IDrinkMolson

I'm assuming this is some kind of scam, but seems elaborate. I would suggest they might be an idiot, but they got our name/address from somewhere.
Sooo... my wife doesn't have an ebay/paypal account and has never sold anything online.
I'm a little concerned someone might be selling on ebay as my wife? Is there a way to contact eBay about something like this, with no order #?
Our last name was spelled incorrectly, but that happens all the time.

My wife received a package in the mail today with a note and Chicago Fire S8 dvds. The note says the discs don't play and she would like her $30 back, and she notified eBay and they informed her to return them.

And it looks like this season isn't released until 8/2020 anyway, but I see at lease one other listing with the same cover art.

I have an old computer that has nothing on it. I might put the discs in to see if they have a virus or something. Which was my first thought, then I wondered if there could actually be coronavirus on/in the package too.

Noonan

Don't try to play the discs!!!!

PhantomStranger

Does your wife have a common name? It's plausible enough that someone on eBay has her name as well. You would be surprised in a large country. My name isn't common at all and even then there are at least three other people in the United States with the exact same name.

Josh-da-man

Look at your wife's account ebay and see if there's any activity on that looks suspicious -- bids, buys, and sales that neither of you placed.

You also might want to check the completed item auctions and see if any of these sets have sold recently.

I'm also assuming they didn't include an auction ID number with the return.

This might be some kind of new scam, where someone got their hands on a bunch of bootleg DVDs, and they're sending them out to random people asking for refunds? Sounds like a really stupid scam.

At work we used to get fake bills every now and then, where we were sent a bill for product or service that we never requested. This could be a variation of that, but it's going to cost whoever is sending these out money with no guarantee that anyone will respond with a refund. But lots of criminals are dumb as shit, too.

Someone also could have hacked someone's inbox with a phising attempt, and found your wife's (and probably other people's) contact information from eBay in an e-mail, assumed she was a seller, and tried to scam her out of $30.

Or it could be a legit return, and the eBay seller was a bootleg seller/scammer using her name and contact information.

IDrinkMolson

Yeah, that's the weird thing, like I said, she doesn't have an ebay / paypal acct. Never bought or sold. I do, and there's nothing on there for 2020.

OK, I just checked completed auctions for Chicago S8 DVD near my zip, and found 1 with the Seller's ID almost the same as my wife's name and location is our town.
They have 3 + feedback, and joined in 2016.

So now what? Any ideas? I don't know if ebay could somehow "come after" my wife or how to let them know.

TheBang

Ok, I see it, as well as other Chicago Fire auctions from that area. If you look, besides your “wife’s” account, there are at least 3 other accounts in the area selling those bootlegs with identical listings (auction listings are all the same). I see your “wife” also sold some Picard Season 1 DVDs.

So, basically, someone’s appropriated your wife’s identity to sell bootleg DVDs. I’m not sure what kind of identity verification methods eBay uses for new seller accounts these days, but this scammer is trying to circumvent them by using real people’s identities. He’s also spreading out his bootleg listings over multiple accounts, and only selling a few at a time per account to avoid automated detection of large scale fraud from a single account. He also set up these accounts a long time ago to avoid suspicion of sales from “new” accounts.

The return went to you because he used your wife’s real info to sign up the account. He doesn’t give a fuck about the product because it probably only cost him about $5 to make and mail each set. Each one he sells for $30. He’s making bank. He probably already gave the buyer a full refund to avoid any human investigation of the transaction.

What can you do? Well, you should probably get that account closed. It’s outright identity theft. I’m not sure how to get eBay to do that, but now that you have the eBay username, you at least have a place to start. I just had a thought. If you can’t convince eBay to nuke the account because of ID theft, you could maybe do an account take-over. You could call in and say you forgot the password and don’t have access to the email anymore either. They probably have some account recovery process at that point that includes providing a photo ID. Of course, your wife can provide that with the name and address matching the account. Bingo! Change the email and the password immediately to lock the fraudster out. Then use the eBay account closure process whatever that is.

