's just a bit harder/more expensive to do.
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
I'm sorry, if you wire 30,000 dollars to any account after an auction without making absolutly certain that you're actually going to recieve the service you're paying for; then well, you're stupid. Simple as that.
:).
If this person had any good sense they would have mode darn sure they're not being scammed. If a person parts with 30,000 dollars this way than they deserve it. Perhaps they'll be more carful when bidding 30,000 dollars on an online auction.
Then again, I suppose the world is full of idiots... want proof? read Slashdot at -1
"Entropy is the bad-guy, and he is everywhere"
How come it is so easy for a thug to make money, but a unemployed software engineer cant do it? Why is that? Does crime take a special function in the brain? is it like a complicated SQL database? If so I wanna program it so I can make money! it isnt fair!! Anyways thats my rant..
---
Heres some more info about this scan in case you're interested:
:)
Sos4auctions.com - Technical details about the scam.
Another Article - in case you DON'T want to support M$ by reading MSNBC.
The company supposedly running the scam - Hehehe... they use a Win2K server... lets see how fast it gets slashdotted
Thats all for now, good night everyone!
"Entropy is the bad-guy, and he is everywhere"
A smart escrow service designed to handle auction payments would: 1). Require the shipper to ship using a specific shipping service(such as UPS) that provides tracking information for the package. 2). Refuse to accept payment into the escrow account until the item has been shipped and a valid tracking # has been provided 3). Refuse to release the payment from escrow to either party until the package has arrived as per the sale agreement. Essentially, collaboration between the shipping service and the escrow service could provide more protection for the seller. This, of course, would rely upon the validity and consistancy of the shipping service's tracking data.
He can't get anyone to care. Not eBay for sure. Not the police, not FBI. He found out the scammers were working out of Romania and contacted their police, and hasn't gotten too far either. The scammers made it appear they were located in Minnesota. In the meantime he sees more auctions that look similar and contacted them with his same ID and addy, and they sent him details for payment, etc. They didn't even remember it was the same guy they scammed a few weeks earlier. They continue to operate and nail people over and over... (and since it wasn't a Mac laptop, he doesn't have that fanatical base of users to get help him either! :)
Let me take this opportunity to rant about the inequities law enforcement in this (U.S.) country. These are huge losses for individuals and when combined represent large sums of money overall, but law enforcement doesn't care. But you have some theoretical theft of a $18 CD and then we must throw the weight of the FBI after the P2P'ers. If a guy robs a 7-eleven of $20, he must spend 20 years in jail, but if a white collar criminal bilks several million bucks from a company, he gets a mild slap on the wrist, if that... If my house gets broken into and I lose everything, now the police don't even want to bother coming out to "investigate" the crime. They take a report over the phone and send you a police report for insurance purposes, but heaven forbid you don't come to a full stop at a stop sign or creep over the speed limit, because they are out there in full force ready to nail you with tickets.
And wiring money to a bank outside the country is always a bad idea, experts say.
As a rule, if you need an expert to tell you wiring money to a bank outside the country is always a bad idea, you're halfway to hopeless anyway.
Face it, anyone who wires $30,000 to an account at a bank they've never heard of, by request of an escrow company they know nothing about, because they want to buy a car over the internet, any one that flat-out, no-other-way-to-put-this, STUPID, deserves to be ripped off. Maybe it'll teach them a lesson.
Part of the article:
The criminals build elaborate fake escrow Web sites, with convincing names like Simple-Escrow.net and WhyEscrow.com.
Is it just me, or are simple-escrow.net and whyescrow.com still up? Were they using them as examples of legit or escrows or not? They're chock full of grammar and spelling errors ("simple-escrow.net, the most powerfull escrow service available on the net..." is their first claim, and whyescrow has a really bad flash intro...). Were these sites taken down? Did others take their place? Did some people read the article and decide to take those domains? So confusing...
