Kopirano iz enega tujega foruma... tudi paypal ni imun na goljufijo. Samo toliko za info, kaj se menda dogaja
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Even though PayPal will protect your funds, these scammers have figured out a loophole in the system to implement their con. They are not scamming individuals like the members on this board, they are scamming PayPal itself!
Here is what I believe they are doing-
1. Create a disposable Email account.
2. Go out and buy a VISA PREPAID GIFT CARD (aka as a BURN CARD) and put a small amount on it.
THIS ALONE is how they can create a veil to their real identity and location.
ANYONE AT ANY AGE can do this! No bank account or REAL credit/debit card required!
3. Using the gift card and the email addy, they open a new Premier PayPal account (premier so they can accept funds) and link the "Visa Vanilla" or other type of gift card that they setup the billing address on when they register it online.
That way when PayPal goes to verify the card during signup, the process can verify the address (a bogus address) the scammer registered the giftcard with.
So now the scammer basically has a BURN PayPal ACCOUNT. It is going to be abandoned when the victims begin to make claims against them. Since the address is bogus, it is next to impossible to pin them down to find them.
Keep in mind the scammer will likely use a proxy or VPN to sign up for all this so PayPal will have problems backtracking via the IP address.
4. Come to a place like RCG.
Create a brand new account (via a proxy or VPN to mask their location).
Post up some AMAZING DEALS like a new Spektrum DX6 radio for $125 shipped, a nice RTF FPV250 mini racer for $150 and an Ipad 2 for $125. Total= $400
These are VERY TEMPTING prices and lures people to jump in and send funds right away since they think they will miss out on the "amazing deal" if they hesitate and ask too many questions about legibility..
They think "I'm safe to send funds since PayPal will get them back if I don't get the item.". And they are correct, but they do not see what the scammer is doing...
5. The tempting prices make for very quick sales. The above example will net the scammer $400 in a matter of a few hours or less if he can pull the con off without someone calling him out.
So now he has $400 in his PayPal BURN ACCOUNT.
He is now going to quickly try to buy an item with the ill gotten $400 and most likely try to get the seller to ship it to an address that is different than the confirmed one used to set the BURN ACCOUNT.
Most likely he will find someone willing to ship out to the UNCONFIRMED ADDRESS.
6. Meanwhile... the unsuspecting victims wait and wait to get a tracking number for their purchased item. But the item is not real and the scammer will either get a bogus track# or no track# at all to the victim and string them along as long as possible.
Using a bogus USPS track# would cost him a little money if it's just an empty envelope, but it could buy more time so HE CAN BUY SOMETHING and get it shipped with YOUR MONEY he now has in his account to spend.
Think about it.. if you get a track#, you think it's all going well until it shows up and it's a 1oz empty envelope with a bogus return address.
I'm not sure about USPS, but I think UPS and FEDEX will show the weight of the package when you track it online. Pretty sure USPS won't show the weight or price the shipper paid in their track system. So it's hard to tell if you're getting a 5lb box with a DX6 in it or just some silly empty envelope.
7. The scammer has his ill gotten funded item on it's way to his choice of destination. Most likely they will use another NEW & DIFFERENT USER ACCOUNT on here or another site to make it appear they are two different people.
So a word to the sellers here on RCG..
NEVER EVER SEND OUT AN ITEM TO A NEW USER ACCOUNT THAT GAVE YOU A UNCONFIRMED ADDRESS.. most likely you are feeding into a scam, even though you will likely get to keep your funds.
8. So now the scammer has his item on it's way to him. At this point he will disappear from the face of the earth to all his victims.
The victims will begin to make their claims when they finally realize they will never get the item thay paid for.. but it's too late. The scammer spent the funds!
NOW PayPal IS LEFT HOLDING THE BAG.
PP must and will refund your money. When they go after the scammer, all the funds in his account are gone and there isnt a bank account to go after either since he opened the account with a BURN CARD.
He will get his item delivered and the seller will most likely never know he was paid with stolen funds.
The scammer will abandon the BURN ACCOUNTS.. PayPal, GiftCard, Email address and any USER ID's.
9. Scammer starts all over again..
So as you can see, if we keep sending these people funds knowing PayPal will protect us when we get scammed.. THE SCAMMER WILL NEVER LEAVE AND KEEP DOING IT HERE OVER AND OVER!
Some of the warning signs are usually obvious-
Brand New USER ID/ACCT.
Prices that are TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!
Those two alone ALWAYS SPELL OUT A SCAM!
Further investigation to surface up a potential scammer is..
They use someone else's pictures and/or cannot get a pic up with a note next to it with his user name written on it. But this is not going to work if they actually own the items they are listing, but never ship out!
They have a IP ADDRESS that does not match their stated location when logged into RCG.
Only the ADMINS can see their IP. But WE CAN VERIFY their IP addy if we can get a direct email from them and do an IP TRACE using the information details in the email.
If they use a PROXY or VPN to email, it will show an origination that does not match their stated location.. usually the origination will be from Ukraine, Russia, China, etc... wherever the Proxy or VPN server is.
Many times a IP trace can be mapped AS CLOSE AS A FEW BLOCKS FROM THEIR HOUSE if they send the email from home or biz if sent from work.
Lets say someone who say's they are from Ohio wants you to send funds to their PayPal account.. the account ID is an email address, right?
Just have them email you from that PayPal email addy.. then do an IP TRACE on it.
If it comes up nowhere near Ohio and say from overseas instead, it's most likely a scammer hiding their REAL IP.
I hope this info will educate and enlighten people on RCG to understand why it is crucial NOT TO SEND FUNDS to these NEW USER ID ACCOUNTS without FURTHER INVESTIGATION.
We all want a great deal, but let's face it.. YOU PROBABLY SUSPECTED IT WAS A SCAM in the first place!
But since you figure you have NOTHING TO LOSE due to PayPal's somewhat careless MONEY BACK GUARANTEE, you send the funds anyway! In hopes that it was real and that you beat others to the punch to obtain the item.
I'm sure you can figure out that the scammers will never leave if you all keep sending them the funds anyway.. propagating the scam and encouraging them to keep trying!
DO NOT FEED THE SCAMMERS! PLEASE!
Granted, sharing this scam out in the open may give some dishonest people the info they didnt realize they could use to do scams too.. but there is no other way to expose the scam than to spell it out in black and white.
I'm sure PayPal is figuring out their dilemma of a Pandora's box they created when they began the MONEY BACK GUARANTEE and allow Gift Cards to be used to open and "verify" new accounts to accept funds.
But until they figure out a way to stop it, it will continue to happen more and more.
We HAVE TO POLICE the boards ourselves to OUT THE SCAMMERS.
It may seem like a witch hunt and there could be some mistakes along the way, but as I outlined above the most obvious signs of a scam, it should be fairly easy to detect their presence on the boards.