I Need An Experienced Ebayer Or A Lawers Advice

[arnage2]

I am very depressed :( . I bought something on ebay, and the seller emailed me today telling me that he has scammed me, and i will not be recieving the item purchased. He had sent me a fake tracking number, he is under investegation by ebay, and he cancled his ebay account.

I have contacted Paypal, the better business bureu (BBB) and soon, i will contact Visa. I have also threatened to get a team of lawers to contact him.

The seller has now told me that the info he gave ebay and paypal was fake, yet he is paypal verified.

According to him, the monsy has been transfered to a bank account, and is "out of my reach"

Does anyone have any advice about how i can better settle this issue?

thanks alot guys, i am really upset that i have been scammed out of over $700, and i knew that i could ask you for advice.

[smashcasi]

Did you use your credit card to pay for the item via PayPal? If so you can contest the charge with Visa for undelivered goods and you should get all of your money back. Dealing with eBay will probably take much longer and unless they've changed their policy I believe the maximum refund they will offer is $175.

[arnage2]

only $153 of the $765 came from my CC. I just got it refunded. only $600 to go :(

He is now sending threatening emails

[pmgibson]

First, check with PayPal. If he was PayPal verified, you should have some protection under their rules.

Second, how was the rest of it paid. VISA Debit Card, perhaps? The same protection rules that apply to credit cards apply to debit cards.

Third, report this guy to the police. He has already committed fraud; threatening emails moves it into the range of potentially violent crime. The police may be able to work with his ISP to find out who he is. He's paying for this stuff somehow. Somewhere there has to be clues to his real identity.

[arnage2]

First, check with PayPal. If he was PayPal verified, you should have some protection under their rules.

Second, how was the rest of it paid. VISA Debit Card, perhaps? The same protection rules that apply to credit cards apply to debit cards.

Third, report this guy to the police. He has already committed fraud; threatening emails moves it into the range of potentially violent crime. The police may be able to work with his ISP to find out who he is. He's paying for this stuff somehow. Somewhere there has to be clues to his real identity.

The rest of it was paid by paypal balance.

Would i contact his local police or my local police?

[Kati Compton]

Look at the main Paypal site. I'm pretty sure they provide some buyer protection, especially if he's PayPal verified...

Odd that a scammer would gloat, though.

[arnage2]

I have the IFCC, ebay, BBB, paypal, visa, and a square trade advisor investigating him.

He is screwed.

Why would you email someone and say hey, im scamming you (idiot)

[Jon Westfall]

I have the IFCC, ebay, BBB, paypal, visa, and a square trade advisor investigating him.

He is screwed.

Why would you email someone and say hey, im scamming you (idiot)

Well, I can think of two reasons:

1. He isn't really a scammer - someone who has a personal grudge against him hijacked his accounts and went about destroying his business & annoying customers. Unlikely, but could happen.

2. He's more interested in you emailing him back angerily, so he can get some satisfaction out of knowing he's hurt you in some way. Best way to avoid this is to not reply to him, or if you do, to take a tone that says "Thanks for informing me", not "you lousy piece of ****".

[arnage2]

im done talking to him. Im letting the agencys handle it from here

[Stephen Beesley]

I hope you get some satisfaction out of all this - and even better your money back!

I have just finished a pretty hectic round of buying and selling on ebay in the Uk and the US, and am lucky enough to be able to report that all of the buyers and sellers I dealt with have proven legit and generally a pleasure to deal with. That said, the fear of suffering like you have always lurkes in the back of my mind.

Good luck!

[Steven Cedrone]

Even the best of them get burned by dishonest people... (http://www.jasonsego.com/fraud/index.html)

Steve

[ale2999]

Even the best of them get burned by dishonest people... (http://www.jasonsego.com/fraud/index.html)

Steve

I was thinking about the same things. Scammers are the scum of the earth.

Out of curiosity, did he have any feedback? and if he did how many?

[Jon Westfall]

Even the best of them get burned by dishonest people... (http://www.jasonsego.com/fraud/index.html)

Steve

I'd forgotten about that site.

Scammers, unfortunatly, don't normally view themselves as hurting other people unnecessarily. If you asked them, they'd most likely tell you that if you were scammed by them, you weren't careful enough and deserved it. They prey on areas where trust are usually a given, such as ebay and even in web forums. If anyone is interested in learning more about their psychological make-up, look up information about Anti-Social Personality Disorder, or its for-runners in kids, Conduct Disorder (CD).

That being said, they're sick and all we can really do is either get annoyed at them and wish they'd never been born, or pity them and be extra careful next time.

