Is it possible for someone to hijack an Ebay classifieds account without the actual owner of the profile noticing?

In August I bought a Nintendo game via an Ebay classifieds profile, where the seller wanted the money to be sent to an email address as an Amazon voucher code.

I've been trading on Ebay and classifieds for a long time and have never let myself into anything like this. That day, stupid, it's your own fault, I know.

My child annoyed me all the time that I should order the game because it was very cheap.

The buyer offered me more games, but I declined after realizing that all of these games had been photographed on different wooden tables. Usually you photograph your offers against a similar background. I suspected that the provider had stolen the photos from other offers and did not even have the games. Why else did he have all the games I was looking for but hadn't stopped them.

Unfortunately, I had already paid by then and the goods did not actually arrive and the provider no longer contacted me.

I requested the seller's data from Ebay classifieds, but only got a copy of the offer and the information that the seller is anonymous and that classifieds do not have access to the data.

I only had the email address and the offer and filed a complaint. However, this fizzled out because the public prosecutor's office could not locate the seller based on the email address alone.

But I saved the seller as a favorite and noticed yesterday that something had been set for the first time since August.

To be on the safe side, I went back to the fraudster's old PM, clicked on the profile name… And actually… He has 3 offers running, even with a complete real address.

I took a screenshot and wrote to the seller from my known profile and asked about the shipping costs of an item. Since the old communication was still there in this PN, in which I threatened to call in the police, as expected, I received no answer to the request.

I wrote to the seller about another item through my friend's account and got an answer (this time serious).

I spoke to the UK about the incident back then and they pretended to be clueless.

I now have his real address.

My question: could it be that someone hijacked the seller's account at short notice? That this third person has secretly posted something there without the owner of the account noticing? Because normally you get emails if you put something there yourself and send PM to interested parties.

Could it be that this passed the account holder by and that he is now posting new offers after 1/2 year without knowing that the account was used for fraudulent purposes 1/2 year ago? I can't imagine.

What do you think? Would you give the address to the public prosecutor?

I know myself that it is my own fault that does not need to be discussed.

It is quite possible. If the person uses the same password for classified ads and the stored mail account, an account thief could have used the account and deleted all related emails immediately. He could also have changed the email address and deleted the change email. If you don't get all the messages straight away via push to your mobile phone, you won't necessarily notice it.

But I think rather that there's a brazen fraudster on the way. This "playing stupid" is the basis for everything in fraud. In blatant cases, a fraudster drops everything from his pocket to booty or aids and he continues to loudly claim that he does not know anything. Passing this on to the public prosecutor's office will probably be of no use if the real data can't be compared with the IP data of the time.

Anything is possible, but I still doubt it - or it wouldn't be your job to investigate this matter.

So give what you know to the prosecutor. Hopefully they'll take care of finding out what exactly was and is going on. And that would be in the event that this is really true, yes, also in terms of eBay. Who knows who else was betrayed in his name.

If I were you, I would also pass it on because it is more than just possible that people are being cheated on again. Only very few will admit that if they are caught.

Has the email address been changed?

If it is still the same then it becomes less likely that he is someone else.

He can of course use email addresses that he does not check often.
I also have a separate address for shopping stuff (because advertising waste also arrives, I want to keep it free from my usual communication), which I do not check, only when I'm waiting for certain communication (such as a delivery, an invoice, etc.).

Anyway, this:

I took a screenshot and wrote to the seller from my known profile and asked about the shipping costs of an item. Since the old communication was still there in this PN, in which I threatened to call in the police, as expected, I received no answer to the request.

makes me wonder.

How can he pretend to be clueless? The course must have been noticed? At least he would have answered the question if he was so clueless.

Report to the police that you now have the address of the fraudster, they must determine the rest.

If they really wanted to investigate then, they would have checked the IP. IP classifieds at the time, IP mail provider at the time.

I think it was too much work for them to get the Ebay classifieds IP address. Perhaps this also requires a judicial decision.

What purchase amount are we talking about here?

45 euro

On eBay classified ads, the prices for this range between 15 and 500 euro.

With an amount of 45.00 € I would spare my nerves and consider the whole thing as an investment in my further education.

What you can do independently:

Without notification, just a message to the public prosecutor's office.

The ad was already running and the investigation was closed.

That is relatively crude. Years ago, a friend of mine was the victim of an Ebay classifieds fraud when someone cracked his account and offered things there that didn't even exist. He didn't notice because he wasn't doing much and sometimes didn't read emails for months until he was summoned to the police. It ended up being the one who didn't get the one who did it, but it was clear that it couldn't have been my friend.

What do you think? Would you give the address to the public prosecutor?

I do not know.

In general, I would not bother about 45 euro and would rather pity someone who needs to cheat people because of such a relatively small amount. A normal or serious person, who somehow got his life regulated, would not need such games.

On the other hand, it's a stupid situation - and if he doesn't answer you but someone else, then maybe it already indicates that he has a guilty conscience or that he is covering his child, that he was upset because of boredom caused by school holidays or spent pocket money, etc., it can happen and it wouldn't be the first time.

You should also take the wind out of your sails for such guys. If he has done it, he will not only have practiced it with you.

Since the old communication was still there in this PN, in which I threatened to call in the police, as expected, I received no answer to the request.

You already have screenshots - very good. On the other hand: I don't know the exact wording. If - I'm very rarely on Ebay classifieds - someone would simply accuse me of fraud and threaten the cops, but I was not aware of any guilt, I would block and / or report the user who does this and think in which film I'm actually. Perhaps it happened that way here too, I can't assess to what extent that one sees being blocked or not.

I would sleep for another 1-2 nights and then maybe talk to someone. Good addresses are the legal advice center, but also the VdK Sozialverband and especially the SoVD Sozialverband Deutschland. Many do not even know, but these are no longer "war disabled associations" (most think so); they have much more very good and free legal advice for everyone - I don't know how things are currently going in Corona, but they definitely exist; I've already approached her for two or three incidents, from neighborhood disputes to theft, and always got quick and very friendly, correct help.