[clayfoushee]

Duane,

Thanks for the link. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if the scammer ring behind the latest series of e-bay Cobra frauds is actually HQed in this country and just playing dumb, with the "dead relative, doesn't speak good English game." They're also very good about constantly changing their ISP locators, so they're likely not as stupid as some here would like to believe. I would bet this is not an individual, but a ring of identify theft/internet scammers.

It also wouldn't surprise me a bit if the ring is monitoring this site. The tactics suddenly changed as soon as there was a lot of traffic here about the "pre-approved bidder" format.

The story also revealed the "loopholes" in E-bay's "buyer protection plan," which most people don't seem to know about. If you correspond by e-mail and arrange a wire transfer, you're not protected because it is outside the auction format.