No where more than on the internet is the old saying Buyer Beware more fitting.  Like any situation, the majority of people online are honest, decent people.  But the facelessness of the internet allows the crooks to operate with ease and you need to be on guard for them.  

Recently, I sold a high priced website called the Resume Builder for over $15,000.  .  During the bidding process, I had spoken to a potential bidder who was a nice guy and had some questions about the site.  The end of the auction came, and the buyer transferred his funds to me via paypal and everything seemed fine. 

The next morning, I received an email from the fellow I spoke to on the phone asking me why I was offering the site on a second chance offer.  Puzzled, I assured him that I was not offering the site, and asked him to forward me the email that he had received. Sure enough, some crooked jack *ss was sending out very official looking second chance offers offering the site for $5600.   Could you image somebody sending him $5600 for a site that this guy didn't even own. 

I quickly sent out notices to my bidders that this was a scam and also contacted the buyer and explained to him that this was a crook.  I then notifed ebay of this problem and they confirmed that this was a scam.

Banks call this Phishing, which means you attempt to trick a person into providing you information or sending money to what you believe is a legitmate offer.  

Buyers and sellers need to beware of this technique and use due caution to ensure they are not victomized by these scumbags. 

I have another guide on Ebay Scams in my guides section if you are interested.