eBay seller johrigb_4 - MAJOR stamp fraud now in progress

pertinax · Post by **pertinax** » 08 Mar 2018 02:21

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/johrigb_4/m.html?_ipg=200&_sop=1&_rdc=1

Am posting just this link right now in an endeavour to get info out there asap - and am immediately after that working on a more full post here.

New eBay member with 1000 items of GB many of which are very rare, all at 99p start.

Clearly a fraud attempt and one would expect eBay to pick up on it considering the number of items and the seller with a feedback of 2.

Will now post some images in another post.

Scott

pertinax · Post by **pertinax** » 08 Mar 2018 02:39

Just four examples of the 1000 listed - all are multi-£1000 items!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GB-1841-SG7-Pl-11-Mint-Rare-stamp ... Sw8LBan87i

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GB-1882-SG137-Pl-1-Used-Rare-stam ... SwdBZan87m

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GB-1841-SG8var-Pl-156-Mint-Rare-s ... SwGz9an87F

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GB-1867-SG117var-Pl-4-Specimen-Ra ... SwdGJan87I

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 08 Mar 2018 02:51

Yes the old 'Suck In the Ebay BAAAARGIN Hunta Bunnies" scam.

Take a scan of something you do not own - that indeed SG London have right now for £48,000 on their own website, and cheekily list it and 1000 others on ebay for 99p - with a short 3 day "Auction" etc, and REALLY suck in the cretins, by offering free shipping on it all.

Then open another fake account next month, and do it all again. Ebay do not care - the Sydney scammer has done it to them a dozen times, and they are too dumb to join up the dots.

https://www.stanleygibbons.com/gb-1841-sg5-cover-to-hms-gorg ... 54891.html

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GB-1841-SG5-Cover-to-H-M-S-Gorgon-Rare-stamp/222871399055

The endless Bunny Bait Brigade, none with an IQ in double digits of course, will of course bid it madly up to 1000 quid or whatever idiot low price ebay gets for superb material, then pay immediately by PayPal - drooling uncontrollably. In 1 or 2 weeks when it has not arrived, they email the seller, who of course has long vanished and abandoned the account, along with their £1000, and 100 thousands of quid more.

The ebay spiv in Sydney does it all the time. After about 100 negatives roll in within a week, ebay then jolt into partial life, but even then, they are too dumb to cancel the accounts pretty often. 100 negs in a week and they do not care here usually.

This ebay crook johrigb_4 even uses the SG wording verbatim - AND their image -

1841 Overseas mail. Superb entire sent from Thurso via Falmouth to Captain Henderson aboard H.M.S. Gorgon in the Mediterranean bearing a horizontal strip of six 2d blue pl.1 lettered LG-LL. Just touched at top of LJ with constant variety on LH neatly tied by black MC's, pre-paying the 1s rate on a letter up to ½ ounce. Backstamped by a Thurso boxed dispatch datestamp for AP.25.1841 and an Edinburgh transit cds for AP.27.1841. A spectacular overseas destination item and one of the most famous covers of this classic issue. 1962 Oliva & 1984 Diena Cert.

99p no reserve

Do tell ebay folks, as Paypal loses the £100,000 each time - COLD.

He may mail them a Registered envelope with a blank sheet of paper inside, in which case the BUNNY might be out the 1000 quid, and THAT would be some perverse form of Justice for being incredibly stupid. Bidding on 1000 lots of stuff someone with 2 feedbacks is offering, is dumber than dirt.

Welcome to the Wacky Dream World of Scambay.

timbromania · Post by **timbromania** » 08 Mar 2018 03:50

I've had a quick look at the lots on offer and many are from the SG Guernsey Stock which is to be purchased by Phoenix UK from the Administrator.

This includes our old friend:

GB 1980 SG1134a Mint gold omitted.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GB-1980-SG1134a-Mint-gold-omitted ... Sw8hhan89t

aethelwulf · Post by **aethelwulf** » 08 Mar 2018 04:04

pertinax wrote:New eBay member with 1000 items

How can a new member with a feedback of 2 even be allowed to list 1000 items at one go? Usually eBay puts a limit on how many items you can list, and raises the limit after awhile as you show a good performance.

