Ah, the joys of ebay, part 2

And here we go again….
I thought I had sold my laptops finally. There’s still a chance the buyer may come through on one of them. But, the toshiba….
Third auction on the toshiba finally got all the way through to the end. I normally won’t accept bidders with zero feedback, but I thought I’d take a chance on this one…
Well, turns out that the person who won the auction was actually someone’s teenage daughter who was off playing on the computer while the folks were out of town. The girl set up her own ebay account and started winning auctions. The parents were just lucky that she forgot their paypal account info, or she would have tried to buy all of this stuff as well.
The people apologized and were nice enough to help me clear things up through ebay, but it put me back at square one again…
So here’s hoping the fourth time is the charm…
So far… only one scammer…
hello seller am so much interested in your item firstly i will like to know the condition of the item and i will like to know maybe you ship abroad because am getting it for a friend in west africa and i will be willing to pay you the sum of US$600 through western union auction payment(money order) including shipping through either USPS or Fedex to west africa”
ebay already nailed this one before I could forward it.

Update 6/18/2005:
Scammer # 2
Dear Seller, Am Tolani i live United Kingdom, am writing you on behalf of your item you placed on EBAY. Am willing to offer you US$2000 for the item: 6778516366 I need the laptop very fast for my Daughter who school in Nigeria and she needs the laptop for her Final Year project in school but due to the Nature of my Job I won’t be Available to receive the Laptop here in the United Kingdom. so please I want you to send the Laptop Directly to her in Nigeria. Please make enquiry about the shipping cost to Nigeria by [REGULAR POST OFFICE]and get back to me with the shipping cost so I can make your Payment to you in full including the shipping cost. My Method of Payment is Western Union Bid Pay, which is a Money Order that will be issue on your name by Bid Pay and it will be send to you at your contact home address for delivery. Best Regards Tolani.
Scammer #3
A new twist… I bid on a powerbook, but didn’t win. The scammer has hacked another user’s ebay account and is using it to try ‘sell’ the laptop saying the winner could not pay for it. Ebay, though, has a ‘second-chance’ feature built into their system where you can set up temporary auctions for your other bidders if the winning bidder does not complete the transaction ( I know, I tried this with the toshiba because of the kiddo from auction attempt no. 3 ). Here’s what that email looks like.
***Do not reply , please contact the seller to : bilaalex3@aol.com “.You expressed interest in an item titled “Brand New Apple 17″ Powerbook G4 w/Applecare & extras” Item number: 5781375832 by bidding, however the auction has ended with another member as the high bidder. In compliance with eBay policy the winning bidder was unable to complete the transaction and you can buy this item for your highest bid price of US $X,XXX.00. If you want to buy it , will be able to exchange Feedback with the seller and will be eligible for eBay services associated with a transaction.To purchase this item you can contact the seller to: bilaalex3@aol.com. Regards , xxxxxxxx
The email mentions the seller of the auction at the end, but the email sent through ebay via another account.

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