We have recently uncovered a clever scam being used by the massive eBay Seller www.5stardeal.com (also 5-stardeal) to attack ANYONE who is competing with them on eBay!

The Scam is simple, they contact a partner outside of the country (in this case in Tiawan (eBay UID: bj_tw), Then, when 5-stardeal finds an auction they object to Tiawan is contacted and they file a VeRO complaint against the auction and the seller.

eBay removes the auction and threatenes the seller WITHOUT EVER contacting the them! When you try to contact eBay you will get the run-around, and since 5-stardeal is operating through a 3rd party it's ALMOST impossible to tie them back, that is until they came after us! What follows is the tale of how we were attacked using this method and how we traced it back to the mastermind, www.5stardeal.com!

Click here for information on 5-star.

IP: 209.142.155.253
EMAIL: kyle@5stardeal.com
COMMENTS: I would like to take this time to introduce the company 5 star deal. We are the largest impotoers of casino suplies and poker chips in the U.S. I would be intrested in giving you a qoute on any of our products which you can veiw at our web site www.5stardeal.com. If you have any questions you e-mail back or contact by phone at 440-934-5900

thank you
kyle shafer 5 star deal

 

Well, we already have plenty of chips, thank you very much! Nothing happened for over a week after this e-mail arrived. Until...

We recieved the following e-mail from VeRO (eBay) on May 5 2004:

**PLEASE READ THIS IMPORTANT EMAIL REGARDING YOUR LISTING(S)**

We would like to let you know that we removed your listing:

3288512880 ALUMINUM Case Poker Chip Set 500 HEAVY 11.5g DICE Chips

because a Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Program participant notified us, under penalty of perjury, that your listing offers an unauthorized copy of copyrighted material.

We have credited any associated fees to your account. We have also notified the bidders that the listing was removed, and that they are not obligated to complete the transaction.

If you relist this or any other similar items on eBay, your account likely will be suspended.

If you believe your listing was ended in error, or have questions regarding the removal of this listing, please contact the VeRO Program participant directly at:

Bair Jiunn Enterprises
bj_tw@mac.com

eBay is available to answer questions, but since it is the VeRO Program participant that requested the removal of your listings, we encourage you to contact them first.

For more information on the VeRO Program, and a list of VeRO Program participant About Me pages, please visit:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/vero-removed-listing.html
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/vero-aboutme.html

Thank you for your cooperation.

Regards,

Customer Support (Trust and Safety Department)
eBay Inc

Who the hell is Bair Juinn Enterprises, a search of the entire net returned nothing, until I found their eBay seller account: bj_tw that listed their Country as Taiwan! So much for the VeRO check and balances of "penelty of perjury"! Try going after a VeRO member with NO auctions, NO feedback and NOT in the same country.

So now I searched OUR logs for the auction 3288512880 and discovered the following information:

209.142.155.253 www.lasvegasvegas.com - [28/Apr/2004:10:49:20 -0400] "GET /pokerchips/catalog/catalog/6-sm.jpg HTTP/1.1" 200 28839 "http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=63759&item=3288512880&rd=1" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1)"

211.72.108.21 www.lasvegasvegas.com - [06/May/2004:02:34:59 -0400] "GET /pokerchips/catalog/catalog/6-sm.jpg HTTP/1.0" 200 28839 "http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=63759&item=3288512880&rd=1" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.0.3705)"

The 209.142.155.253 is the SAME IP as the 5-stardeal e-mail!! The 211.72.108.21 is an IP in Tiawan! Bair Jiunn Enterprises IS www.5stardeal.com!! (more proof of this below)

We contacted eBay through several channels are recieved the following LAUGHABLE replys:

Hello Joseph,

Thank you for taking the time to contact eBay's VeRO Program.

Your listing, item number #3290944294, was removed at the request of
Bair Jiunn Enterprises through eBay's VeRO Program. When we receive these requests from rights owners through our VeRO Program we are obligated to remove the listings they specify.

