What's the deal with the $950 Powerbooks on Ebay? Are they worth the trouble? I would buy one if it was suggested by anyone. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2753399723&category=14909
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17" Powerbooks on Ebay
- Thread starter andypress
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this has been discussed many many times... we'd all like to believe that we can get a powerbook for $950, but that is is below cost... these auctions are SCAMS.
If you want to prove it, e mail the seller and say that you'd like to buy one but you want to use an escrow service of your choosing (escrow.com). See what they say.
If you want to prove it, e mail the seller and say that you'd like to buy one but you want to use an escrow service of your choosing (escrow.com). See what they say.
Reads at the towards the bottom that seller will do escrow if buyer pays fees. Of course, I still don't buy it and wouldn't touch that auction.
Too good to be true=scam
Too good to be true=scam
There are obvious mistakes in the auction listing, one of which is the support for OS 9, which of course is not true.
The thing that gets me is that these people who put up these auctions have 100% feedback ratings! Are they clueless about Macs, or are their account being stolen?
The thing that gets me is that these people who put up these auctions have 100% feedback ratings! Are they clueless about Macs, or are their account being stolen?
This is an email I received from the seller:
Hi, I am Samantha Norton and
I live in Friedrichstr. 24
70174 Stuttgart, Germany
Thank you for interest in buying my product
The laptop is brand new, sealed in ORIGINAL box, never opend and
in perfect condition.
The laptop is perfect compatible to USA standards(110V),NTSC system.
The warranty is 1 year international transferable.
(International Transferable Warranty - this means that you can go to any
authorized service center and you will be provided with free professional
assistance concerning whatever problems you may have. In order for you
to receive such an assistance I will send you along with the product all
the necessary documents, including an invoice with your name on it as
"the buyer").
The shipping will be with UPS 2 days air or FedEx 2 days air and I will
pay shipping and insurance charges.
sell it to you for only 950$ including all shipping and insurance.The
payment method is wire transfer with WESTERN UNION.It is very simple and
secure because you can do it ONLINE with your credit card at
www.westernunion.com, and there you will
complete with my name city and country and after the payment will be
confirmed (you have to call them and confirm the transfer), mail me with the
payment confirmation copy!.After that you will recive an confirmation number
and i want you to send me the folowing details
-the sender name
-the sender address
-the amount
-the confirmation #--MTCN (money transfer control number) .
I'll be waiting for your answer as soon as possible gladly to close the deal
with you!
Sincerely,
Samantha Norton
I emailed her back--Samantha,
Good news, my friend is in the US Army and he as agreed to meet you in Stuttgart. He will go anywhere in the city, and can bring cash. PLease let me know if this would work for you. Thanks James
So far no response
Hi, I am Samantha Norton and
I live in Friedrichstr. 24
70174 Stuttgart, Germany
Thank you for interest in buying my product
The laptop is brand new, sealed in ORIGINAL box, never opend and
in perfect condition.
The laptop is perfect compatible to USA standards(110V),NTSC system.
The warranty is 1 year international transferable.
(International Transferable Warranty - this means that you can go to any
authorized service center and you will be provided with free professional
assistance concerning whatever problems you may have. In order for you
to receive such an assistance I will send you along with the product all
the necessary documents, including an invoice with your name on it as
"the buyer").
The shipping will be with UPS 2 days air or FedEx 2 days air and I will
pay shipping and insurance charges.
sell it to you for only 950$ including all shipping and insurance.The
payment method is wire transfer with WESTERN UNION.It is very simple and
secure because you can do it ONLINE with your credit card at
www.westernunion.com, and there you will
complete with my name city and country and after the payment will be
confirmed (you have to call them and confirm the transfer), mail me with the
payment confirmation copy!.After that you will recive an confirmation number
and i want you to send me the folowing details
-the sender name
-the sender address
-the amount
-the confirmation #--MTCN (money transfer control number) .
I'll be waiting for your answer as soon as possible gladly to close the deal
with you!
