Blakely Smith dreamed of getting married in a Monique Lhuillier wedding gown–the kind she’d always loved when she saw them on celebrities like Pink in People magazine.
Now she’s out $2,400 to an eBay scammer and thinking maybe she should get married in a courthouse.
She admits her tale of wedding-dress-lust, clouded judgment and wedding-dream-lost is a bit embarrassing. But she hopes to help others avoid the pain she feels.
Smith made at least two textbook mistakes en route to being scammed, according to eBay.
What may make her case most remarkable, though, is how it ended–in a bizarre e-mail exchange with her anonymous scammer.
It came after Smith had paid her money and received nothing back. She e-mailed “Kate,” the supposed seller, told of a co-worker’s eBay horror story, and outlined why she was growing suspicious. “I am sorry to be this way, but in today’s world, it is not totally off base to be wary,” she said.
To which “Kate” replied:
“That’s true, indeed. I just scammed you, sorry for that, it’s nothing personal. … It’s what I do, and it pays well.”
How did Smith get into this mess? She was the top bidder for the gown, which sold new for $5,500. But she fell short of the reserve, the seller’s hidden minimum price.
She couldn’t tell how short. Neither, presumably, could the scammer. But the fake “Kate” knew when to pounce.
Soon after the auction closed, Smith got a message via her eBay account. The seller had decided to accept her final bid, it said, and directed her to reply to an outside
e-mail address.
Looking back, Smith realizes that was a red flag–one that was even warned against in a “Marketplace Safety Tip” on the same screen: “If you receive a response inviting you to transact outside of eBay, you should decline–such transactions may be unsafe and are against eBay policy.”
Another red flag was the wire-transfer “Kate” requested, saying her account on PayPal, eBay’s own payment system, had been frozen because of–what else?–a scammer’s intrusion.
More Top Picks Best Floor Lamps For Reading
But Smith, new to eBay, didn’t notice either warning until the deed was done. After a brief e-mail exchange with “Kate,” she sent her money–more than $2,400, including fees–to a Western Union office in Mt. Clemens, Mich.
Police there are investigating, and may catch the scammer or a confederate. But there are broader lessons in Smith’s story for anyone new to eBay.
One is that eBay says it can only warn against scams, not prevent them.
“Ultimately, this is between the buyer and seller. This is just a venue,” spokesman Hani Durzy said.The truth is, eBay can be a risky place.
Consider how “Kate” put it when The Philadelphia Inquirer e-mailed her at the address the scammer gave Smith: “It’s like the food chain, you know–I was the predator, she was the prey.”