Anyway, because this fraudster got your wife’s personal info probably from some data dump, you should check all her accounts for any sign of ID theft. Free Credit report for any credit lines or loans or credit cards you don’t know. Should probably just put a freeze on her credit at all the agencies.

Edit: closing your account, if you happen to get control of it: https://www.ebay.com/help/account/ch...ccount?id=4199

Edit 2: just realized your wife could be on the hook for the eBay selling fees. All the more reason to get the account closed and let them know it is ID theft.

Edit 3: although this thread Is old, it says that eBay requires a credit card to start selling so they can match the Name and address on the card to the seller address. https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archiv...e/td-p/2868499
Has your wife had any credit card fraud incidents in the last 4 years? If so, this could be related to that too.

Josh-da-man

I wouldn't try to take over the account. If you claim it, it might make you liable for activity on it.

I'd just alert eBay that your wife's identity was stolen by someone selling illegal bootlegs. Be sure to a make a point about IDENTITY THEFT; they might respond faster. I'd also have eBay deal with the dissatisfied buyer. It's their fucking problem, not yours.

TheBang

Yeah, I didn’t consider the real world financial implications of an account takeover. Definitely call and emphasize the identity theft aspect of it. I think you’re going to have a hard time with the frontline people though. Even though Google shows this has been happening since at least 2010, I bet you’re not going to get anyone who really understands what you’re trying to tell them. They’ll tell you useless irrelevant shit like “just create a new account” or “try resetting your password.” Just be persistent, don’t hang up, and ask for a supervisor. Or you probably need to talk to someone from the Trust & Safety team. That might be the key phrase you need to use. Be persistent that you want this account terminated and not to be held liable for any activity on the account. Have them check the IP address activity logs for the account to confirm it was never used anywhere near Delaware. Point out the identical bootleg DVD listings under multiple other accounts created under similar circumstances.

IDrinkMolson

Yeah I saw those other listings in my area after I posted. And I was thinking the same thing, I don't want to take over the account because then I'd be liable for refunds. I was looking around in their community posts, and there are a lot of people saying the same thing (for years), but I didn't see any that said it was resolved. Just "accepted solution" for giving them a phone number or something.
I noticed one of the other accounts is in the same format, looks like a first and last name followed by the same number.

morriscroy

From the OP's photos, it looks like bootleggers are getting more and more "professional" looking in their illicit product.

If I had to guess, a professional pirate must have gotten their hands on some old dvd disc manufacturing equipment from liquidation auctions of previously closed down plants (ie. olyphant pa, terre haute in, pitman nj, toronto, etc ...).

morriscroy

(This may sound like a silly question).

Do the discs have a strong "sickly sweet" sugar stench?

Over the years I encountered multidisc bootleg dvd sets, which all had a strong "sickly sweet" sugar stench. I suspect they might have all came from the same illicit dvd manufacturing facility.

andicus

What could go wrong?




MLBFan24

I don't buy or sell on ebay, but I found this topic very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

I always try to educate myself on scams, so I know what to avoid (even though I don't specifically use ebay).

zyzzle

The topic is incredibly interesting, and asshole scammers are getting incredibly sophisticated. Burn them all at the stake / get them to the firing squad and / or chop off their heads. They're psychopaths and sociopaths. I've a hard time seeing how these human-scum scammers (DVD bootleggers / pirates) could knock-off those (non-burned) professional-looking DVD sets (all with color inserts, multiple discs, etc), and mail them for $5. Seems impossible, but en masse, who the hell knows?

Anyway, I wish you success in your endevor to get these people off your wife's back, and regain her unmolested identity, fully intact and financially solvent

TheBang

I spit balled that number to some extent. I did an actual quote on a replicator and you can get a 5-DVD replicated set with artwork for about $5 each in 1000 quantity. I only checked one replicator; others could be cheaper. For shipping, if they do Media Mail or Lightweight Parcel Select, they can mail it for about $2.50-$3.00. No eBay fees of course because they’re dumping those on the fake accounts.