Looked like an awesome way TOO good to be true sale. Obviously it was.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3844611813


Asked seller about payment and shipping and received the following:


"The shipping i will pay my

If you want to buy i need your full name and address so i can go at Ups Service for register your package ...i
use this service because is verry sure and fast and your package will pe protected!
The payment will be make via Western Union Money Transfer and you will put on this money secret question and answer i use this service in all my deals and i am verry satisfied!
This is my full name and address for you can make the payment :
First Name :Cezar
Last Name:Grdini
Address:Via Casiliana #30
City:Roma
Zip/Code :00120
Country:Italy
After you will make the payment on my full name and address you must send me the scaned confirmation from Western Union with the mtcn number hide in my e-mail address and imediatly i will recive the scaned confirmation i will send you the tracking number from Ups so you can pick up the package !!
After you will have the package at your home you must send me the secret question and answer so i can pick up the money
Thank you !!!
E-mail me back !!!"



After interpreting the english I decided to do a search on Western Union Money Transfer scams and discovered this is a common one now a days.

Just want everyone to be warry out there. Predators abound. Auction and email reported.

Any transaction that takes that much work is obviously a scam. Be especially carefull when people only take wire transfer like Western Union. There's a reason they do it, and it's not good for you. A travelers check or something should work just fine in Italy. Why won't he take that? Because......

Anyone who sends $1,200 to an unknow person in Italy for a promise that they will ship you something is crazy anyways.

There are a lot of hight ticket item scams on Ebay. One of the worse is the plasma TV's on Ebay. A lot a legit, but there is a lot of scams just like this XL1 scam this guy is trying to pull.

You can still get ripped here in the US though. I got ripped last year on a Paypal scam. I was selling a $1,200 item. I sold it via Paypal. They then contacted their CC company and stopped Payment. Paypal took the $1,200 and my item was gone.

Paypal's repsponse....."Sorry. Happens all the time. Be more carefull".

that pay pal thing happened to my friend, he sold his laptop and got the money to his account through pay pal, since he had the money he shipped his computer. well after shipping the computer pay pal finds out that the credit card used through them was stolen and gave my friend a negative balance of the amout his laptop sold for on his account, same line, "nothing we can do, be more carefull..." it sucks.

alex b