EBay fraud question

elsien

Bought something which was veering towards the too good to be true price but wasn’t quite there. Seller with very positive reviews but had been dormant for over 12 months.

I get a very bland message from eBay telling me my order has been cancelled due to problems with the sellers account but there’s a possibility my order might still turn up.

Cue influx of phone calls to my mobile number which turned out to be from a foreign sounding gentleman telling me that my order will be delivered by Amazon and to give them the code they are just sending to my phone. Which is the code to change the password and which shouldn’t be shared with anyone. So I didn’t.

The  sellers account has obviously been hacked. 

My questions are, is it possible for my phone number not to be shared with the seller in the furure, because  I wasn’t aware that eBay did that.

Also why is eBay not making it clearer that this is a fraud because someone less savvy (my mother for example) would have  interpreted the call as someone making a genuine attempt to deliver and I do feel eBay’s message when they know it’s fraud should be a lot clearer in its warnings.

Any thoughts?

elsien

Anyone?   .

QrizB

As no-one else has any ideas ...

elsien said:

My questions are, is it possible for my phone number not to be shared with the seller in the furure, because  I wasn’t aware that eBay did that.

Can you change the phone number saved on your eBay account?

Are there any eBay sellers reading this who can confirm that they're told their buyer's phone number?

elsien said:

Also why is eBay not making it clearer that this is a fraud

II'm not sure anyone on this board can answer this one.

HampshireH

Edited as what I wrote didn't make sense.

I wonder if they can call you but not actually see your number. Like on Auto trader. It dials a number and diverts to your number.

However at point of posting a label apparently some carriers add this automatically.

Buyers can sometimes see sellers numbers. And Google indicates via various forums / communities that eBay sellers can access phone numbers but I can't see this in any eBay guides.

elsien

They sent me a screenshot on WhatsApp clearly showing order details with my name and phone number. 

I can see on eBay where if I was selling I can choose whether the buyer gets my number or not, but I can’t see it the other way around.
I don’t want to change the phone number on it because it’s set up for two step verification by text. 

HampshireH

elsien said:

They sent me a screenshot on WhatsApp clearly showing my phone number. 

I can say on eBay where if I was selling I can choose whether the buyer gets my number or not, but I can’t see it the other way around.

I couldn't either. Just had a look. However it looks like buyer details are provided as part of the sales dashboard and management of orders functionality that eBay provides.

Spikeygran

As far as I know when you buy something your number is still accessable by the seller, its supposed to be for solving problems with the order but judging by topics on the forum does get abused at times.

If you put another number on your ebay account (that you dont have access to) you are going to run into trouble if your account needs recovering as ebay will send a code to that number, they also do occasional verification by sending a code. 

Block the number thats been calling you on your phone and whatsapp, do not be tempted to reply. 

It sounds to me like the seller has been removed or ebay has flagged it as a hacked account dormant account. I assume having lost control of the seller acount they are having a try at hacking yours, but dont panic.  Provided you haven't logged into ebay, or clicked on strange links via an email, giving away you information,  you should be OK.  You can change your password if worried.

Its always best practice not to log into any account via an email - just use it as a reminder and log in via the official site or app, that way you cant make a mistake. 

If you get emails apparently from ebay just delete them.  Anything legitimate will also be in your ebay messages folder.

If you are worried you can ask on the ebay community.  Only experienced posters are allowed to post on the  "member to member"  board so should be good replies.  The community link is at the bottom of the ebay page.

se2020

Yes, sellers can see the buyers phone number if they have entered one.

You can remove your phone number  just make sure you have one of the other verification methods set up and working. 

elsien

Cheeky beggars are now disputing my refund request.

soolin

elsien said:

Cheeky beggars are now disputing my refund request.

That doesn’t seem a bright move from the seller especially as they cancelled the sale, I wonder what they think they are going to achieve?