Highlander · Post by **Highlander** » 08 Mar 2018 04:08

eBay needs sharks in the water or why would we all pay 10% to the lifeguard

Not Bruce · Post by **Not Bruce** » 08 Mar 2018 04:22

Maybe it's not a fraud, maybe it's Stanley Gibbons selling everything off quickly before the takeover is finalised...

It's pretty breathtaking, so much so, I have reported it to my eBay contact...

ViccyVFU · Post by **ViccyVFU** » 08 Mar 2018 04:31

Gosh you lot are so cynical.

This stamp is clearly a bargain at the 99p level:

Compared to what Gibbons have it listed for.

He has used the exact large image they list on their site, to the pixel. (Slightly out of focus).

Clearly a scam. All the hallmarks, including 3 day listing.

I've got 100% record on over 1000 feedback, and can only list 100 items a month, so their seems some complicity somewhere within the cogs.

In the old days, you could contact others to warn them, but I guess that would cut into eB profits.

timbromania · Post by **timbromania** » 08 Mar 2018 04:37

..... earlier today mistakenly sold the same 2s brown to a "lucky" buyer as a buy it now for 99p.

CMJ · Post by **CMJ** » 08 Mar 2018 07:55

Not Bruce wrote:It's pretty breathtaking, so much so, I have reported it to my eBay contact...

And so, I am reliably informed, have SG. Let's see IF any of these listings get pulled before they end on Saturday. Not holding my breath based upon eBay's track record on such things.

Chris.

deltic1575 · Post by **deltic1575** » 08 Mar 2018 08:11

I note he/she claims to be based in London UK but when you try to send them a message it says they are not registered on Ebay UK - from the previous item sold (a kindle!) it refers to mailing from China/HK/Taiwan. Seems to have lifted SG listing wholesale right down to detailed description of each item.

ViccyVFU · Post by **ViccyVFU** » 08 Mar 2018 08:23

deltic1575 wrote:I note he/she claims to be based in London UK but when you try to send them a message it says they are not registered on Ebay UK - from the previous item sold (a kindle!) it refers to mailing from China/HK/Taiwan. Seems to have lifted SG listing wholesale right down to detailed description of each item.

Yes, I noticed that too:

To be honest, I'd be o.k. with a really good forgery of a £35000 stamp, because even I know I'm never going to own a real one.

Noggin the Nog · Post by **Noggin the Nog** » 08 Mar 2018 09:19

I have submitted a report for one of the items, and will do so for others shortly.

Obviously, the more people who report these items, the more likely eBay is to do something about it.

faro · Post by **faro** » 08 Mar 2018 10:40

Noggin the Nog wrote:I have submitted a report for one of the items, and will do so for others shortly.

Obviously, the more people who report these items, the more likely eBay is to do something about it.

As there are 1,000 items the result will be somewhat scattergun.

With any luck eBay will spot the number of reports for one seller, but personally I'm reporting the items with the current highest bids - easier to get multiple reports that way if adopting such an approach consistently...

==
Thanks for the rapid spot/report, pertinax. Fingers crossed this will get closed down asap.

Ubobo.R.O. · Post by **Ubobo.R.O.** » 08 Mar 2018 13:46

Listings now down to 750.

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 08 Mar 2018 13:52

Ubobo.R.O. wrote:Listings now down to 750.

Some bored drone in Bangladesh ebay Fraud Control has been busy it seems. What morons - they truly deserve to be scammed themselves, for £100,000s a time -

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/johrigb_4/m.html?_ipg=200&_sop=1&_rdc=1

jojo · Post by **jojo** » 08 Mar 2018 14:00

"Scambay" has thankfully been the source of some of my most prized purchases, and at wonderful prices. The knowledgeable can do well. But agree, buyer beware ....

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 08 Mar 2018 14:32

jojo wrote:The knowledgeable can do well.

That clearly is true for ALL purchases of anything, anywhere. And has been so for 1000s of years.

