Morris Minor Owners Club

" Watch out if you are thinking of buying a vehicle on ebay. The serial scammer is at it again with lots of Minors and other vehicles of all types. The way to currently spot him is to look at the photos. There is generally only one of the car followed by a second photo telling potential bidders the buy now price and to contact the seller by email not via ebay.
He uses genuine sellers ids
Despite many complaints to ebay they seem incapable of blocking these multiple fraudulent listings. "

Quickest way of dealing with these are...

" See other items " , if there are more , and it will be obvious..hit the back button then scroll down a little to..
" Report item " , and this is where Fleabay have it a little wrong..

Click on " Select from a list of report categories " , not the down arrow..
Select " Listing practices "

Click on " Select from a list of reporting reasons "
Select " Fraudulent listing activities "

Click on " Select from a list of detailed reporting reason "
Select " You suspect that a listing is fraudulent "

Hit " Submit report "

Less than two minutes and if Fleabay get plenty of reports they will act on them...

Reported.

John ;-)

I'm guessing from the look of them, cracked password, multiple people posting from the one account (look how the same vehicles are located in both the UK and Germany and the language is different).

I see one pickup with a buy it now price of £1900 and a current bid of over £50k, and a traveller with a picture of a van ends later today with bids of over £1300.

Interestingly enough they ask for cash on collection.

As an aside I gave up reporting these things to eBay after they always let them go ahead (even with days to go) even when I pointed out that some of the auctions had completely different vehicles (incl. different coloured paint) in each picture.

I know I'm putting my head above the parapet...…. I have absolutely no time whatsoever for the pernicious scumbags who perpetrate these obvious scams but there is a part of me that does wonder how much responsibility the victim has to accept if they get fleeced out of hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds.

I have put 'obvious' in italics, as this is the keyword here. The sort of man or woman who is scouring eBay for a classic car, motorbike, boat etc. etc. to purchase, must surely have a fair amount of nous. ''If it looks too good to be true and all that…..'' so a blind man at midnight ought to be able to spot a scam like this!

Slightly off-topic but what with the media currently overflowing with our need to be nice to one another and not to troll troubled celebrities on social media, said celebs (most of whom I've never heard of anyway) love all the media attention when things are going swimmingly but then they kick off when things go wrong - usually of their own making. They can't have it both ways!

To me, it all boils down to a complete lack of personal responsibility whether it be falling for an obvious scam or, as was recently famously described, engaging in 'unbecoming behaviour'! It is not always somebody else's fault.

I have no personal experience at all but there are hundreds of articles, TV programmes and enough anecdotal evidence out there, to sink a battleship for the honest citizens of the world to realize that not everyone is as honest an upright as they make out to be.

Here's a thought'. How about police authorities suspending mobile speed camera detectors for a month (they don't need to tell us which month!) and redirecting the cash and resources for officers to pose as potential eBay purchasers? I know this would probably require a change in the law - because of the current entrapment rules etc. - but as Parliament don't now have to spend every waking hour discussing Brexit, surely they can find an afternoon to sort this out....which apart from the human rights lawyers, would be warmly welcomed by 99% of the population, methinks.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about genuinely vulnerable people e.g. naïve youngsters and those with the onset of dementia etc. Only 3 months ago I read and saw a TV feature of a practicing solicitor who's unlikely to see the best part of her £300,000 'lent' to an internet love rat. Wow, just Wow!

Social media-wise, the genie is now well and truly out of the bottle....and it's not going back inside anytime soon. All the more reason therefore for everyone to be so vigilant, even suspicious, about every email, phone call, internet 'bargain', cold caller and all the other scumbags out there. Even the seemingly honest vendors of our beloved Moggies can make genuine mistakes in their vehicle descriptions, so it pays to do your homework before agreeing to the deal. That said, I should have practiced what I preached when I bought my Minor 1000 as I relied on a personal inspection, loads of paperwork and my belief that the vendor was a honest as they come. He pointed out a couple of minor shortcomings which I would never have spotted in a million years. I know it could have all gone horribly wrong and the car turned out to be not without a few issues but much better than I could have expected . I wouldn't have blamed anyone but myself, if I'd have bought a 'pup'.

As the Romans used to say over 2,000 years ago : Caveat emptor'. We haven't learnt much, in the interim, have we?

If you are minded to respond, please don't do so straight away...….I need to pop into the loft for my tin hat .

Alan

I agree with your thoughts, especially regarding the ‘celebrity’ issues. The scam problem is like ‘trying to rub out all the rude words on all the toilet doors in the world’ Its not possible. Awareness is the only way to tackle the problem.
I’ve actually seen people giving out personal details to vendors in town centres, God knows where that info ends up!

Another hacked account listing loads..

" popie547 "

I've upped one of his lots..

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Morris-Minor ... fresh=true

John ;-)

And some more Minors listed by these people today, beware!

...and todays Joker is bazjude2998 ( reported )


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/morris-minor ... fresh=true

John ;-)

Sleeper wrote: ↑Wed Mar 04, 2020 6:28 am ...and todays Joker is bazjude2998 ( reported )


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/morris-minor ... fresh=true

John ;-)

That listing has been taken down.

Fleabay seem to be getting better at responding to scammers posting multiple listings , let's see what the morrow brings..

John ;-)

They're out there again , and I'm the highest bidder.....Bargain.
John ;-)

Good luck! I personally wouldn't go much beyond £80-90K for that one.

It's amazing how many other items "Miss Vanessa" has got listed, all finishing at 12:03 on Saturday, and all such great value. The feedback is really impressive too Given how easy it is to spot, I really don't see why Ebay can't detect this sort of thing with a few algorithms.

When something listed on ebay looks a bit suspicious, the first thing I always do is to look at their "other items". Anybody selling several different and desirable vehicles all photographed in different locations, should give anybody a bit of a clue......
As you say, it would seem unlikely that ebay really can't stop this sort of regular occurrence.

and this one looks the same... ?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MORRIS-MINOR ... 2961528777

lots of other cars, bikes etc for sale....

Kindest regards,

Kevin

If you look closely at the numberplate, it says 'West Riding Classic Cars'! The photo angle is one of their typical ones too.

yes, I thought that but all the others?

Just doesn't look right thats all?

the contact outside of ebay etc.. anyway - Just thought I would say..

Kevin

Well, of course its not right - they pinched the pic from WRCC. Anyway, seems its been taken down now!

yep - thankfully.. good news..

Yet another , at least the seller has a good name...,
My first bid


John ;-)

He’s got Some great items for sale
All boys toys
I think this guy/girl has identified blokes are as daft as a brush