I have now checked the original email address on https://haveibeenpwned.com/ Yes, compromised 5 times. So my guess is an inactive TM account has been hacked (same password as the hacked xtra account) and then used to create a fake listing. Their original email was Thanks for winning my auction. Please deposit payment (including shipping) into my bank account: 04-2021-0102320-96 NZD Thanks for your purchase and please remember to place feedback. Kind regards, Nabil So I've looked up the first two parts (bank and branch) and it is some ANZ Institutional branch. My guess is a Wise account or...

TM have responded to me in a very generic way asking for more details. Now this bit is where I get a bit grumpy. If I try to view the sellers feedback I get a stupid banana error with no hint given as to what has happened* So no visibility and no warning apart from what looks like a problem with the TM site. In the meantime I could have decided to go ahead with this trade and deposited the $2k into the provided bank account - and never seen the $ or the goods again. So instead I decided to dig a bit more, logged into BidBud, clicked onto my trade and then clicked on the sellers feedback (vi...

I sent a copy of my previous email (using the email account I use everyday - not gmail) via gmail. Here's his response. Very sketchy. Is that really his name. And that response came in a 3:10am this morning.

Thx Callum. It is a 500 error (not sure if that is significant). It happens when I try to submit the "fees refund" request, or click on the sellers feedback. If I click on their name I get a page saying they have no listings.

So I got two emails from the seller yesterday, from a different email domain but the user bit on the left was the same as the xtra email address, so probably the same person. The first asked me to deposit the money into a westpac account, followed by another 3 hours later saying "should I wait for the payment, if not feel free to cancel". I replied saying "he" needed to update his email address in TM and that I would get a friend to collect and asked for the address. So far there is no reply from the seller but a request from TM this morning saying the seller has asked for a refund of the f...

Thanks Callum. I think a little more checking out is justified. A reverse image search did not return anything obvious.

I've just search expired listings and found the same auction (same words and a subset of same pictures) on a TM auction from a brand new seller in Aus that closed in Nov. So the auction I won is https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/building-renovation/tools/power-tools/saws/listing/4470599554?archive=1&bof=SADRYoxr And the other one is https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/building-renovation/tools/power-tools/accessories-consumables/listing/4401641565?archive=1&bof=GZybhsL0   So I will definitely not be sending any money their way. Either one of these, or both are dodgy as heck.(Edite...

Although it says they are an authenticated member. How often is that reconfirmed, and is it just via a physical letter  or also via email ?

Yeah, a busy time of the year and also it is an xtra email address. My recollection is that Spark changed email back ends a few years ago so maybe the trader has forgotten to update stuff and the email address registered with TM is dead. Unfortunately they do not have anything else for sale, otherwise I'd give them a reminder via the Q&A section of their other auction.

Thx, they have been registered since 2001, but no sales since 2012, and no purchases since 2017. No negative feedback on their account. The only email I've received is from TM for confirmation of the sale. The only payment method was bank transfer, none of the protected methods (although due to fees I kind of understand that choice. I'll give them another day to make contact. Is there an escrow type of payment service where I can pay the purchase but it is not released if the goods are not delivered ?