eBay Fraud Vigilantes

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Posted by timothy on Saturday March 20, 2004 @08:35AM from the more-power-to-'em dept.

firstadopter.com writes "New York Times (free registration needed) is reporting that users are sick of internet fraud on eBay. With lack of help from the company, they are taking the law into their own hands and closing down auctions they think are obvious scams."

20 of 357 comments (clear)

I looked on eBay. by Anonymous Coward · 2004-03-20 08:38 · Score: 5, Funny

...and I couldn't find any "Viglanties".

I did get a super deal on my new compter, though.
1. Re:I looked on eBay. by crossconnects · 2004-03-20 08:39 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  did you get it from michael's computers?
  
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  no big sig
2. Re:I looked on eBay. by macdaddy · 2004-03-20 09:01 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Nope. I read about it in a Phantom Console brochure.
As long as they don't stop... by The-Dalai-LLama · 2004-03-20 08:45 · Score: 5, Funny

...the clever people who've sold things like "genuine air guitars" and "nothing".

Half the fun of e-bay is the really bizarre stuff.

The Dalai Llama
This .sig available for purchase: $100,000 USD -ebay auction #66666. Buyer pays shipping from Andorra.

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My sig could be your sig!
1. Re:As long as they don't stop... by Necrobruiser · 2004-03-20 09:26 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I'll never forget the first time I surfed Ebay. I ended up in the "Adult" section, and found an auction for a "5 Ball Butt Plug". Now, I know what a butt plug is, but I had no idea what a "5 Ball" butt plug is, so I checked out the description. There was a lovely picture, and I now know what a "5 Ball" butt plug looks like. However, the scary part was when I saw the descriptive phrase "Like New" next to the picture.
  
  Needless to say, I'm still emotionally scarred.
  
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  "I planned within my means and got a fixed rate mortgage, so where's MY bailout?" -cafepress
Once... by LordK3nn3th · 2004-03-20 08:50 · Score: 4, Funny

Once someone was selling a car headlight modification they didn't have. The way they were busted was rather unique-- they posted pictures (hosted off-site, of course) of a car that wasn't theirs.

The person who owned the site saw the traffic coming from the ebay page. He then proceeded to change the images to one insulting the scammer in a very something awful-esque way, and photoshopped eyes over the car headlights. It was hilarious-- anyone have a link to it?

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Never criticize religion on Slashdot. You will be modded down for "Troll" no matter how factual it is.
1. Re:Once... by Selecter · 2004-03-20 11:06 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  The best one I ever saw was some guy that linked to a bunch of pix off site, I think it was a 2cpu.com review. Of course the guy sees the bandwidth and goes about replacing the pictures with new ones - one of them was the computer the guy was selling engulfed in flames & smoke, the next was the "crack repair staff" and that was a pic of some Special Olympics contestants, then showing a Mack Truck running over the box, then an open box with the results when as the customer pulls a twisted heap of wires & metal from the box with "ACTUAL CUSTOMER" splashed across it.
  It was a hoot - need more like him. I wish I had saved the auction.
2. Re:Once... by Jafafa+Hots · 2004-03-20 11:12 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I had this happen to me once when I ran an auction for a PXL-2000 camcorder. Someone linked to my pic for their auction, so I closed my auction and emailed all bidders why I did it, then I replaced the image file on my server with a jpg of text saying something along the lines of "The seller in this auction stole this picture from seller (myID). Do not bid on this item as the seller is dishonest and quite possibly doesn;t even have the PXL, may be out to rip you off"
  
  The seller contacted me and apprently I had caused him a good deal of grief. Which is a good thing.
  
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  This space available.
Darn it, I was almost there, too! by Eberlin · 2004-03-20 08:56 · Score: 5, Funny

Here I was auctioning off evidence/information on whereabouts of WMDs in Iraq when people got all huffy and decided to shut it down. I nearly got some dude named Dubya bidding oodles of cash for the info but got shutdown before bidding was over.

Why can't you vigilantes just mind your own biz, damn it!!!

Yo, it's a joke -- no need to start a super-secret file on me.
amazing by segment · 2004-03-20 09:06 · Score: 5, Funny

You mean that Paris Hilton action figure is a fraud!. People auctioning off their life, and those imginary girlfriends are frauds! I for one am shocked. And awed too

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MoFscker
Re:No but he's pre-ordered... by botzi · 2004-03-20 09:23 · Score: 2, Funny

....his Phantom console from them....;oPPP

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1. No sig. 2. ???? 3. Profit!!!
Re:What were they expecting? by kin_korn_karn · 2004-03-20 09:52 · Score: 2, Funny

I think it's a forgone conclusion that when you go on eBay you have to leave your bullshit detector on high.

It's not a Wal-Mart and nobody that does a lot of business on there treats it as such.
Re:What were they expecting? by Monkey · 2004-03-20 10:13 · Score: 2, Funny

Your mattress must be getting pretty uncomfortable by now.
Re:Reg Free Link by oldwarez · 2004-03-20 10:21 · Score: 2, Funny

surprizingly, it works on slashdot and yahoo, too. ;-)

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username:oldwarez password:oldwarez
Just Your Typical Statist by Anonymous Coward · 2004-03-20 10:45 · Score: 2, Funny

EBay, based in San Jose, Calif., has 800 people deployed around the world to fight fraud, he said, and does not need amateur help. "Just like in the offline world," he said, "you can't have people running around taking the law into their hands."

So...what does he think the government is? Robots?
Nasty Plan by Mattwolf7 · 2004-03-20 10:47 · Score: 4, Funny

"Still, it was another eBay user's warning that saved Marianne Houkom. Ms. Houkom, 55, who lives in Newton, Kan., received an e-mail message from Mr. Seiden warning her that the espresso machine she was bidding on did not exist. She said she was horrified, and then relieved when someone outbid her."

1. Email Ms. Houkom about having a fake item
2. Outbid her by $.50
3. Repeat 1-2 until winning bid is yours
4. Have a victory espresso from your brand new espresso machine
Re:Reg Free Link by NanoGator · 2004-03-20 11:11 · Score: 2, Funny

"Reg Free Link [nytimes.com]"

Who gives a flying fuck link."

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"Derp de derp."
Re:Reg Free Link by oldwarez · 2004-03-20 13:14 · Score: 2, Funny

haha not anymore!

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username:oldwarez password:oldwarez
Re:Expensive Electronics Cheap Scams, not taken do by pjt33 · 2004-03-20 13:41 · Score: 4, Funny

I can't remember when I ate anything that was as good as the ads.
Nothing beats an IBM full-page magazine ad with mustard.
"Nobody can make a fortune scamming people $3..." by Mudcathi · 2004-03-20 20:35 · Score: 2, Funny

"... at a time."
Do lottery tickets count?

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"He who throws mud, loses ground." - proverb