The 1000s of totally clueless cretins bidding on this non existent material the seller does not have, are not knowledgeable, or they would not be doing it. And certainty NOT doing it on ebay, via a zero feedback seller.

Sadly, those who ARE more knowledgable, need to protect both those Bunnies, and ebay, from their total stupidity.

Noggin the Nog · Post by **Noggin the Nog** » 08 Mar 2018 19:26

Global Administrator wrote:
The 1000s of totally clueless cretins bidding on this non existent material the seller does not have, are not knowledgeable, or they would not be doing it. And certainty NOT doing it on ebay, via a zero feedback seller.

Just had a more detailed look through this individual's listings, and sent reports in on a few more. However, I haven't time to report the 100s still live on the site. It must have taken a while to bulk load them all.

However it absolutely bewilders me that virtually every item has been bid on.

Once fleeced at the end of the auctions, and having not received their item, the "winners" should, I think, still have to pay a percentage of the price. Perhaps this might stop them throwing money into the hands of the fraudsters in future. Then again........

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 08 Mar 2018 19:36

Well done Noggin.

As we all know on EVERY ebay lot there is a “Report Item” icon – whether the sale is ended or not.

Reporting that via the simple drop-down options as shown below is a 5 second operation -

If ebay gets 5 or 10 reports on any given items they WILL generally take notice. They usually warn the user and remove the lot. Sellers getting several such removed lots are in trouble.

Let’s use ‘people power’ to stop this material getting offered.

Everyone “hoping” others act, will get nothing done - like most things in life! It takes teamwork and a Community Spirit, and the dodgy and misleading lots will be FAR less.

ebay now also set up a fast new portal JUST to report suspected sellers of dodgy stamps at - https://www.tinyurl.com/ebayfakes - also found at - https://www.ebay.com/scw - there is space for 10,000 characters in your reply, so all the relevant info can be added. Unlike most ebay complaint forms that allow just 100 characters etc.

Please take a moment to do BOTH ….. do the “Report Item” drop-down, and give a summary on the link above.

Most likely they will go to 2 different ebay staffers, and that is double trouble for the fakers.

Some staffers ignore such stuff, others are more pro-active – it is a lottery.

However several reports on any single item can be seen by all staffers looking at it, and that generally gets some action.

Even if 4 staffers have ignored it, the 5th staffer might see 5 reports and decide to act etc.

"People Power" - never under-estimate the value of it! 8)

Glen

Goodwin · Post by **Goodwin** » 08 Mar 2018 21:51

timbromania wrote:I've had a quick look at the lots on offer and many are from the SG Guernsey Stock which is to be purchased by Phoenix UK from the Administrator.

This includes our old friend:

GB 1980 SG1134a Mint gold omitted.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GB-1980-SG1134a-Mint-gold-omitted ... Sw8hhan89t

This is currently listed on the SG site for £50K, identical picture, identical description! - https://www.stanleygibbons.com/gb-1980-sg1134a-mint-gold-omi ... 828nd.html . So quite a way to go then!

I've reported it.

ViccyVFU · Post by **ViccyVFU** » 08 Mar 2018 22:23

faro wrote: personally I'm reporting the items with the current highest bids - easier to get multiple reports that way if adopting such an approach consistently...

I think this is a sound strategy - always pick highest bidded items (cost inc P&P). There are 750 listed at present, and all have bids on. You may think eBay will realise there is a trend with this vendor, but evidence shows they have already killed 250 lots, without any footprint on the buyers records (so the buyer did not end them early, or similar).

IMPORTANT : Could I start with a request to ONLY follow the instructions issued by the Global Administrator.

It is very important that any call to action is issued only from one place, and its not from me.

As my old school motto used to say "Unitate Fortior" (Together Stronger) - True of so many things in life.

However, I'm still like to write my experiences, so we can maybe have a debate on possible extra tools.

I've never had any luck following the "Report a Fake or Forgery" screen, even when I know ten other people have done the same. I suspect its because eBay put a specialist (probably a needlework specialist) on the case to review the facts, and decide "its probably o.k. anyway". Their experts cannot tell the difference between the "copy" impression being applied to a stamp or backing paper, so all I really think they check is "could eBay be liable"?

