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eBay Classifieds Llisting Fake Taylor Swift Concert Tickets and email Phishing Text Message Smishing Scam

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eBay Classifieds Llisting Fake Taylor Swift Concert Tickets and email Phishing Text Message Smishing Scam Reports & Reviews (1)

- Burlington, NJ, USA • Apr 26, 2023
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On the morning of 4/21/23 EDT, I researched eBay for tickets to a Taylor Swift Concert at Met Life Stadium in New Jersey. I found a listing for tickets and the listing was an eBay Classified Ad (not a Buy-it-Now or Auction listing), and the seller provided a screenshot of the tickets. The seller also provided a description. The description of the tickets was listed as follows: "2 tickets to see LIVE Taylor Swift at MetLife Stadium on May 28th, 2023. Seats are in Section 126, Row 38, side by side. Classified ad price: US $980.00/ These are electronic and will be transferred through Ticketmaster immediately. The price is for both tickets." The eBay item number is 314510843752. The eBay seller ID is: andmu1163. The listing was a Classified Ad (like Craiglist); therefore, the item could not be purchased directly through eBay. For Classified Ads on eBay, the potential buyer needs to contact the seller through eBay messaging. When I contacted the seller through eBay messaging, eBay required me to provide my first and last name, email address, and phone number. I never experienced eBay requiring and providing my personal contact information to a seller. In my 23 years of buying and selling on eBay, only the eBay ID is provided and all communication goes through eBay's messaging system. Moving on, in my message to the seller, I told the seller I was interested in purchasing the tickets. Several hours later, the seller texted me on my phone. The seller's phone number is: 704-582-6761 (this could be a burner phone number). The seller claimed her name is: Jennifer Bartholomew. Below I will provide some direct quotes from the texts and some explanations. The first text from the seller read: "Hi Susan, texting you about the Taylor Swift Tickets from eBay. $980 for the pair ($490 each)." I asked her how to purchase the tickets. The seller's listing noted the item was in Charlotte, North Carolina, but her eBay account said she lives in Dallas, TX (since that time, the seller removed her location identification on the eBay listing and now it only reads "United States"). The seller said she would take the payment through Venmo or Zelle. I asked if she could accept the payment through PayPal Goods and Services (to provide me with buyer protection). The seller said: "l don't have a PayPal, sorry. We can do a ticket at a time if you want. These are my tickets, not a broker or a scammer." I said at that point that I'd think that would be 0k, but I asked for additional snapshots of the tickets in addition to the ones that were provided on eBay. She provided one snapshot. The snapshot looked like a typical Ticketmaster account. The snapshot of the tickets included the name of the venue, date, number of tickets, and location of seats. I was satisfied with the picture. The seller asked me for my email for my registered Ticketmaster account and reminded me to make sure I have the Ticketmaster app. on my phone. We agreed to do the transition through Zelle, but I would pay for one ticket at a time-- I'd pay $490 for one ticket, then she'd transfer one ticket from her Ticketmaster account to my account. After that, I'd pay for the second ticket and then she would transfer the second ticket. The seller then provided the email I should use to identify her through Zelle. The email she provided was [email protected] (however it appears this email is now invalid) and told me to use her full name, Jennifer Bartholomew. I logged into my WSFS Bank account through the bank's app. and accessed the Zelle feature. I entered her email address and her name appeared. I sent $490 to her. I texted her to say that I sent $490. Then the seller asked me for a screenshot of the payment. I did send her a screenshot of the payment on Zelle. The last 4 digits of my bank account were visible on Zelle and the snapshot. Then the seller replied "OK, first ticket sent. You will get an email from Ticketmaster in the next 20 minutes." Then she advised me on what to do when I received the email from Ticketmaster, "Please click on "accept tickets." I thought 20 minutes was too long to wait for the email from Ticketmaster to let me know a ticket was transferred to my account. I waited about 10 minutes and then reached out to the seller to let her know I did not receive the email. She didn't reply. I then made several attempts over the next hour to reach the seller and to try to get my money back but she never replied. As you can tell, the communication between me and the seller/scammer was consistent until I sent the payment; after the seller/scammer received the payment he/she ghosted me. On 4/21/23 and 4/22/23, I reported this seller to eBay several different ways to tell them that the Taylor Swift ticket listing was fraudulent and explained the scam. Both times when I contacted customer service (first I spoke to a representative on the phone and second through an online chat) I attempted to fully explain what happened to me, but the representative stopped me to give me a link to submit my complaint. The first link I was given was a spoof email report... That was not the appropriate method to submit a complaint because that is when someone receives a phishing email. The second person I spoke to provided me with a link where I could explain the situation and attach documentation (I have several pieces of documentation to support my report). I also reported the listing through eBay's report listing feature (where I check some boxes), and I reported the seller through their report seller feature (I had some pull-down choices to make a selection of the issue-- I chose fraudulent listing). As of this message to you, eBay still has not pulled the Taylor Swift Ticket listing. I continue to take screenshots with a timestamp of the listing to show that it continues to be posted on eBay, despite my efforts to report it and provide documentation. It is highly likely that other people who fell for the scam before me and will fall for the scam after me. This seller also has a listing for basketball tickets, which I alerted to eBay to the possibility the basketball tickets are not legitimate during my first call on 4/21/23. I reported the incident to my bank WSFS Bank. They filed a fraud claim, but it is likely that I will not get my money back. I reported the incident to Zelle, so they knew there was someone using the Zelle platform to scam people. I also reported this to the FTC and the FBI- Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). I did report this to you, the BBB, because I felt it was necessary to report eBay; they have done nothing to remove these tickets from their platform after I provided documentation of the scam. Their failure to act swiftly and failure to fulfill their duty to protect their customers makes me think, as I said previously, other people were possibly scammed before and after me. Incidentally, I see similar types of listing on eBay classified ads by different seller IDs (I do wonder if it is the same seller who is using multiple eBay IDs). Please note, the way eBay sets up their Classified Ad feature makes it very easy for this scam to take place--I will lay out the details of how this is an effective scam:

