250SL Ebay Scam- Beware!

[TA250SL]

Once again, the nice 1967 250SL that was sold by Peter Gick last year for $39,000 is up for auction at a Buy It Now price of $5900. This car comes up repeatedly on Ebay, but the ad usually gets pulled early.  This time there are 13 bids within the first 2 hours.  Please beware of fake ads that are too good to be true, they are a scam.

Tom
Early 1967 250SL
Euro version    
Los Angeles

[hauser]

I've lost count of how many times this car has been listed for auction.  The time before this the bidding was over $100,000.00,

1969 280sl 5 spd
Gainesville, Fl.

[Douglas]

There was an interesting article awhile back in, I believe, the NY Times about "vigilante bidders" on ebay. Apparently, there are concerned people in the ebay community who will bid up items from known dishonest sellers so as to disrupt their auctions. They end up inflating the prices of auctions so far over the market price that they block unsuspecting bidders from participating.

In this auction, they're most likely "shill bidders" since the bidder's identities are hidden, but perhaps there were vigilantes involved when the car went to over $100K previously. Let's hope so. It's always good to see dishonest sellers actively thwarted.

[dreyer635]

and once again?
 
http://http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4606610730&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3ASS%3AUK%3A1

same layout, "buy it now" at a low price without no buy it now button etc...

 

[Douglas]

It looks like they've hijacked someone else's account to pose as a credible seller with good feedback. Very sad....

[waltklatt]

Also noticed the sellers other items.  A camaro for the same Buy it now price and all the electronic items from computers etc..
Shame!
Walter Klatt
1967 220SL-diesel
1963 230SL-gas

[dreyer635]

A follow up:
Earlier today I sent the first seller (the one without a working ebay email  - only yahoo!!) a mail regarding more info about the car:

This is the reply from "Janos":
*********************
Hello and sorry for the delay,
The 1967 Mercedes-Benz 250SL  is in perfect working condition.(my comment: and selling for $5900!) My experienced Mercedes Benz tech has fully checked out this car and gives it a special high rating has a CLEAR and CLEAN TITLE a great history and mechanically without any problems ever safety check and pre-delivery inspection along with a fresh servicing before I ship or deliver the vehicle.

The problem is that in the meanwhile I had to move with my family in Sweden where I got a new job as a construction engineer. I brought the car here with me with the intention of driving it but when I found out about the very high import duties and all the restrictions regarding registration and emissions tests here
I have made up my mind and decided to sell the vehicle.
The amount you will have to pay in order to own this vehicle is $5,900 with shipping costs included!
 
Let me know if you are still interested.
Regards,
Janos
******************

Well, since I'm in Norway, and next neighbour country is Sweden, I said I could come inspect the car and pay the amount in cash, and then drive away to Norway (a few hours away) - of cource -  nothing heard sice..

Regards Kjell
SL280 69

[TheEngineer]

How can one possibly "hijack" someone else's eBay account? You'd have to have the screen name (that one is available to anyone) but you'd also have to have their password, and I don't understand how that is possible. I once responded to an offering like that, and the car was in Austria, where I have good friends.I wanted to look at the car and wrote email to the seller to that effect. Never heard from the seller again and the listing was removed quickly.

[ranchomerced]

I think I got his fake car up to $277,000.00 before he blocked me from bidding. Remember he can't give you negative feedback unless it was a legitimate auction and you actually won the auction. Mark

[Douglas]

ebay screen names are routinely stolen from unsuspecting people who respond to fake ebay "phishing" solicitations. You receive a fake ebay e-mail asking you to re-confirm details about your account to "keep it safe." Then, they've captured your PIN, etc. and go to town.

[TheEngineer]

Thanks Douglas & Good Show, Mark. I found a site that explains these things:http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y205/m02/abu0136/s02
As an added precaution I just changed my password. I had one bad experience on eBay: I sent a "Club" back to a "prprine" and he never gave me my money back. But compared to Others, my loss was small. And he threatened me with negative feedback if I'd write negative feedback.I learned a lesson. eBay was little help, neither was PayPal. Moral: Don't expect others to be honest. Some people change when money is involved.