Similarly, with the other link you gave, which should be the simplest way to report multiple items, entry, today, from the UK, is somewhat problematical.

Even if you click the "read it out aloud for me" button, you get an error message. Very Frustrating. Another fault to report, and time is our biggest enemy, as we have to act quickly.

There is also the nuance that what this vendor is offering is not fake or forgery, its actually "nothing" (i.e. A good old financial fraud).

On eBay, they have another set of boxes for that

Now, those with an eye for detail will notice that its detected I've not bid on the item. They seem to take the report a lot more seriously if you do. ("Party to a conspiracy to defraud" just about covers it).

The point being that if you make minimum bid, you have an interest in the transaction, and if you report your suspicions, they supposedly look into it.

It may explain why this "experienced ebayer" (its not me) holds the minimum bid on so many lots.

(I wonder if the person retracting their bid realises how much they saved?)

You also notice on this screen there is a "tell us what you think" button, which if you click, you can put words like "just fraud tracking", or "investigating a fraud", which, as Global Admin notes, sows another seed in another department, whether they join those dots, or not.

There is a downside to minimum bidding. Its not that once you've reported a possible fraud, you are still liable - You will never get a strike for non payment on an item you reported, as at worst they'd ask you to pay the pound (whoopy do).

The big downside it that your bid seems to validate the vendor, and the bunnies (or maybe lemmings) follow even the slimmest form of leadership.

As an aside - What I can't explain in all this is how a collection of highly experienced eBay buyers could do this bidding pattern

How does somebody with 2,000 feedback (unless they are a ball bearing buyer, who is moonlighting) think that this stamp, which is probably one of the finest 240 mint examples in the world (of clear exhibition quality), is worth a bid of £11? It beggars belief.

One further thing I do, when I get my "New Search" mails come through on a daily basis (for items I have on my watch list), is edit them a bit and send them on to "spoof@paypal.com", with a covering text of what I think the problem is.

Once the person has used the Paypal logo in their listing (its almost impossible not to nowadays), good old Paypal seems to take an interest, and probably have their own hotline to eBay. I'm not sure, I'm just speculating, but as before, like a wasp, the more people you irritate, the more likely they are to act.

Reporting to Paypal, like eBay, can feel like screaming into the void. Its frustrating, and not always successful. The "New Search" email can take a day to reach me, but Paypal reply with acknowledgement within about five minutes (usually).

You'll never know the individual outcome, or whether it was down to you, but we all want the same thing "Item or Vendor cannot be found".

So, in summary. I'll be following the Global Administrator's instructions first and foremost. Always on the top five by value first, working down the listing for others, as time permits. If I use any other tools, its in addition to, not instead of.

It may sound patronising from a newbie, but it comes from the heart that "a choir is more likely to be heard clearly, than a crowd".

Good work from Pertinax bringing it to our attention so quickly. I feel we got a good days start heads up, which is critical on fraudulent three day auctions.

Just my observations.

Rog · Post by **Rog** » 09 Mar 2018 00:09

In the interest of us taking the above advice and so that we can get more hits on still listed items, I have reported these two for now and am waiting to see if I get anything back from eBay on them.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GB-1848-SG57var-Specimen-Rare-stamp/222871427429

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GB-1890-SG212var-Specimen-Rare-stamp/222871397488

So if a few others hit those too, that might help bump them up.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention Pertinax.

aethelwulf · Post by **aethelwulf** » 09 Mar 2018 00:13

ViccyVFU wrote:How does somebody with 2,000 feedback (unless they are a ball bearing buyer, who is moonlighting) think that this stamp, which is probably one of the finest 240 mint examples in the world (of clear exhibition quality), is worth a bid of £11? It beggars belief.

Putting in a low bid puts the item onto your "bidding" list in your eBay profile. Then you can find it easily and keep track of the price/ending time, and can go off to a sniping website to put in your top bid.

