This one is pretty simple, and follows the instructions of the Better Business Bureau, regarding the purchase of used Konami Dance Dance Revolution Arcade games.  This does not apply to video game (i.e., Xbox, Playstation) or Television versions, but to the stand-up Arcade games, and will provide instructions that should help you to avoid scammers.

There is a scam running where someone hijacks an eBay account, and posts a DDR Arcade game for sale.  The auction has the following attributes:

1. The starting bid is too good to pass up, and people bid on it. 
2. The scammer usually runs an auction where the bidders are hidden (makes it harder for people to warn them off),
3. The scammer insists on a Wire Transfer (which eBay strongly recommends AGAINST using for good reason!)
4. The scammer always uses the same photos, but changes his background.

The trick is to be able to spot the pictures of this bogus game.

The game in question was originally located in Woonsocket, RI.  I bid on the game, but it went over my maximum, and someone else won it (good for them!).  Since that time, the same photos and description have turned up (and been turned in to eBay by me) at least five more times.  The original listing number is 6229372065, and eBay has pulled the images because of this scam.

One photo shows the marquee, and the Konami logo in the upper left hand corner is curved off (as it should be, since the marquee is curved).  The marquee fills the frame, and is for a Dance Dance Revolution Extreme, green in color.

The real stinker is the game image - there is always a game on the left looking at the image, that has a bright florescent yellow / green side.  The rails are both in perfect shape, with new pads, and the Song Select image (blue arc hue on right side of screen) is on the monitor.  The right stage is around 2" further away from the game.  There is a flash spot (white spot) on the right side of the marquee, between the top light and the speaker, and on the Player Selector Console, on the right side.  The neon is off, and it looks like the lower right amber lamp was just starting to light up in the image.

If you see either of these photo, it is hijacked from listing 6229372065.  I know, because I bid on that one, and I actually talked to the owner of the game, who posted his business phone number.  The real owner took paypal, and got good feedback for the sale.

eBay has been slow to respond to reports of these scams, or maybe they were on to the scammer and were trying to trap him or her with their own bid.  Naturally, they cannot tell you what happens, but in all the cases I have reported, the user ID was suspended.

In one case, I sent an email to the user ID, and got a reply back that the guys account had been hijacked, and that he was working with eBay to resolve the issue.  The listing vanished almost immediately.

Here are a couple of other danger signs:

1. If you ask if you can see the game, they are never around.  I was told that the seller was in California, but the game was in Boston in one case.  When I explained that I had a friend in Boston who could look at the game, the scammer went silent and did not reply.
2. Feedback was LOW - in one case, the feedback between the buyer and the seller (one had 1, one had 2!  Wow!) were IDENTICAL.  Looks like a shill bid.  Smells like a shill bid.  It IS a shill bid!
3. Look at what the seller has sold previously.  If they are selling a few old watches or the usual stuff, and suddenly graduate to $5000 to $8500 video games, well, be suspicious.
4. The location of the game did not match previous sales for the account.

So far, I have been lucky and haven't been stung by this scammer.  This is passed along in the hope it will help you (another DDR buyer) to avoid getting scammed.

This has been another fine product of Netwits, the Network of Interactive Telecommunications.

As always, if a deal sounds to good to be true, it probably is.