[geeks] FYI - crazy offer from Microsoft Live, eBay, PayPal (25% cashback)

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: Patrick Giagnocavo <patrick at zill.net>
>Date: 2008/06/30 Mon PM 09:19:49 EDT
>To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: Re: [geeks] FYI - crazy offer from Microsoft Live, eBay, PayPal  (25% cashback)

>Lionel Peterson wrote:
>> Hello all,
>> 
>> Over at http://hot-deals.org/ they have a link that appears valid,
>> and gets you 20 or 25% cashback on your "buy-it-now" purchases.
>> 
>
>Imagine a two friends living in separate towns, each with separate eBay 
>and PayPal accounts.
>
>Friend A lists a $2000 item (say a pair of speakers) BIN.
>
>Friend B "buys" the item, gets the maximum amount back ($250).
>
>Then they do the reverse, each one paying the fees etc. out of their own 
>pocket.  And walk away with over $450 between themselves.
>
>Fraudulent to be sure, but how would such a situation be detected?

Well, one thing to remember is that you'd have to actually pass $1,000 between two PayPal accounts - the trnasaction has to happen.

Could it be done, sure - all you'd need is just over $1,000 to pull it off:

Party A "buys" a pencil from Party B for $1,000 - pays for it via PayPal
(Party B now has $1,000 - PayPal fees and eBay listing fees)

Party B then "buys" the pencil back from Party A for $1,000 (it could be the proceeds from the previous sale with a bit added to compensate for the fees in the first transaction)
(Party A now has $1,000 - PayPal fees and eBay listing fees)

Net result Party A fronts $1,000 plus one set of PayPal/eBay fees, Party B fronts the PayPal/eBay fees, each has $250 deposited in their PayPal account 60 days after their "purchases"...

Detecting it wouldn't be too hard (just look for complimentary sales between the same buyers/sellers) - it could be better hidden if you increase the number of steps between Party A and Party B (A sells to B, which sells to C, which sells to D, whic sells back to A)...

Lionel