ViccyVFU · Post by **ViccyVFU** » 09 Mar 2018 01:48

aethelwulf wrote:
ViccyVFU wrote:How does somebody with 2,000 feedback (unless they are a ball bearing buyer, who is moonlighting) think that this stamp, which is probably one of the finest 240 mint examples in the world (of clear exhibition quality), is worth a bid of £11? It beggars belief.
Putting in a low bid puts the item onto your "bidding" list in your eBay profile. Then you can find it easily and keep track of the price/ending time, and can go off to a sniping website to put in your top bid.

Yes, I understand that as a technique.

But effectively that potential buyer has then done all their pre-validation homework (implicitly by the fact they would bid even £11), and is sitting with their sniping tool / technique, about to make the biggest mistake of their life.

Surely putting it on your watch list is a better option, if you have any suspicions?

I guess we could have some fun guessing the final knock down price of a few select items, or whether they will be taken down before finish? That might be a thread for the fun area - lets not sully this one with anything other than the mission to take this vendor down.

mozzerb · Post by **mozzerb** » 09 Mar 2018 02:07

ViccyVFU wrote:Surely putting it on your watch list is a better option, if you have any suspicions?

Sometimes you would like to know what a (non-suspect) item will fetch, but don't have any particular interest in acquiring it, and don't want it cluttering up your snipe list/eBay watch list. Putting on a silly low bid will generate an email from eBay at the end of the auction with the final price, and if you happen to get it at the silly low price -- well, OK, you can sell it on.

In this case, it's probably someone using the same technique for the obvious fraud simply to see what happens -- and if you do get it, you can try to extract an address "to send a cheque to". Even if the seller isn't dumb enough to fall for that, they're not going to chase unmade payments and affect your feedback, they're just going to take what they get and run.

JonEboy · Post by **JonEboy** » 09 Mar 2018 02:27

Noggin the Nog wrote:I have submitted a report for one of the items, and will do so for others shortly.

Obviously, the more people who report these items, the more likely eBay is to do something about it.

Reported four of the items. With any luck common sense will kick in at eBay and they'll realise the whole lot is a scam.

Jon

EDIT: Just phoned eBay and reported it. Let's see if this thing gets taken down before anyone gets stung...

peterh · Post by **peterh** » 09 Mar 2018 02:33

I have also reported a number of these.

It still wouldn't surprise me if eBay takes no action.

peterh · Post by **peterh** » 09 Mar 2018 02:41

The 'seller' is now adding more items from SG's website - latest total is 896 items and still rising.

So much for eBay's supposed action so far...

Highlander · Post by **Highlander** » 09 Mar 2018 02:42

Posted before but understand eBay want and benefit from these sharks , it enables them to take 10% off all other transactions

No sharks, no lifeguards and no 10%.

Oh , and occasionally it really benefits to see some obvious activity and a few dorsal fins cutting regularly and menacingly through the surf when the bathers are at their most attentive.

CMJ · Post by **CMJ** » 09 Mar 2018 03:55

It looks like the listing spree of the last hour has finished and there are now in excess of 2,000 items listed

I have reported quite a few throughout the day as being fraudulent listings and will continue to do so as time permits.

As Glen says, if enough people report the listings, eBay have to wake up and take some action.

peterh · Post by **peterh** » 09 Mar 2018 04:42

New listing started again after a very short break - now over 3000 items.

aethelwulf · Post by **aethelwulf** » 09 Mar 2018 05:08

Lots of good items still sitting at 99p with only 1d17h to go...could people really be starting to realize it's too good to be true?

And he's messing around listing recent prestige booklets amongst the other stuff.

JonEboy · Post by **JonEboy** » 09 Mar 2018 05:53

Just for the record, I spent 20 minutes on the phone to them, gave them names, numbers and website details where they could find the originals, including the £48,000 cover earlier in this thread.

But as I was driving home and now, having seen the frenzy with which this seller has listed more fraudulent items, it occurred to me we're doing the wrong thing.

eBay will lose very little from this fraud, Paypal, however, will lose a ton of cash. As these two are separating in the near future I wonder how speedy eBay will be to drop this fraudulent account?

Does anyone have a direct line to the fraud team at Paypal

Jon

Edit: Just reported on https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/contact-us

gregbear61 · Post by **gregbear61** » 09 Mar 2018 06:22

I just popped off a couple of reports.