As you know, eBay has not inspected the item you have listed. Nor do we
have enough information about your item to make any judgment as to
whether it is authorized. In addition, eBay is not an expert in the
rights of any third parties. As a result, we are not in a position to
make a judgment as to whether the item you have listed is authorized or
legal.

Should you feel your listing to have been removed in error you do have
the option of filing a Counter Notice. Before filing a Counter Notice
however, we would encourage you to resolve this matter directly with the
rights owner at bj_tw@mac.com.

We are providing you with a Counter Notice Form and explanatory
materials (attached to this email). Please read the material thoroughly
should you feel it to be appropriate, send the completed Counter Notice
back to us via fax (408) 516-8811.

Upon receiving the original of your fully completed Counter Notice, eBay
will notify the reporting party. If they notify us in writing or by
email that they no longer object to the item, listing, or material, we
will reinstate it. If the issue(s) cannot be resolved, eBay will send
your Counter Notice to the reporting party. eBay will inform that
entity that the listing will be reinstated after 10 business days unless
eBay receives notice from the reporting party that it has filed an
action seeking a court order to restrain you from re-listing the
item(s).

Before sending us this Counter Notice, please also keep in mind that the
Counter Notice requires you to certify under sworn penalty of perjury
that the item you listed is not infringing and was removed by mistake or
due to misidentification. You will also have to consent to federal
jurisdiction and service of process. If the reporting party disagrees
with the Counter Notice they may file a legal action against you to
prevent the reinstatement and/or re-listing of the removed item. That
lawsuit may also seek damages, including costs and attorney fees.

With your Counter Notice, please also fax proof of your residence. This
can be a legible copy of a current utility bill, phone bill, or any
government issued ID for verification. The personal information on the
bill or ID must match the information you have provided to us in the
Counter Notice.

Please note that any of these documents (a copy of a utility bill, phone
bill, or any government issued ID, etc.) provided to eBay will be
destroyed after your registration information has been verified.

Please let us know if you cannot open the attachments or if you have
further questions.

Regards,

Lizzie
eBay VeRO Team

 

Gee, thanks for the boiler plate, Lizzie! So if I am a VeRO partner I point at an auction, say it's mine and eBay TAKES IT DOWN NO QUESTIONS ASKED! Great, sign up now to eliminate your competition!

THE SAME DAY we recieved this e-mail from Ian the Investigator at eBay:

Hello,

Thank you for contacting eBay's Trust and Safety Department about an
email message you received. The email you reported did not originate
from, nor is it endorsed by, eBay. We are very concerned about this
problem and are working diligently to address the situation. We are
currently investigating the source of this email to take further action.
You may rest assured that your account standing has not changed and that
your listings have not been affected.

This message was falsely made to appear to have come from eBay. Messages
of this nature, commonly referred to as "spoof" messages, are sent in an
attempt to collect sensitive personal information from recipients who
reply to the message or click on a link to a Web page requesting this
information.

We advise you to be very cautious of email messages that ask you to
submit information such as your credit card number or your email
password. eBay will never ask you for sensitive personal information
such as passwords, bank account or credit card numbers, Personal
Identification Numbers (PINs), or Social Security numbers in an email
itself. If you ever need to provide information to eBay please open a
new Web browser, type www.ebay.com, and click on the "site map" link
located at the top the page to access the eBay page you need.

If you have any doubt about whether an email message is from eBay,
please forward it immediately to spoof@ebay.com and do not respond to it
or click on any of the links in the email message. Please do not change
the subject line or forward the email as an attachment.

If you entered personal information such as your password, social
security number or credit card numbers into a Website based on a request
from a spoofed email, you need to take immediate action to protect your
identity. We have developed an eBay Help page with valuable information
regarding the steps you should take to protect yourself.

To get to the "Protecting Your Identity" Help page from the eBay site,
please click on the "help" link located at the top of most eBay pages
and select the following topics when the "eBay Help Center" window
appears:

Safe Trading > If Something Goes Wrong > Identity Theft

We encourage you to review additional information about protecting your
identity found in the eBay Help system. Please click on the "help" link
located at the top of most eBay pages and select the following topics
when the "eBay Help Center" window appears:

Safe Trading > If Something Goes Wrong& > Account Theft > Account
Protection

Once again, thank you for alerting us to the spoof email you received.
Your vigilance helps us ensure that eBay remains a safe and vibrant
online marketplace.

