Multi Bidder Scam

hewlett

hi dont know if anyone has come across this method of scam
a friend listed a brand new mobile phone and got the usual bids to start with and the bidding got frantic right up until the auction had only minutes to go then six of the highest bidders all retracted their bids ( highest bid was 170.00 ) leaving the next highest bidder left at £30.00. being a regular user of ebay he done some raking and found the same six bidders had done this three times already.
he has reported the mater to ebay and told the "winning" bidder that he will not be receiving the phone and has been reported to ebay.

as i said you may already know of this scam but thought i should let the info out for all
cheers:beer:

marty1888

how can they retract their bids when they have to ask him to remove the bid for them?

hewlett

don't know i asked the same question and he just said it is possible to retract a bid without asking the seller.

rdwarr

It's more likely to be one person with six accounts.

pennylane99

marty1888 wrote:

how can they retract their bids when they have to ask him to remove the bid for them?

you dont have to ask the seller...you can still retract a bid right up to auction end, as long as you do it within an hour of placing the bid.

marty1888

rdwarr wrote:

It's more likely to be one person with six accounts.

makes sense assuming there is no reserve on the item then the guy could snipe it for next to nothing.

hewlett

don't know if there was a reserve on the item but he did say he will not let the phone go for the winning bid and he really doesn't care about getting a neg.

just thought you guy would like to know about the scam

neilwoods

More likely the wining buyer has 7 accounts, inflate the price so that other potential bidders are put of by high price, then retract at last minute to the price he wants the phone for.

bella4uk

Please Can you name and shame so we can block them

hewlett

i will ask for the name tomorrow and post it up for all when i get the info

soolin

Like others have said this scam only works in a time frame of less than one hour, so the 'buyer' needs to be quick with his typing. Bids placed in the final 12 hours of an auction can only be withdrawn by the buyer within an hour of being placed..so the scammer needs to be sure he has his timing right. As there is such an margin of error here it is a scam rarely seen. It would also not work if the bids are pulled with less than about 12 seconds to go...as most snipers come in in the final seconds, so a genuine buyer would still win the auction.

Imagine therefore the scammer trying desperately to log in and out within seconds to pull bids, just as ebay has one of its periodic crashes.