Possible EBay Scam

[chris_seven]

Yesterday afternoon I found a pair of 26mm Sway Away Torsion Bars on EBay.

Clicked on the Buy it Now and then paid with PayPal.

The EBay Item was listed by gt4911 who still has quite a few parts for sale.

I then recieved an e-mails saying that there was a mess up with his PayPal account. He asked me to cancel the payment and send the money to an alternative e-mail account.

The transaction showed as completed and the money sent to a guy called Steve Metzger.

The seller tells me that this is not him.

I told him that I couldn't cancel the payment as it was shown as complete and that he should send a refund. PayPal confirmed that this was correct.

I arrived this morning to an E-mail from EBay saying the sale had been cancelled because I had changed my mind !!! and that I should ask for a refund or not pay.

All very worrying.

I have sent messages but no result.

EBay Account Holder is gt4911 and I would be cautious about making any instant payments from these listings.

Does anyone know Steve Metzger or gt4911???

He is based in South Windsor. Connecticut (at least according to EBay)

[72targa]

Yikes! Keep us posted...

[chris_seven]

Update.

I heard from gt4911 and he says he doesn't have my payment.

He is not too happy that I have raised a dispute and thinks my attitude is poor

The dispute process sent me Steve Metzger's e-mail contact.

He has confirmed he has the money but never listed any 911 parts.

The money in his PayPal account is held so we now have to wait for PayPal.

It seems as if the problem is with PayPal but who should you believe when these problems occur.

Is it safe to pay instantly - I won't be doing it again - unless it is a very small amount.

[68911USA]

I got scammed by someone in South Windsor, CT last year- it's a different name, but quite interesting to be the same town. Sold him a rear wing, shipped it, and got nada. Guy changed his eBay ID and vanished. Here's my link to the Pelican article I wrote about it:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...orts-ebay.html

Or is South Windsor, CT just the hotbed of Porsche scammers these days?

[j911brick]

I have heard the name, but I don't recall where. All he has to do is refuse payment, or return it and it should be no problem. WHat I would be worried about is another party using this scam to phisch your passwords or somethiing. I got caught in that trap a couple years ago when a guy hijacked a buyer's account and bid on my item. We figured it out in a couple hours and I changed all my passwords, but the buyer was on the hook for $50,000 in purchases he never made.