It took a few minutes - I noticed the number of items listed increased from 3675 to 3725 in that time!

I might contact Stanley Gibbons. They won't be too happy seeing their stock listed by a fraudster, and may be able to influence eBay to take the listings down.

Highlander · Post by **Highlander** » 09 Mar 2018 06:44

At least we will have a better idea of SG's stock and it's value at this rate

CMJ · Post by **CMJ** » 09 Mar 2018 06:50

SG were alerted to the use of their images and descriptions yesterday by numerous people and they have been in contact with eBay.

I received this reply from them yesterday:

...we have reported it to ebay. No idea who this person is but I can assure he does not own them.

and today (posted to the Mulready yahoo group) ....

I can categorically tell you that the items listed are a scam and not being sold by anyone related to SG. Be smart and don’t bid, you won’t get anything! We have reported it to EBay as have some of our customers.

Doesn't look like eBay are that interested in closing the account though ! What a surprise.

timbromania · Post by **timbromania** » 09 Mar 2018 07:33

Over 4000 lots have now been listed.

This is fraud on a massive scale involving several millions of pounds worth of Stanley Gibbon's stock.

Ebay should have cancelled all these listings and banned the seller long before now.

The block of eight penny blacks above is listed by SG at £275,000!

https://www.stanleygibbons.com/gb-1840-sg2-pl2-penny-black-u ... 60708.html

JonEboy · Post by **JonEboy** » 09 Mar 2018 07:36

It's a car crash in slow motion.

Having spoken to a human being at eBay and having alerted PayPal I'm not sure what else I or anyone else can do?

Jon

PeterG · Post by **PeterG** » 09 Mar 2018 07:52

I think we just sit and wait. The police action fraud line in UK have been informed and many of us from the QV FB group have reported as well. Any idiot that bids on these wants a brain transplant. I also suggested that Paypal should have a reporting line.

ViccyVFU · Post by **ViccyVFU** » 09 Mar 2018 07:59

As the listing states London as the supposed location of the vendor, I have logged a report with Action Fraud, the UK's National eCrime reporting portal.

Ref NFRC180302244749

Whilst no proven Fraud has taken place yet, the Action Fraud site allows you to report suspicions of crimes you believe to be imminent.

Like everyone else, they never get back to you, but hopefully its another wasp at the picnic.

Then I saw Peters comment, but their is no downside in multiple reports.
Lets hope they join the dots, with an urgency so lacking in both eBay and Paypal.

21B · Post by **21B** » 09 Mar 2018 09:30

Another seller, MSKSUR68 has made tens of thousands of pounds over more than 10 years selling forged Burma Jap Occ overprints. I made it a weekly mission to call eBay and go through his fake listings. Despite promising to take care of it, they have done nothing. I also opened a case with Action Fraud. Also, nothing

To this day he is one of eBays most active scammers, and he knows he will not be stopped. He’s even a power seller and his name and address is freely visible.

So, I’m not holding my breath that anything is going to happen here. eBay don’t give a hoot.

ViccyVFU · Post by **ViccyVFU** » 09 Mar 2018 09:54

21B wrote:Another seller, MSKSUR68 has made tens of thousands of pounds over more than 10 years selling forged Burma Jap Occ overprints. I made it a weekly mission to call eBay and go through his fake listings. Despite promising to take care of it, they have done nothing. I also opened a case with Action Fraud. Also, nothing

Making £1000 a year for each of ten years is quite a hard scam to prove (I'm not disputing it)..... most people would normally give it a wide berth just because of feedback marked to "private".

But given his overall volume of transactions, and his 99.6% feedback approval record, they may well just be ignoring it on "balance of probabilities".

I'm hoping one of these hares we've set running will see that to list 4000 items, all with stolen images of major philatelic rarities, with a potential to generate over a million pounds in three days, is maybe a scale more worthy of their attention.

I guess we'll see what we'll see. Lets keep up the pressure, as time allows.