(1) eBay classified ads do not require the seller to take the payment through eBay directly, like the Buy-it Now or the Auction listings.

(2) eBay gives the seller/scammer the buyer's full name, email address, and phone number. Normally, for Buy-it-Now and Auction listing, eBay only provides the buyer's eBay ID. For instance, my eBay ID does not disclose my name and personal contact information. My eBay ID is "**********."

(3) Because eBay does not provide a means to transact through eBay itself, they do not offer the buyer the same protection as they do for Buy-it-Now and Auction listings. The seller can contact the buyer via the buyers email and/or phone number.

(4) The buyer and the seller work out the method of payment.

(5) It is likely the seller did not provide her/his real name. It probably was not Jennifer Barholomew (perhaps a stolen identity?). The phone number (704-582-6761) may have been a burner number, to keep his/her real phone number private. The email address ([email protected]) does not appear to be valid; for example, it was not accepted as a valid email on your site.

(6) eBay did not verify that a real phone number and email address was given when the eBay account was set up. Also, the scammer was able to set up a fictitious name.

(7) eBay's customer service, although I contacted them several times, did nothing to remove the account. When I asked eBay if I would find out the results of their review of the seller's account, they said they could not provide me with that information. It appears that eBay was more interested in protecting the scammer/seller who only had an eBay account since March 27, 2023 than they were interested in protecting me; I have been buying and selling on eBay for 23 years and have excellent ratings. The scammer probably knows that eBay does not tend to remove the Classified Ad listings as they would with a Buy-it-Now or Auction listing.

(8) The seller/scammer was able to set up a bank account with a fictitious name and email address (possibly the name was someone's stolen identity). I do not know the bank the seller used.

(9) The seller's bank account was connected to Zelle. Apparently, the seller's bank account was also connected to Venmo because he/she offered that as an alternate payment method.

(10) When a payment is done via Zelle and Venmo, the victim/person sending the money takes full responsibility and is unable to pull the money back. The seller/scammer is able to escape freely. The buyer/victim is unable to get a refund from the bank.

I will provide documentation to the message. I have more than what is attached, but I could only attach one document.

Thank you

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