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Yahoo transaction? Western Union? Or just scam

Anyone knows if Yahoo is working with Western Union now? One seller from UK with 0 feedback asked me to pay a third-party "Yahoo Financing Transaction Agent" VIA WESTERN UNION first and the seller will send out the item when he got notified from that "agent" about the payment. That seller claims this is a safe payment method offered by Yahoo and the Yahoo Transaction Agent will hold the payment until I receive the item and if I am not satisfied in 3 days, I can return the item and get my refund back. Sounds perfect, but just can't find any proof from Yahoo's website even though I did receive a payment notice email from a Yahoo account and that email has Yahoo's logo on it, but have heard too much about scams using Western Union...
hififish
audiofeil
4,011 posts
 
Cool thread. We have hififish, holymackerel, and sailfishben.

Something smells really aquatic here.
dougmc
105 posts
 
Why didn't you ask Yahoo directly if it was offering this type of service? The most recommended way of sniffing out a scam involving a suspicious e-mail from a "name brand" party (whether or not you have current dealings with that party) is for you to contact the name brand party to verify that it actually sent the e-mail. Same goes for a "name brand" party that will play a part in a transaction between you and a stranger - you should contact the third party to verify its involvement

What you described Yahoo doing amounts to an escrow. When Yahoo offers a new service to its users, it usually does so with great fanfare. The fact you could find no information about this service on the Yahoo website is pretty indicative of a scam.
wshuang
15 posts
 
I have a few friends work for Yahoo, never heard this service.
streetdaddy
349 posts
 
I just fell victim of this scam. Lost $2400 for a Rowland preamp. Audiogon pulled the ad, but i wrote a post to warn others and it never posted. I feel like audiogon should post warnings to help other members, not to just make their site look good.
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