Sincerely,
Samantha Norton
I emailed her back--Samantha,
Good news, my friend is in the US Army and he as agreed to meet you in Stuttgart. He will go anywhere in the city, and can bring cash. PLease let me know if this would work for you. Thanks James
So far no response
see, it says escrow is available, but as you can see, western union is (was) the only option. The choice of scammers everywhere.
I got the same thing yesterday - saw a dual 1.25 G4 for $1200 from somebody with a 100% feedback rating. Emailed the seller and got this back. Also, the ebay listing disappeared almost immediately. Makes me wonder if there's a black market for ebay passwords of people with high feedback ratings!
"Hello,
Please look with my method: For our safety I think we should do it like that:You will send the money with WireTranser via WesternUnion on my adress but you will put whatever name you want as the receiver, so that I will not be able to receieve the money until you received the package.After you send the money you give me the Receiver (First and Last name) and after I check at www.westernunion.com (Order Status) I introduction your full name and the receiver name and! if the founds are available, I`ll send you the package. After you will receive and inspect the product you will tell WesternUnion to change the name of the receiever with my own so that I will be able to collect the payment for the product I haved sented in your direction.
If I do it like you say I pay taxes for this money and I lose to much.Please do not tell at the Western Union office that this is the payment for an auction because I'll might be charged with some extra fees when I receive the money because. If they
ask you anything just tell them that you are sending money to a friend of yours and everything will be just fine. We can do it in my way :I'll send you the apple throuht FedEx like a gift for you and you send the money like a gift for my aniversary .I attach you one message with Happy Birthday , please don`t say at Western Union for what you put the
way we don`t pay Customs Export-Import Duties.You
agree that??? "
etc.
"Hello,
Please look with my method: For our safety I think we should do it like that:You will send the money with WireTranser via WesternUnion on my adress but you will put whatever name you want as the receiver, so that I will not be able to receieve the money until you received the package.After you send the money you give me the Receiver (First and Last name) and after I check at www.westernunion.com (Order Status) I introduction your full name and the receiver name and! if the founds are available, I`ll send you the package. After you will receive and inspect the product you will tell WesternUnion to change the name of the receiever with my own so that I will be able to collect the payment for the product I haved sented in your direction.
If I do it like you say I pay taxes for this money and I lose to much.Please do not tell at the Western Union office that this is the payment for an auction because I'll might be charged with some extra fees when I receive the money because. If they
ask you anything just tell them that you are sending money to a friend of yours and everything will be just fine. We can do it in my way :I'll send you the apple throuht FedEx like a gift for you and you send the money like a gift for my aniversary .I attach you one message with Happy Birthday , please don`t say at Western Union for what you put the
way we don`t pay Customs Export-Import Duties.You
agree that??? "
etc.
if there's a deal that looks too good to be true... just tell them that you want to use escrow... but the first mention they make of selling it outside of eBay, like saying 'you can buy it now. send the money via WesternUnion' immediately email eBay. selling items outside of eBay like that is against their policy, and then they'll get onto their case and shut them down.
i did that recently, and sure enought eBay emailed back and said that they have fixed the problem... someones account had been hijacked.
and when you email eBay, make sure you use the right forms. than at least they won't be able to use that persons account anymore. but i think that's all you can do. it's a shame there's no real way to stop stuff like that.
i did that recently, and sure enought eBay emailed back and said that they have fixed the problem... someones account had been hijacked.
and when you email eBay, make sure you use the right forms. than at least they won't be able to use that persons account anymore. but i think that's all you can do. it's a shame there's no real way to stop stuff like that.
That's getting me a bit nervous. Not the scams, they are too obvious. But how does the hijacking work, stealing unencrypted passwords etc?
Any risk, someones doing something with my account and leaving me liable?
A lot of people use easy to guess passwords. But where they get most of the passwords is from email they send out that looks like official email from e-Bay asking you to update your account information for one reason or another. They have URLs in the document that look like ebay ones but point to their own servers.
And it's not only ebay they're scamming for, it's other services including PayPal and Domain Registrations.
So your password is probably safe unless you do something stupid. Unfortunatly too many people out there do things without realizing the implications.