Regards,

Ian
eBay SafeHarbor
Investigations Team
______________________________
eBay
Your Personal Trading Community (tm)

*******************************************

Important: eBay will not ask you for sensitive personal information
(such as your password, credit card and bank account numbers, Social
Security numbers, etc.) in an email. Learn more account protection tips
at:

http://www.pages.ebay.com/help/account_protection.html
_____________________________________________

For our latest announcements, please check:

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/announce.shtml
_____________________________________________

In order to better serve you, we'd like to occasionally
request feedback on our service. If you would rather
not participate, please click on the link below and send
us an email with the word "REMOVE" in the subject line.
If that does not work, please send an email to the
email address below. Your request will be processed
within 5 days.

mailto:cssremove@ebay.com

*******************************************

Original Message Follows:
-------------------------
return-path: <flipchipro@aol.com>
received: from [10.108.116.71] (helo smf-kxs-04.corp.ebay.com)by
smf-klm-01.corp.ebay.com (communigate pro smtp 4.1.5)with esmtp id
24961648 for spoof@kana-us-sp.ebay.com; thu, 06 may 2004 17:53:14 -0700
received: from smf-kxs-04.corp.ebay.com ([127.0.0.1]) by
smf-kxs-04.corp.ebay.com with microsoft smtpsvc(5.0.2195.5329);thu, 6
may 2004 17:53:13 -0700
received: from 10.108.116.85 by smf-kxs-04.corp.ebay.com (interscan
e-mail viruswall nt); thu, 06 may 2004 17:53:13 -0700
received: from [127.0.0.1] (helo mailhost4.sjc.ebay.com)by
smf-kls-02.corp.ebay.com (communigate pro smtp 4.1.5)with esmtp id
22861282 for spoof@kana-us-sp.ebay.com; thu, 06 may 2004 17:53:13 -0700
received: from imo-m23.mx.aol.com (imo-m23.mx.aol.com [64.12.137.4])by
mailhost4.sjc.ebay.com (8.12.8p1/8.12.8) with esmtp id i470rarj004003for
<spoof@ebay.com>; thu, 6 may 2004 17:53:11 -0700 (pdt)
received: from flipchipro@aol.comby imo-m23.mx.aol.com
(mail_out_v37_r1.3.) id y.36.57797a0e (3842)for <spoof@ebay.com>; thu, 6
may 2004 20:53:03 -0400 (edt)
from: flipchipro@aol.com
message-id: <36.57797a0e.2dcc37ef@aol.com>
date: thu, 6 may 2004 20:53:03 edt
subject: fwd: vero notice: ebay listing(s) removed - vero program
to: spoof@ebay.com
mime-version: 1.0
content-type: multipart/mixed;
boundary="part1_36.57797a0e.2dcc37ef_boundary"
x-mailer: 7.0 for windows sub 10622
return-path: flipchipro@aol.com
x-originalarrivaltime: 07 may 2004 00:53:13.0413 (utc)
filetime=[acd46750:01c433cd]

--part1_36.57797a0e.2dcc37ef_boundary
content-type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="part1_36.57797a0e.2dcc37ef_alt_boundary"
--part1_36.57797a0e.2dcc37ef_alt_boundary
content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
--part1_36.57797a0e.2dcc37ef_alt_boundary
content-type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"
content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable

family=
=3d"sansserif" face=3d"arial" lang=3d"0">
--part1_36.57797a0e.2dcc37ef_alt_boundary--

