Andrea 1f5 Auction Fraud

[Phil Nelson]

Very annoying! But eBay is usually good about killing the auction once the fraud is confirmed.

If you look at the bid history, that all looks fishy, too. Some of the "bidders" have zero history outside of this auction.

This has happened to me more than once. The last time, a seller ostensibly located in Peru (!) listed some of the most valuable items in my collection, including the mammoth Scott 800B radio/tv/phono console. They used my photos and loads of text from my restoration articles. Somebody in a UK forum noticed that the shipping charges from Peru for a 200-lb console were ridiculously low, then recognized the Scott photos from my website and contacted me.

Apart from pulling the auction and cancelling that member's account (probably created with fake ID, anyway), I don't know what eBay can do. In the cases where they pulled a fake auction after my report, I didn't hear anything back from them. I think their position is that privacy concerns prevent them from telling anyone what action they have taken. As a practical matter, it seems pretty impossible to prosecute somebody in another country for attempted fraud.

Let the buyer beware!!

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html