Romanians Adept at eBay Scams

Here's a link to a story on FoxNews.com about a poor Romanian town that's suddenly grown rich thanks to Internet access and eBay fraud.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,328966,00.html

I'm an active eBay user, have been for 4-1/2 years now. I can atest there are scams-a-plenty that begin on eBay -- but there are also millions of successful transactions completed each day with both parties very satisfied.

Scams require the victim of the scam do something unsafe. Here's a quick list of ways to avoid an unsafe transaction that could make an eBay user a victim of a scam:

1. NEVER pay for an eBay item with a personal check or e-check.
   
2. NEVER pay for an eBay item with a Credit Card.
   
3. NEVER pay for an item with a wire transfer or a Money Order.
   
4. Never send payment information through an eMail message.
   
5. Never pay for an eBay item outside of eBay.
   
6. Don't deal with anyone in another country (except, maybe Canada).
   
7. Never respond to any eMails that come from eBay an eBay User -- go to eBay Message Center and respond there.
   
8. Always check feedback when you're dealing on eBay -- use extra caution if there's little or no feedback, avoid users with negative feedback.

It's safe to pay with a Money Order or Cashier's Check for small items, as long as you can stand to lose the money you send. It's also safe and convenient to use an online service like PayPal. You can use PayPal with your Credit Card or an e-check to pay for an item and still keep your sensitive financial info hidden from the other party. For large transactions you should pay in person and record the other party's ID, home address and telephone.

These are just a few points to make eBay safe to use -- for a complete list of all eBay security tips, visit eBay's 'Security and Resolution' page at
http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/index.html.