eBay fraudsters

For the first time in my nine years of online auction history I have finally been targeted by a Nigerian scammer through a hijacked legal account. This despite banning everyone registered outside the UK and those without credit card on file from bidding.

Although it is my first time, they are easy to spot enough. The fact that they request the item to be send it to another country easily raised the alarm. But putting the word "Africa" in it should be enough for anyone to immediately report it to the police. If eBay does not accept that you have a potential fraudster posing as a buyer, then just ignore the buyer. Even if it means denting that perfect 100% feedback.

Another thing even if they offer to pay by PayPal they can still reverse charge you, even if you withdraw the money from the account to a bank account. I am thinking of ditching eBay altogether for any listings that exceeds £50 and just use Gumtree. It simply isn't worth the pain or hassle.

*sigh* I really do wish Yahoo! would bring back Yahoo! Auctions to the UK.