Danish != nationality
I don't think that would solve the problem. I know of a scam where people would get a phonecall where somebody would claim to work for a bank, and ask them their PIN-code (4-digit auth. code for ATM-machines...), because some administrative error had occurred. A lot of people fell for it because the guy sounded sincere, or make up your own excuse here...
It's easy to trick people into doing stuff like this. If John Doe had recently transferred a large amount of money to a 'known good' escrow service, and he received a call from that escrow service, or his bank that something had gone wrong during the transaction, and please could he send the money again, how big do you think the chance is that he actually would?
It all comes down to the amount of trust you can generate with the person whose money you're trying to steal. Claiming to be calling on behalve of eBays Escrow service will probably give you a head start.
It would make scamming even more easy. Receive both the goods AND the money...
they are auctioning stupidity.. and people are actually bidding and consequentially paying up for it :D
I'm surprised that none of these users have sued.
|/________
|\A|ALYS|
It happens all the time, people needs to be careful.
my sig
Hi, I'm Catalin Braescu, I'm from Romania. Maybe I can help - I dislike Romanian scammers twice: first for what they are doing and second because the reputation they build for my country prevents me to do as much business as I can.
My e-mail address is CATALIN at EDISON.RO
Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Braescu
Ofaly.com
They still don't seem to understand that poor spelling and grammar are a tip off, even aside from the lack of SSL etc. It is extremely difficult to find any sort of scam on the web that is completely sound, from an English standpoint. The first person singular pronoun "I" is always capitalized in English. The capitalization on this site is inconsistent even across the front page (look in the FAQ box, top right.) In their FAQ, they have used the non-word "acceptation". Oooh--so close to plausible, too. Bummer. I'm sure that with a little more effort they could develop a really first-rate scam. Why can't scammers ever hire a proofreader?
By the way--has anyone turned them in to Western Union? They're using WU's logo on the front page.
~Idarubicin
This sounds pretty obvious but when it comes to phoning people, you can get amazing info out of people when you phone early in the morning (before some have had their coffee.)
One time, my dad was running this computer VAR/consulting business out of our home and our home number was listed on the website as the contact. One morning, totally unexpectedly we got a call from a Markham (Toronto) company called "RAMPlus Electronics" and I stumbled out of bed and picked it up. They asked for confirmation of the business e-mail address and I unthinkingly gave it to them. After that, we got spammed pricelists for months regardless of my unsubscribe pleas. Eventually they left us alone after I sent a 700k image with nothing but the word 'REMOVE' in it.
The moral of the story is that we can all be vulnerable to these obvious things so we have to build defenced into our psyches as opposed to paying lip service to it. The other moral of the story is that one 700k message is worth more than 700 x 1k messages.
I personally can't believe how many people buy/sell with Net auctions. I *never* use auctions to buy or sell anything that's worth more than say, $50. And if I do buy something, I use my credit card just to be sure. And, in the few times I've used auctions, I did get burned once, and it took me months to get my credit card refunded, which happened just before I lodged a protest with my credit card company. No matter how many systems are implemented, I just think that the idea of buying and selling to unknown individuals that could be anywhere and anybody is an inherently bad idea. I'd much rather pay a bit extra to buy from a known vendor than pay money to an individual. People who use things like eBay heavily do so at their own risk.
Any escrow worth its salt will accept the buyer's payment via credit card. Why is this safer? Because if you don't get the goods, you can call the credit card company for a charge-back. If the escrow is just a scam, they'll be charged-back so many times that Visa and Mastercard will stop working with them, rendering the site useless. Wiring to a bank account, especially an overseas bank account, opens you up to this kind of trouble. If the scammer is completely outside of the USA, there is nothing American law enforcement can do, and third-world countries usually have enough problems that enforcing laws about "don't scam Americans" are not high on their list.
One way to shut these things down is to get the guys doing the scamming.
Okay, now that I've done the "Mr. Obvious Man" imiatation, let me pontificate a bit.
