posted on March 27, 2002 04:32:58 AM new
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I was defrauded via Ebay just like many others
waidz176 (1) (view author's auctions)
3:59am March 27, 2002
3/6/2002 A person using the username sellingphones
and email address [email protected] advertised a few Nokia
8910
cell phones on the auction site ebay.com.au - I emailed him to ask him
what his reserve price as I was interested. He then went on to ask me what
I could offer as a buy out price and I said $400 - he said that he had a
few phones. I then requested 2 phones at AUD$800 for both. He told me to
wire the money through Western Union and he would send the phones once I
sent the money.
3/7/2002 I sent the money via Western Union.Unfortunately I was told by
the Western Union representative that he could only get the money out of
Western Union if I provided him with the MTCN (Money Transfer Control)
number. I believed her and thus thought that once I got the phones I would
give him the number. A day later I discovered that the money was withdrawn
and he no longer replies to my email enquiries. The details he provided
for the wire transfer is as follows : Full name : Toroplean Vasile
Cornel , Address :Republicii , no 1 , City : Rm-Valcea , State : Valcea ,
Zip : 1000 , Country : Romania .
This is blatant fraud and I am very upset that Ebay and Western Union do
not have any additional security measures in place and obviously do not
thouroughly verify the identification of the person collecting the money.
I am a victim of this type of fraud and have since discovered that various
people on the internet having been defrauded in a similar manner via Ebay.
I realise that I am not covered by Ebays fraud protection policy but am
still prepared to create a website to warn people against buying and
selling via auction sites such as Ebay. I intend to start a website to warn people against trading on ebay and rather use an auction site that is bigger on customer service and actually helping people. People are being defrauded by these criminals but nothing is being
done by it. He has struck again with the userid's nokiaseller 1 and nokiaseller 2 and has fleeced many other people as I have found. All Ebay has done is send very rigid letters of supposed pity but that's it. I am not a happy ebayer at all - after my last auctions I am going elsewhere.
posted on March 29, 2002 05:56:29 AM new
I feel very sorry for your loss as I too have been scammed for over $10,000 US in the last 18 months but not via the internet. In my opinion ebay does a lot to help protect us the consumer. The feedback system is just about as good as it gets and hopefully keeps many dishonest people honest.
Did you check the seller's feedback rating before you purchased? Did you know that you can check when they last changed their user id as well as how many times?
Did you also know that ebay provides a service where they will hold your money for you until you receive the item and inspect it, then you release the money to the person if the item was as described?
Just in the last two months I sent about $5500 to someone to purchase product to sell on ebay. I checked out their feedback rating on ebay which was in the thousands, I checked out their website, I even personally visited their warehouse which was an hour and a half away all to confirm they they were in fact honest people.
I still have not gotten my product. (I am still hoping!) What have I realized? Is ebay to blame? Is my lack of checking into these people to blame?
No! Unfortunately there are many dishonest people in this world who love money more than others. Anytime we do business in any arena whether ebay or not we are taking a chance.
It is their word we have to take no matter how many "safeguards" ebay or we ourselves make. The real person to blame is not ebay or even Western Union. The real person to blame is the crook who took your money.
The only option I have discovered to overcome theses situations is to simply forgive the person for their selfishness, and try and take a few more precautions in the future.
posted on April 5, 2002 11:21:58 AM new
Your email implies that the transaction actually took place off of Ebay. It looks like you contacted him for the reserve price and then did the transaction without a winning bid. If I am wrong, I apologize as this should never happen to anyone, but don't blame Ebay if you didn't use Ebay's system to win the item.
The unscrupulous will always find a way to be dastardly.
posted on April 23, 2002 01:21:28 PM new
Some countries you just have to BEWARE of! Romania and Nigeria are the top two. My boyfriend almost got scammed and happily he told the guy to forget the deal. Never buy outside an auction. You will find many stories here about Romanian fraud
posted on May 1, 2002 05:57:17 PM new
I too have been scammed by person known on ebay as [email protected] whose name is either cus cristian or ed chris. I sent him a western union money order for an aiwa xd-dw7 portable dvd and never received any reply after sending money despite many e-mails. his address is as follows:
cus cristian
Str.Dacian no 11
Rm. Valcea
1000 Romania
If anyone can help me I would greatly appreciate it. My e-mail address is [email protected]
posted on May 2, 2002 10:18:12 AM new
Hi,
1st of all, everybody that has been on ebay for any decent length of time as been screwed one way or the other... Next time only buy a cheap item if you want to check the seller out, or tell them you can not buy unless they supply a phone # where they could be reached right away... Any one who does not give me their phone # I will not deal with..Also, block all suspect people on the "Bidder Managment" section on Ebay.... As far as Western Union goes.. Anyone receiving money only needs picture ID, and thats it.. They DO NOT have to know the MCTN anywhere ever.. This is a fact.. No seller will send anything before being paid so you better use more brain cells when it comes to seeing ahead based on short term comunication with a buyer.. You have to put people (Buyers & sellers) to the trust test right away before giving money over.. My User ID on Ebay is : [email protected] ............
Go read my "ME" page.. I am very against the same type of people that riped you off, and I do a pretty good job of warning the art buyers of how to avoid fakes and junk.. I know people will always make wrong judgement calls when your hot to buy, but thats when the testing, and self control will help you not get RIPPED OFF.. Email me any time...
