Amazon Marketplace scam

[RogerS]

Remember the old adage "If it seems like too much of a bargain then it probably isn't" ?

I'm after a secondhand Apple Macbook and spied a used one on Amazon Marketplace and tried to buy it. Here's where the scammers get clever. They are able to set a flag that abuses Amazon's 'limit where I ship to' facility. So when you go through the checkout process, you get blocked by Amazon and get a message saying that they can't deliver to your address. All research that you may try to do on Amazon's site sends you round in circles...but because you are within Amazon's system then it all seems kosher.

Ringing up Amazon customer service is pointless and the scammers know this. You get a boilerplate response from Amazon saying some items are prohibited blah blah blah. Yeah...like an Apple Macbook is a terrorist weapon, Amazon. They tell you to email the seller. So you do.

Here is the next clever bit....the scammer has now got your email address and so they reply to you saying that the item is still for sale and they ask you for your full name and address...all seemingly innocent...and that they will contact Amazon. Some hours later a very good replica of an Amazon HTML email arrives with all your details (such as name and address) correctly filled in etc. Looks genuine. Apart from one thing. They ask for Money Transfer to their Amazon Representative.

Yeah,,,like I was born yesterday.

But now we come to the really worrying bit and one that I have only just realised. In their spoof email there are lots of HTML links including one to Your Account. When I click on that link it does take me to the contents of my Saved List....so how have they managed to do that?

So if you have an old email address that you don't mind 'polluting' as it were then please please send a suitably worded email to [email protected] and please remember to be as abusive as you like. Flood their poxy inbox.

They are all out to get you.

 

[devonwoody]

Roger I hope they do not have a customer relations department, I would get a bullet proof vest if I were you.

 

[coot]

Hi,

Been on this forum for 10 years or so, always been good for sales and always plenty of Apple kit and decent prices.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/desktop- ... d-adverts/

Cheers,

Pete

 

[billybuntus]

Remember the old adage "If it seems like too much of a bargain then it probably isn't" ?

I'm after a secondhand Apple Macbook and spied a used one on Amazon Marketplace and tried to buy it. Here's where the scammers get clever. They are able to set a flag that abuses Amazon's 'limit where I ship to' facility. So when you go through the checkout process, you get blocked by Amazon and get a message saying that they can't deliver to your address. All research that you may try to do on Amazon's site sends you round in circles...but because you are within Amazon's system then it all seems kosher.

Ringing up Amazon customer service is pointless and the scammers know this. You get a boilerplate response from Amazon saying some items are prohibited blah blah blah. Yeah...like an Apple Macbook is a terrorist weapon, Amazon. They tell you to email the seller. So you do.

Here is the next clever bit....the scammer has now got your email address and so they reply to you saying that the item is still for sale and they ask you for your full name and address...all seemingly innocent...and that they will contact Amazon. Some hours later a very good replica of an Amazon HTML email arrives with all your details (such as name and address) correctly filled in etc. Looks genuine. Apart from one thing. They ask for Money Transfer to their Amazon Representative.

Yeah,,,like I was born yesterday.

But now we come to the really worrying bit and one that I have only just realised. In their spoof email there are lots of HTML links including one to Your Account. When I click on that link it does take me to the contents of my Saved List....so how have they managed to do that?

So if you have an old email address that you don't mind 'polluting' as it were then please please send a suitably worded email to [email protected] and please remember to be as abusive as you like. Flood their poxy inbox.

They are all out to get you.

If your interested in investigating it further. Try emailing this address with a summary of what's gone on.

[email protected]

You should get a pretty decent response from one of the sans security handlers. There IT security handlers are some of the best in the world.

And if your interested in being more paranoid about IT (you should be) then its worth looking through a few diary entries once in a while

https://isc.sans.edu/diaryarchive.html