--part1_36.57797a0e.2dcc37ef_boundary
content-type: message/rfc822
content-disposition: inline
received: from rly-yh01.mx.aol.com (rly-yh01.mail.aol.com
[172.18.180.65]) by air-yh03.mail.aol.com (v98.19) with esmtp id
mailinyh31-2a0409a80d9389; thu, 06 may 2004 14:16:09 -0400
received: from mx28.sjc.ebay.com (mxpool13.ebay.com [66.135.197.19]) by
rly-yh01.mx.aol.com (v98.5) with esmtp id
mailrelayinyh12-2a0409a80d9389; thu, 06 may 2004 14:15:53 -0400
received: from capone.sjc.ebay.com (capone.sjc.ebay.com [10.6.61.57]) by
mx28.sjc.ebay.com (8.12.3/8.12.3) with smtp id i46ifrr7002452 for
<flipchipro@aol.com>; thu, 6 may 2004 11:15:53 -0700
message-id: <200405061815.i46ifrr7002452@mx28.sjc.ebay.com>
to: flipchipro@aol.com
from: ended@ebay.com
mime-version: 1.0
content-type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
subject: vero notice: ebay listing(s) removed - vero program
date: thu, 06 may 2004 11:15:53 pdt
x-aol-ip: 66.135.197.19
x-mailer: unknown (no version)

*******************************************

Hey Ian! Funny thing, eBay REMOVED the auction, and the headers DID COME FROM eBAY! Don't worry Ian, I'll never accuse you of being an investagator!

So we had our laywer send a notice to bj_tw@mac.com. They never replied!

Nothing! Until...

We recieved ANTOHER VeRO nasty-gram!

**PLEASE READ THIS IMPORTANT EMAIL REGARDING YOUR LISTING(S)**

We would like to let you know that we removed your listing:

3290944294 ALUMINUM Case Poker Chip Set 300 HEAVY 11.5g DICE Chips

 

because a Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Program participant notified us, under penalty of perjury, that your listing offers an unauthorized copy of copyrighted material.

We have credited any associated fees to your account. We have also notified the bidders that the listing was removed, and that they are not obligated to complete the transaction.

If you relist this or any other similar items on eBay, your account likely will be suspended.

If you believe your listing was ended in error, or have questions regarding the removal of this listing, please contact the VeRO Program participant directly at:

Bair Jiunn Enterprises
bj_tw@mac.com

eBay is available to answer questions, but since it is the VeRO Program participant that requested the removal of your listings, we encourage you to contact them first.

For more information on the VeRO Program, and a list of VeRO Program participant About Me pages, please visit:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/vero-removed-listing.html
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/vero-aboutme.html

Thank you for your cooperation.

Regards,

Customer Support (Trust and Safety Department)
eBay Inc

So, straight to our web logs I go and lo and behold!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
209.142.155.253 www.lasvegasvegas.com - [06/May/2004:15:16:31 -0400] "GET /images/chiptemp/leftmenutermsoff.jpg HTTP/1.1" 200 1823 "http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=63758&item=3290944294&rd=1" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1)"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
211.72.108.21 www.lasvegasvegas.com - [06/May/2004:22:46:52 -0400] "GET /images/chiptemp/leftmenudescriptionoff.jpg HTTP/1.0" 200 2058 "http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3290944294" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.0.3705)"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The www.5stardeal.com IP address is directly followed by the Tiawan IP address AGAIN!

Want to help, get the word out!! Contact eBay, contact 5-stardeal, post up this story, don't buy from these crooks, and link to this page, when people go looking for 5-stardeal lets make sure they KNOW about the people behind the name. If you have been taken by the same scam e-mail me (or just send your comments).

[Home]-[Poker]-[Poker Blog]-[World Series of Poker ]-[Poker Tournaments]-[Poker Rules]-[Poker Links]
[Vegas Vacation Tips ]- [About Us]
Last Modified: 08.12.05

All material © LasVegasVegas.com under the creative commons license unless materials are under existing copyright and said materials are the property of of their respective copyright holders. LasVegasVegas.com expressly disclaims any warranty relating to any content of any pages or any links provided on these pages. Please read our terms and conditions and privacy policy for more information on this site.

[Site Map]-[Login]-[Privacy Policy]-[Terms and Conditions of Use]

Texas Hold'em - The Pokerati Blog – DanM and his team cover all aspect of Texas Hold'em from the great state of Texas including Texas poker laws and poker interviews.