John.......
posted on May 5, 2002 10:06:11 AM new
I have a question for electronicearth or anyone knowing the answer or any more information regarding :
Did you also know that ebay provides a service where they will hold your money for you until you receive the item and inspect it, then you release the money to the person if the item was as described?
posted on May 5, 2002 08:35:08 PM new
it is called escrow,and there was a service on ebay like you describe,i think they went out of business.
there may be other services out there,but you have to make the seller agree to this service,and some sellers dont want to go through that.
us post office will deliver half of what you are looking for,they would not release your payment until dc is swiped at your local post office.but this is all they do,they dont want to hear if item is as described??
your other defense would be using a credit card and doing a chargeback.
if the seller refused to accept the return even though you try,your cc company will rule in your favor,refusal to accept return is not 100% proof that seller can get away .
but then he may say you damaged his merchandise etc.
if there is something so important to you ,go to a real store and pay the price and peace of mind
posted on May 12, 2002 03:28:33 PM new
Honestly, I think these are rules to live buy...DO NOT do business with anyone located in a third world, second world "developing nation", or former communist block nation.
To find out what our gov. thinks of other countries, you may visit, http://travel.state.gov/travel_warnings.html
This is a travel advisory listing but also has thorough reports concerning the criminal climate. It is quite an eye opening site.
One of the reasons you should know about where you are sending your money, is that some governments do not have the resources to solve VIOLENT crime problems at home, let alone bother with Internet fraud affecting a non citizen. I also believe that when dealing with a large sum of money, USE AN ESCROW SERVICE!!!
If the seller will not agree to that or COD, do not do business with the person.
I personally feel that sellers who change their ID (Sunglasses, for eg) and have zero feedback, should explain why that is to my satisfaction if I am even going to place a $10 bid. Again, you are in complete control as the buyer, it is your hard earned money, and if something begins to feel wrong, it probably is!
posted on May 27, 2002 07:14:10 PM new
With regard to Western Union money transfers... you can add a password that the seller must supply to receive the money from the W/U agent. If the money is given out without the password then you should have recourse against W/U.
I envision that you would send the money telling the seller that there is a password that you will supply when you have the goods in-hand. If the deal is a scam the seller probably won't bother trying to pick-up the money once the W/U agent notifies them they need the password.
If they are ligit then they can send the goods, receive the password (unless you are scamming them) and all is good. If you try to scam them, the money must stay on W/U's system for 30days before they will allow the sender to withdraw it.
I've come to believe this, if I can't either pay by credit card* or go the sellers place and pick up any "cash only" type item, then I don't need it. There are too many scammers and I have too few dollars to be involved in high-risk deals. So maybe I don't always get the best deals, but it is not often the dealer gets the best of me.
*If I pay be credit card and get scammed, I simply refuse payment and let the credit card company sort it out. They have time and money to spend on collections, and some legal horse power to put behind it. I have none of the above but love to let my credit card company earn their fees.
Good luck in all of you future on line deals. In closing, I do agree that e-bay could do a lot more to protect buyers and sellers who use their services. They seem to have the about the least user friendly rules in the world.
posted on May 30, 2002 12:34:48 AM new
Hi - I have been ripped-off on eBay numerous times - usually with counterfeit items. I have learned over the last year not to buy from seller's outside of the US unless it is a very low-price item that I really won't lose too much money on. For sellers inside the US who have defrauded me, I always file a complaint with their state's Attorney General's Office for fraud. You can file complaints online with most Attorney General's offices. The Attorney General has to follow up on your complaint. I never send money orders or cash - I always pay with a credit card because you are protected against fraud through your credit card company. I never engage in a sale off the auction site - if the seller wants to sell the item to me outside of ebay, I simply refuse. Fortunately, I have had well over 200 successful transactions on ebay, but there are always a few less than honorable people out there trying to make a quick sale. If a deal sounds too good to be true - be very leary!! Always ask questions about the item - I am amazed at how many people there are who don't even bother to ask questions and just blindly buy something. Always check to see if the seller is id verified as well - this means that they had to go through an identification verification process that is done by a credit company.
posted on May 30, 2002 08:18:01 PM new
I agree with the third world country idea and not selling or buying to anyone from those countries. My website alone (and NOT ebay) has been scammed from people from Romania and other places using stolen credit cards...so beware of that too..I am sure if they are daft enough to do ebay and online stuff they can find a way into paypal and other services..also..BEWARE OF FAKE MONEY ORDERS! There is a scam going on where people buy items on ebay...say they send the MO's off in the mail and then weeks later when you don't get the money..they send you a copy (forged) of the money order reciept (they will have to use a carbonated money order...btw) to prove that it was sent out. You suspect it was lost in the mail and the tracking info they provide was semi-correct...well, you will never get the money order, they get the goods (usually sent to a bogus address where they just do "pick ups" and you are out of your money. Insist on using bidpay or payingfast or some other online money order service that is trackable and that sends you notices! Just a heads up on this one.
posted on July 13, 2002 12:31:14 PM new
People are saying to contact your attourney general and file a complaint about the fraud on ebay. Well let me tell you. This didn't work for me. They passed me from one office to the other and they all said sorry. If it were a company that scammed me they would look into it. Since it was an individual,we can do nothing. The Jerk is free to scam again on ebay. I do blame Ebay for letting him on the auction site.
and you are out of your money. Insist on using bidpay or payingfast or some other online money order service that is trackable and that sends you notices!