It's one thing to try and track down the web site author, which can be tough at best, but when you've got a real point of contact who's insisting on USING the fake web site, and it's a fairly sure bet he's part of the scam, you've got a much simpler target. Ebay certainly would go after this guy, and the French authorities may also very well be interested in nailing him.
Unlike the web site creators, it may actually be fairly easy for Ebay to get hold of this guy, when they can prove criminal intent and have good reason to release the details to authorities. At the least, they can use YOUR help to set up a sting - supply you with the funds, follow thru the transaction, observe the scam unfold, and then go get the guy where he lives.
--Brandon / Split Infinity Music
Any decently large business worth its beans should be able to accept credit-card payments. Hell, if the local coffee shop can take VISA, I'm pretty sure that a large well-founded escrow service can. If they're only accepting wires or other hard-to-trace methods, people should really clue in that they're probably going to get "escrewed."
I've only lost money once on ebay, and that was because I tried to get the package shipped without value, and thus couldn't collect insurance when the postman stole it (the seller has a strong rep, so I'm fairly sure it's the postman as I've heard of this happening before). I've had other times when companies tried to hose me, one sent me the wrong part and I rangled with them for refund for 3 months, before getting smart and calling Visa (Visa had a little talk with them, my refund came very quickly after without needing chargeback).
Visa doesn't like fraudsters, because it hurts their reputation as a safe method of transaction. Every so often, they go out like sharpened stakes and impale a few scammers to set an example. If you're lucky, you can catch them when they're looking for somebody to lynch.
Online auctions are wonderful! I've also sold perhaps $5,000 of old useless junk that I didn't need. But obviously, it wasn't junk to the buyers-- I freed space in my apartment and got cash, they got used items that they didn't want to pay new prices for. Win-win!
Have I ever been scammed? Twice. First time I tried to buy Mac OS X 10.1 on eBay and instead of the nice retail box in the picture, I got CD-R discs. I was out $100.00. I disputed with VISA and they credited my account. The second time I lost $600.00 trying to buy a digital camera. I got nothing and it seems that many were scammed (I was contacted by the FBI! The seller was somewhere in Tennessee and they had scammed many others, apparently.)
Am I mad that I've been scammed twice? Perhaps. But compared to buying retail where I live, I'm still way ahead. And the stuff I've been able to buy is much cooler. And when you also account for used items I've been able to turn into cash that would otherwise simply have been given away or worse thrown into a landfill or incinerator, I'm really not behind by any stretch of the imagination. I'm living much better than I could afford to live if eBay didn't exist.
The key on sites like eBay is to scrutinize the seller's feedback carefully. If you are unsure, simply e-mail them and ask if you can give them a call and talk about it. If you still feel uneasy, don't buy!
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
I dunno ... I think it would be more work for them to delete 700 x 1k messages than 1 700k message. That's what perl scripts are for ... :-)
in many cases they're more or less two-way.
take property. i sell you a house, you buy the house, the money is in escrow to protect us both.
it protects you because you get the money back if i'm pulling a scam (if it's not really my house, or something).
it protects me because i know i'll get that money after i sign the house over to you. i know because i have a contract with the escrow company, just like you do. when i deliver proof that you bought the house, and the escrow company double-checks its validity, then i get the money. that's what i pay them for (the seller usually pays for the escrow).
in any case where the seller can prove that the buyer received the thing sold, escrow works for the benefit of both parties. if the escrow company doesn't offer the seller a clear contract specifying what constitutes delivery of the product or service, then you should take your percentage elsewhere.
i made a large purchase in a country where escrow is not usually used, and i was more than a little bit nervous during the time when i had paid a massive down payment and the only thing guaranteeing the sale was a contract. the other side was also nervous, since the only thing guaranteeing that the rest of the money would show up was the same contract.
This Like That - fun with words!
Where is the link to the article?
How do I know that you aren't just making this all up?
