I've seen the exact same scam scenarios --- copying other peoples adds and pics and then ending the auctions suddenly or with someone's strange, high bid, then contacting me with a "second chance offer". They all kept talking about the Ebay "Safe Harbor" thing but then wanted me to send money by bank transfer or Western Union. I smelled a rotten fish right away and turned it into Ebay. Theywon't tell you just what they are doing, but they do go after these guys. This one guy kept using the same wording so I kept finding his auctins and turning him in. All his auctins got pulled within 30 mins of my reporting him.
I think its several people, probably some of the Nigerian scammers, no doubt. But the modus operendi is almost always the same -- a bogus auctions with something sweet at a too low price that ends mysteriously and then you are contacted later privately. Also, I noticed a lot of these scam adds tried to sneak a different email into the auction under the pretense that they "didn't check" their Ebay email account or that it "had a problem". Yeah, like, it isn't their Ebay account but a hijacked account from someone dumb enough to answer one of those fake Ebay "your account will expire" emails.
Basically, if it seems too good to be true, IT IS too good to be true! I always demand Ebay Escrow for anything over $500.00 and I am using the "can I come by and see it" line, also try to ask detailed questions to see if the seller actually understands anything about the item. Lately I have only been bidding on stuffy that I can go see / pickup in person.
Ebay is just rife with scams now and I think that Ebay has no clue how to protect legitimate people from these scams but doesn't want to admit that publicly because the're raking in the gold and don't want to kill the goose that lays the golden egg even if that goose is biting us in the a**!
