Fraud alert Fair warning to Audiogoners.

Glreno,
Can you point to specific ads on Ebay? How do you know they are people of Arabic descent if they use Jewish or Anglo surnames? For that matter, how do you know what surnames they use, since Ebay doesn't release this information?

I am concerned that the vague information provided will only serve to cause unnecessary fears and suspicions, especially against people of "Arabic descent".

Except for the allegation about the suspicious feedback, all the other "suspicious" features are not suspicious at all:

The items advertised are very desirable
THERE ARE TONS OF DESIRABLE ITEMS ON EBAY

The items are priced below market value
ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT A "BUY IT NOW" PRICE OR A STARTING PRICE? HOW DO YOU DETERMING "MARKET PRICE"?

The feedback, if any, is recent and contrived
OK, THIS MAY BE SUSPICIOUS, BUT CAN WE HAVE EXAMPLES?

The payment method always assures no recourse for the buyer (Postal Money Order, Western Union)
THERE ARE TONS OF SALES WHICH REQUIRE MONEY ORDERS. IT IS PROBABLY THE MOST PREVALENT PAYMENT METHOD.

Spain and New York City area seemed to be where these scams are coming from. Once I discovered the people in New York, the ads started to come from Spain.
A CHECK OF PHOTO ITEMS FROM SPAIN A MINUTE AGO REVEALED HUNDREDS OF ITEMS. NEW YORK HAS MANY MORE. AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU "DISCOVERED" THE PEOPLE? DID YOU CONFIRM THAT AN AD WAS FRAUDULENT IN YOUR OFFICIAL CAPACITY, OR ARE YOU MERELY REFERRING TO AN AD THAT YOU THINK IS SUSPICIOUS?

The ads are very well done and includes pictures
THERE ARE TONS OF ADS THAT ARE WELL DONE, AND ALMOST ALL HAVE PICTURES

Many of the ads have cryptic messages built into them
CRYPTIC MESSAGES? PAUL IS DEAD? CAN YOU BE SPECIFIC? AND WHAT PURPOSE DO THE CRYPTIC MESSAGES SERVE? ARE TERRORISTS USING EBAY TO COMMUNICATE?

I certainly appreciate being alerted to a scam. But you give little information necessary to detect a specific scam and much fuel for unnecessary hysteria.

Glreno,
You have now satisfied 95% of my concerns about the vagueness of the allegations. You have to admit, a DA would have laughed at your report of facts in your first posting on this thread. I would admit that a DA would take the facts in your last post very seriously.

I am still concerned that there is an anti-arab hysteria brewing since 9-11. Your first post identifies the culprits as being of Arabic descent. Maybe you have information about their identities which confirms that. But so what? How does that information help the ebay/audiogon/audiomart shopper to detect and avoid the scam? I don't suggest that because they may be arabs that we should look the other way. Crooks should be identified and prosecuted. But would you have pointed out that they were of British or German origin if that were the case? And if all I know is that their screen name is [email protected], what difference does it make to me if they are Arab, German, African, British, etc?

Asa,
You seem to know an awful lot about abstract theory of social systems. But to bring it down to earth, are you suggesting that Glreno's inadvertent mention of the ethnicity of his suspects was a "general observation on the norms of a given culture" (ie, Arabs' dishonesty)?

I neither assumed nor implied that his inadvertent reference to the culprits' ethnicity was even intentional. But people do make innocent slips and these are often indicative of subtle but harmful stereotypes held by otherwise well meaning people. In this case, Glreno's allusion to ethnicity added absolutely nothing vis a vis the information necessary to help the reader spot a scam. It would have been just as meaningful if he had replaced "persons of Arabic descent" with "persons with red hair" - but that would have sounded quite out of place.

You can call it "political correctness" if you want. My experience is that that is a term bandied about by people who are unable or unwilling to consider change - another group of people who "need to get over themselves".