Allanswood · Post by **Allanswood** » 09 Mar 2018 11:01

Maybe someone should report him to another authority for potential money laundering to a terrorist organisation. That might ring a few alarm bells.

Isn't that one way of moving dodgy money internationally? Don't even need the goods, whatever they may be, just have contacts overseas buy them before they reach the usual $ trigger point. In Aus it's $10,000 per transaction.

I don't know, the caffeine hit and I'm just feeling a bit conspitorial (plus I invented a new word).

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 09 Mar 2018 12:22

Company Secretary – rpurkis@stanleygibbons.com - is the guy to contact - he is like a bulldog!

Blackstar · Post by **Blackstar** » 09 Mar 2018 12:47

(I wonder if the person retracting their bid realises how much they saved?)

I know who made the £10k withdrawn bid, He has bid again but put much higher bid just to block the sale & he has no intention to pay. The best way to report the fraud is to bid, report then cancel bid as it raises more red flags to eBay than just reporting them

I know the high bidder on this one is also bidding to block the sale
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GB-1840-SGV1-Official-Rare-stamp/ ... 1438.l2649

Many of the bidders on that sellers items are bidding to block. Hopefully any genuine bidders will pay via PayPal but I expect the seller will ask for payment via Bank Transfer or some other method

I have a suspicion that eBay will let the listings continue as at the moment the seller could cancel the bids & remove the items saying he listed them to make his page look good however if he sells & takes any payment then he is stuffed as it's obtaining money by deception. At the moment it would be highly unlikely that he would be convicted of anything

Stanley Gibbons are fully aware of the situation

Guy Croton from SG has just mailed as follows:

Hi all, I can categorically tell you that the items listed are a scam and not being sold by anyone related to SG. Be smart and don’t bid, you won’t get anything! We have reported it to EBay as have some of our customers. If anything does catch your eye contact us direct.

Best regards
Guy

ViccyVFU · Post by **ViccyVFU** » 09 Mar 2018 20:11

Blackstar wrote: I have a suspicion that eBay will let the listings continue as at the moment the seller could cancel the bids & remove the items saying he listed them to make his page look good however if he sells & takes any payment then he is stuffed as it's obtaining money by deception. At the moment it would be highly unlikely that he would be convicted of anything

If that was their intent, they would be absolutely slayed in the media. The seller could cancel bids, but the fact that a couple closed at 99p already means the vendor is on the hook.

eBay, in their Terms & Condition's claim all bids are binding, so technically anyone overbidding is on the hook to pay. Pay first, and then possibly get goods? Hmm that reminds me a bit of the Mossgreen dilemma. Its not a sound strategy to take out a fraudster, noble as it may seem. (You are addressing the symptoms, not the disease).

Maybe its time to go to the media? The Daily Mail in the UK loves fraudster stories, although we'd need to field someone with a sad face to really get traction.

What have we got? :

Ebay with fraud reporting mechanism that failed to work.

Paypal with a fraud reporting mechanism that failed to work.

Action Fraud with a reporting mechanism that failed to work.

To misquote an old film "What we've got here is not a problem to communicate, its a problem to action". On this scale, its national news (or should be).

But where could be find a sad face, amongst such happy and oblivious bunnies?

Answers on a postcard, please (and preferably one with some nice stamps on), but don't take too long, as this crime is going down in around 24 hours.

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 09 Mar 2018 20:18

ViccyVFU wrote:
Maybe its time to go to the media? The Daily Mail in the UK loves fraudster stories,

"ebay UK ignore a £1 Million Scam."

Is right down their street.

Send the UK media that heading, and this link, and someone will run with it -

http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=80966

ViccyVFU · Post by **ViccyVFU** » 09 Mar 2018 20:33

Would one of our UK dealers like to break the story, to get some exposure?

Don't want to have the DM holding their story "until they find an expert".

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/contactus/index.html

Might even get you a few more followers.

Opportunities like this do not come along everyday (Thankfully)

Anyone?

Global Administrator · Post by **Global Administrator** » 09 Mar 2018 20:42

These things are heavily TIME DATED

If a half dozen members **NOW** email a half dozen media outlets SOMEONE will run with it.