[JimPAQ]

Really sorry that you got scammed. That's why I don't really buy stuff on ebay. I'm so worried about getting scammed. I really hope they get the guy. What would be nice is if you got a chance to see him after hes been caught. To laugh in his face as the police are dragging him off to jail.

--Jim

[mrkablooey]

Really sorry that you got scammed. That's why I don't really buy stuff on ebay. I'm so worried about getting scammed. I really hope they get the guy. What would be nice is if you got a chance to see him after hes been caught. To laugh in his face as the police are dragging him off to jail.

I've bought and sold over 100 times the past 5-6 years and no problems. When buying keep your eye on the feedback rating, especially for higher priced items. When selling, just be honest, and communicate with people the whole way. I wouldn't expect to sell a high-priced item without any/much feedback so keep that in mind--your pricing might not go as high as you'd like unless people are willing to gamble. Sometimes it's easy to see a good deal on something and hit BUY IT NOW before checking someone's feedback... but it's not wise (not that this is what happened in the case of the OP, just making a broad, general statement :wink: )

[Ryan Joseph]

The fact that you paid through PayPal means you've got some recourse. I was once scammed out of $350 and PayPal refunded it for me.

When buying on eBay, be incredibly suspicious of sellers who won't accept PayPal. If they ask for a money transfer or something, I'd pass on to another auction.

I read a statistic in that eBay issue of Newsweek a year or so back that said something like "the percentage of fradulant items on ebay is less than 1%," but with so many millions of items listed, there's something like 1 or 2 hundred thousand fradulant items listed at any given time. 8O

[karen]

I used to eBay every day, for certain collectibles. Then I had a really scary experience. An $11 item failed to show up, so I contacted the seller. He basically told me to f* off. So I complained to eBay. I was an active member of one of the early eBay chats, so I posted there, as well. A few days later one of the more active eBay community members sent me a link to a geocities website that the sell made after having his account closed. The website listed me, my address and a bunch of information about me, including my bank account numbers. It also asked people in my area to go to the address and make my family and me feel his pain.

I don't take those kinds of things lightly. So I used my contacts at former clients to help me. I had the FBI, the Senate Police (there was a reason for this), the Postmaster General, and the IRS involved. It turned out that this geemo was a 19 Year old loser who lived in his parents' basement and sold AOL theft software. The FBI was really too much for the kid, especially when it turned out that his father was the local chief of police.

A month later I received my item, plus the $11, and an apology letter from this guy's uncle, a lawyer. The uncle called me and asked me what the AOL thing was, so I did my best to explain. The guy wanted to know if I was going to take legal action, but I said it was a waste of my time, but that they'd better get this kid cleaned up. He complained that his family member would go to jail. I told him that he of all people should understand the consequences of breaking the law.

It pays to have friends in high places. I gan't imagine what my family, also in the criminal justice field, would have done if the FBI, the Secret Service, and various other federal agents had shown up at my door. I imagine it was quite a sight.

But due to this, I don't eBay much anymore. There are two many scams and bad karma.

K

[Jeff Rutledge]

I used to eBay every day, for certain collectibles. Then I had a really scary experience. An $11 item failed to show up, so I contacted the seller. He basically told me to f* off. So I complained to eBay. I was an active member of one of the early eBay chats, so I posted there, as well. A few days later one of the more active eBay community members sent me a link to a geocities website that the sell made after having his account closed. The website listed me, my address and a bunch of information about me, including my bank account numbers. It also asked people in my area to go to the address and make my family and me feel his pain.

I don't take those kinds of things lightly. So I used my contacts at former clients to help me. I had the FBI, the Senate Police (there was a reason for this), the Postmaster General, and the IRS involved. It turned out that this geemo was a 19 Year old loser who lived in his parents' basement and sold AOL theft software. The FBI was really too much for the kid, especially when it turned out that his father was the local chief of police.

A month later I received my item, plus the $11, and an apology letter from this guy's uncle, a lawyer. The uncle called me and asked me what the AOL thing was, so I did my best to explain. The guy wanted to know if I was going to take legal action, but I said it was a waste of my time, but that they'd better get this kid cleaned up. He complained that his family member would go to jail. I told him that he of all people should understand the consequences of breaking the law.

It pays to have friends in high places. I gan't imagine what my family, also in the criminal justice field, would have done if the FBI, the Secret Service, and various other federal agents had shown up at my door. I imagine it was quite a sight.

But due to this, I don't eBay much anymore. There are two many scams and bad karma.

K

Wow, that's quite a story! Good for you!