We would like to create a new service to help alert members about fraudulent postings of Douglas motorcycles on eBay. If someone – or a group – could do a little research in to how these scams work and are perpetrated and write up a draft post, it could help other members spot them or other potentially fraudulent listings. Personally I am not entirely sure just what the goal of these listings are, having never carried through with one. Is it to try and complete a non-delivery of goods transaction outside of eBay, collect demographic emails, or what? Hence some factual research is needed. By understanding how the scams work, one can identify the warning signs. This can be turned into a ‘Sticky Post’ to remain at the top of the eBay Sales board as a guide to other members. No doubt the scammers will evolve, so the topic can be added to as new twists and schemes are identified.
Beyond the general guide as described above, a second and more specific topic thread (also a Sticky Post) could be used to catalog known fraudulent listings and images of Douglas motorcycles (or spares). While the eBay listing i.d. and seller accounts change as they try to stay one step ahead of their reputation, they seem to reuse the same downloaded image of particular bike over and over for their fraudulent listings. Identify those that are not genuinely for sale would be an alert to members that the listing is bogus. If the sellers find new images to use, those can be identified and added to the post.
This post here is for replies of those that are willing to collaborate or have suggestions for creating the two topic threads mentioned above.
-Doug