Most of these fake "escrow" sites seem to have some connection to E-Gold. E-gold itself is suspicious; they insist that their users release them from liability, and they seem to be incorporated in the Bahamas. Real financial services do not ask their customers to sign indemnification agreements or to relieve them from liability. If you see an indemnification clause in any financial service agreement, do not agree . Go elsewhere.
I was scammed out of $150 on eBay for a software package. What I was sent was the demo version and a time-bombed demo unlock code. And the seller had had good feedback.
Shortly there after, the seller disappeared, and then EBAY cancelled the account, indicating that EBAY knew these guys were frauds. But did eBay make it easy for victims to reclaim funds? Not on your life.
It's almost impossible to even find the eBay safe harbor forms. If you can find them, there is all sorts of "real" not "e" paperwork to fill out. I sent it all using registered mail to their address in Utah. According to their own rules, they were to respond in 90 days (or something like that).
They finally responded in more like six months. Only after countless emails on my part. You can't call ebay -- they make that impossible.
So though eBay knew these guys were frauds, they made it very difficult for me to file a claim, and then they took six months, not three months to return my money.
It's this kind of crap from eBay and Paypal that has me wishing state/federal regulation on them.
Example: If a seller has less than 35 SELLING feedback, you set eBay to filter his auctions out. If a buyer has less than 23 BUYER feedbacks, same deal.
Granted, this has nothing to do with escrow (Which I will never use), but certainly could allow you to tailor eBay to your personal comfort level.
Or, If you have a big ticket item to sell and don't have a huge amount of auctions under your belt, contact a seller who has 1000+ positive feedback and sell the item through them. They get a cut, you get your dough, the buyer feels safer bidding higher. Everybody wins! What a Coun-try! I'll be doing that with my Moog 1p soon.
Another version of this scam which got posted to the escrow boards on eBay scams the seller. It goes like this:
When the escrow site gets the buyers payment, they send an email to the seller saying it is okay to ship. However, we all know how easy it is to fake an email. One buyer faked an email that looked like it came from escrow.com and the seller shipped the item (out of the country). Good bye!
Never, ever, ever trust an email from eBay or escrow.com. They will be the first to tell you this. Both have links on most of their pages alerting you to this. Login into the site manually and confirm status before continuing the transaction.
This message is mostly for the net-clueless and not the typical slashdot reader.
This post really belongs under some of the other top level posts regarding credit cards, but I wanted it at the top level to get more attention to an issue I think many people are not aware of.
Not all credit card purchases are safe. When a eBay seller asks for _only_ Western Union wire transfer or C2IT, you should be wary. Both of these transactions are billed to your credit card as cash advances and are not subject to credit card fraud protection charge back. YMMV - read your terms and conditions for your credit card.
I maintain a page of scam auction red flags here:
Scam Auction Red Flags
If you're willing to frighten, cheat, brutalize and hurt your fellow human beings, you can get a lot of goods and services you would otherwise have to pay for or spend a lot of effort to obtain legitimately. Need $50? Go rob a convenience store, the $6/hour clerk won't put up much of a fight. Want a Beemer? Car-jack some rich guy at a stop light. Shoot him in the head if he resists. Been a dry year in the bedroom? Rape a woman jogging in the park. It's as simple as that. If you can't bring yourself to do these things, congratulations, you may very well be a well-adjusted human being, regardless of how much "Cowboy Bebop" you watch :-)
Freedom: "I won't!"
Do you think it's okay to take advantage of the less intelligent, or are you just saying that people deserve to suffer the consequences of their actions?
Why condem the poeple who were scammed? Shouldn't we be thinking about ways to educate people, or help them get their money back? Being too trusting isn't a crime that should cost someone $30,000.
Of course, if you believe in a world where it is moral for the more intelligent or powerful to take advantage of those less so, anything that helps the weak or incompetent is surely detrimental to the gene pool.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton