Did I almost get taken???? (long)

[xray]

I think I may have almost fallen for an EBay scam...here are the details, although I left out exact names. I included whole text of emails in case someone has run into this before--sorry for the length

So I've been looking for a set of 44 Mikunis to put on my L28, and found a recent EBay auction advertising them. I bid, but lost by 10 bucks to a well-known Mikuni-supporting company on the East Coast. A couple days later I receive an email stating the initial high bidder backed out for financial reasons, and I could buy them if I still wanted them. I initially said yes, while noting that the email address and name on the Second Chance Offer differed from the seller's email and name as listed on the auction.

Today I got an email stating the following:

Dear [me] ,

My name is _______ from the eBay Safety Center.
We know that you have been contacted by ________ for the second chance offer in his auction #8059642388 and we also know that the item is located in United States and the seller is in United Kingdom. The shipping will be made from United States by his wife and the payment will be made in United Kingdom to Mr. ____________ who is a verified seller and you will be protected by us. As will be stated in the invoice, the seller has $6,048.50 in our account and if something will happen ( you will not be satisfied with the item ) in max 5 days you will receive your money back. So you can see the item before you give your money for good.
So it is not a problem if you send the payment through Western Union Money Transfer. We secure this transfer!
To complete the transaction, you will need to follow the steps from the invoice and make the payment. In any other case you will not be protected.
Payment instructions:

To submit the payment with WesternUnion Money Transfer, you have to:

Click here to locate the agents in your area http://www.westernunion.com/info/agentInquiryIntl.asp? . Go to one of them and send the payment to the verified name of the seller..
Once the payment was sent, email the seller the following information:
1. Exact 10 Digit Money Transfer Control Number;
2. Exact senders name on file with WesternUnion:
3. Your street address on file with WesternUnion:
4. City and country where you sent the money from:
5. Amount sent:

ImageCopyright © 1995-2006 eBay Inc. All Rights Reserved. Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of the eBay User Agreement and....

So....looks like a scam. Bad grammar, using Western Union, non-US recipient etc. Things to note:
1) All hyperlinked text looked like real EBay URLs.
2) I have not heard of people scamming on Second Chance offers, usually just initial auctions.

Then I got this from "EBay" as an invoice. I've bought using Second Chance Offers, but never got anything like this:

Congratulations, eBay transaction started!
• Current status: Payment pending. Purchase protection granted.

Dear [me] ( 44Feedback score is 10 to 49) ,
After verifying the trustworthiness of the seller _____ ( 99Feedback score is 50 to 99) ,
and the availability of the merchandise for immediate shipping, we have
approved your buy it now transaction and offered you as the buyer,
full purchase protection for the amount you agreed on with the seller.

Complete your eBay transaction in 5 easy steps:
*************************************************
1-Buyer and seller agree on the transaction terms and a selling price.
2-Seller contacts eBay with the transaction details.
eBay accepts the transaction and offers purchase protection to the
buyer (if the transaction is declined, no further action is required
from either the buyer or the seller).
3-The buyer sends payment. After the payment
cleared, the seller must notify eBay. Buyer will send the payment
details directly to the seller email address. The seller has three
business days to send the buyer and eBay the tracking number of the
shipment. If no tracking number is provided, a full refund is
immediately sent to the buyer;
4-Buyer receives the merchandise and has five days to inspect it.
If it is complete and as described, the buyer should accept the merchandise.
If he refuses the merchandise, the buyer must ship the merchandise
back to the seller within three business days.
5-After the inspection period is over, the buyer must contact eBay with
the result of the inspection. If the buyer refuses the merchandise,
the refund will be sent to the buyer after the tracking number for the
returned shipment is verified.

To enjoy the purchase protection, you must send the payment by the
insured payment method below.
Attention: Sending the payment by any other method will void this
transaction and your right to refund.
Details and instructions of this transaction:

• The following item(s) are protected in this eBay transaction:
Item name: Triple Mikuni/Solex carburetors for 240z 260z 280z 44mm carbs and cannon intake with chrome K&N filters
Item price:
US $_____/ Amount insured
Shipping price: Ready to ship / The Item price includes shipping and insurance fees.
Payment: Pending
ID Verify

Seller's verified payment address:
___________Member is ID Verified
_______
_______
________, UK


Buyer's shipping address:
Steven Carter
____________
____________
United States





Date of verification: May-05-2006
Payment must be sent by: Western Union Money Transfer
Next step to be taken: The buyer must send the payment to the seller

• Complete your eBay transaction:
Payment instructions:
To submit the payment with Western Union Money Transfer, you have two options:
1. Pay for the transfer with cash at a local Western Union agent.
Click here to locate the agents in your area
http://www.westernunion.com/info/agentInquiryIntl.asp
2. If you are now in the USA and need to use a credit/debit card
(Visa or MC), call 1-800-CALL-CASH and make the payment to the verified name
of the seller. An additional fee will be charged on most cards because
this transaction will be considered a cash advance on your card.
Several IDs and utility bills are required before the funds are paid. Therefore, no
one else but your seller can pick up the money. Your payments cannot be
lost in the mail, like money orders or checks.
Sellers located in United States are not yet eligible for the PayPal Buyer Protection,
which means you are not protected against fraud if you pay this seller by PayPal.
Our responsibility is to make every option safe. This seller is verified by our
services and you can have all the trust in his requests.
However, Western Union Money Transfer is designed mainly for sending
cash to friends and family in need, so telling them you are sending the
money to an eBay seller will prevent your money transfer to go through
and you will be unable to complete this transaction.
Because the fee to send a Western Union Money Transfer is high,
compared to other methods of payment, we have arranged with the seller
to compensate for half of this fee (i.e. if it costs you $100 to send
the payment, take $50 from the amount insured and send the balance).

• Once the payment was sent, email the seller the following information:
1) 10 digit MTCN (Money transfer control number).
2) Exact sender's name on file with Western Union.
3) Your street address on file with Western Union.
4) City and country where you sent the money from.
5) Amount sent.

• Purchase protection and refund:
Currently, this seller has a US $6,048.50 deposit in an eBay managed
purchase protection account. Transactions with this eBay seller are
covered by purchase protection against fraud and description errors.
For your safety, this account was locked today, for 30 days time. The
seller is unable to withdraw any money from it, within this period.
Should you need a refund for this transaction, the insured amount will
be taken from the seller's purchase protection account and sent to you.
The refund is sent to your bank account, or by check or money order.
The way you are refunded is at your choice. You have 30 days from the
above verification date to request a refund. Refund requests are
processed within 3 days.
The insurer of this transaction is eBay Inc., located at 2145 Hamilton
Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125, United States of America.
The account is managed by eBay's Square Trade center.
SquareTrade LogoThis transaction is supervised by eBay's Safe Harbor team.
CONDITIONS TO BE MET BEFORE YOU MAY ASK FOR A REFUND
Here are the situations suitable for a refund request:
1. If the item doesn't arrive and/or the seller stops communications
after the payment was received.
2. If the merchandise you receive has different specifications than the
ones you agreed on.
3. If your merchandise arrives in a much longer period than the one
you agreed on (more than 10 days from the payment clearance day).
For cases 2. and 3. you have to send back the merchandise to the seller
prior to ask for your refund. If you did not pay the seller by the
required payment method, your refund request would be declined.

Important Usage Guidelines:
*************************************************
1. The contact information should only be used for resolving matters
related to eBay. Any other use is strictly prohibited.
2. This transaction is protected by eBay services such as insurance,
feedback and dispute resolution.
3. You may buy and sell with confidence in all transactions with this
eBay member.
4. If you need to dispute this transaction, keep the transaction number
at hand when contacting eBay. Any complaints must be filed within 30
days from the verification date.

This e-mail message was sent to you from eBay SafeHarbor team, with
the full support of the SquareTrade center.
The seller was informed about this transaction being started and is
awaiting your payment. It is recommended to send the payment as soon
as possible, because your purchase protection is valid for 30 days only.

DISCLAIMER: Do not pay with a cash transfer for a transaction eBay
never insured. Never use Western Union Money Transfer or Money Gram
to pay a seller which credibility and payment address was not verified
by us. You are most likely to lose your money and never receive the
merchandise you paid for. If a seller requires cash transfer and you
do not have this kind of purchase protection, please do not participate.

If you encounter any problems with this transaction, please contact us.
When contacting our support team, use the reply feature so that all
previous correspondences are included in your email. Otherwise, we
will not be able to process your request.
To ask for a refund, simply reply to this notification and enter in
the subject line: Refund request for eBay Transaction # 8059642388


Account Protection
*************************************************
Protect your eBay account - eBay will not ask you for sensitive
personal information (such as your password, credit card, bank
account numbers, etc.) in an email.

Thank you for using eBay!
http://www.ebay.com/
Copyright © 1995-2006 eBay Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners.
Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of the eBay User Agreement and Privacy Policy

This almost looks legit. But, like I said before, I never saw an invoice like this before despite having made several Second Chance transactions. So, with all the other problems with the prior email and the misrepresentation of (1) seller ID, (2) seller and/or item location (US or UK? Nigeria?) and requiring Western Union gave me cold feet so I backed out.

Thanks for taking the time to check this out. Did I lose out on some good Mikunis, or almost get separated from a big wad of cash?

Thanks (and beware),
Steve

[xray]

Definitely a scam using Second Chance Offers. The offer was not in the "My Messages" section of my EBay page, and this response confirms it:

Thank you for writing to eBay Motors.

It's not unusual for a seller to contact a non-winning bidder and offer
the item. The reserve price may not have been met, or maybe the high
bidder backed out of the purchase for some reason.

If you receive an offer like this, make sure that the seller is making
an official Second Chance Offer through eBay. If you complete a
purchase
outside of eBay, the purchase isn't eligible for eBay benefits, such as
Feedback or purchase protection.

An official Second Chance Offer will have a new Item number and a new
item page. It will also show up as a message from eBay in the "My
Messages" section on your "My eBay" page. To access your messages:

1. Click the "My eBay" link at the top of any eBay Motors page. You
might be asked to sign in.
2. Click the "My Messages" link on the left side of the page.
3. Use the drop-down menu at the top of your inbox to select "eBay."
This will display all of your messages from eBay.

If the offer you received appears there, click on the message to open
it. To accept the Second Chance Offer, go to the Offer page contained
in
the message and use the "Buy It Now" button.

***Important***
If the offer you received isn't listed in the "My Messages" section,
and
if it doesn't have a new Item number with a new item page, it's not an
official eBay Second Chance Offer. If that's the case, I don't
recommend
completing the purchase.

Also, we strongly recommend against using instant cash wire transfer
services such as Western Union and MoneyGram. We suggest that you not
send payment in cases where these are the only methods of payment
accepted by the seller.

It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing eBay.

[mlc240z]

if it walks like a scumbag, and talks like a scumbag, it's probably a sc.........

thanks for the headsup.
hopefully the info will help warn in the future.

[zedevan]

my bro nearly got scammed, he was going to buy some bose lifestyle system, and the person in their auction (it was a 24hour auction for one) had "contact me for a buy it now price) so my bro contacted him and he was like $1500, if you agree to it let me know and i'll tell u my bank details. this is a unit that has a $10,000 rrp

my bro said yeah sounds good, he replied and said, i've cancelled the auction and put one up with a "buy it now" price under my wifes account (another account with around 30 feedback all postitive) , and here are my bank details (noticing that he was pushing that we put the email into his account, not the one ebay suggested, and ofcourse this was western union or whatever, but luckily my bro was reading up on it at the same time and found out that its the dodgiest way to pay)

we then continued to do the buy it now option before someone else did, but i think we emailed him and said we'll give you $100 to do COD (as you can add on postage and handling it isn't a huge deal and made sure someone else didn't buy it) and suggest that western union is dodgy so we dont feel safe etc.

he then stopped replying, and a couple of days later we received an email from the two peoples accounts saying DONT BUY OR PAY FOR THIS ITEM, WE DID NOT PUT IT UP FOR SALE AND DO NOT HAVE IT!!! we told ebay ofcourse but i dont think anythign came of it ever, this was about 6 months ago...

[zhead240]

buy on second chance. tell him if he wants to sell to you, relist it, and you'll bid again.

[Alfadog]

buy on second chance. tell him if he wants to sell to you, relist it, and you'll bid again.

I wouldn't go that far. I have bought on second chance offers numerous times when the seller has a duplicate or the top bidder did not pay. It happens, but you have to be careful about it to make sure you aren't being fooled by shimming or otherwise. Just make sure it's all through eBay and the feedback ratings are all good.

And if you think you're being scammed, you most probably are.

[rdefabri]

Run an eBay business (I have for about 5 years), that's a common scam. Don't feel bad, I am as experienced as you can get, some of these get sophisticated, even aping the actual eBay page.

Just report it and use PayPal ONLY.