posted on February 18, 2002 09:26:58 PM new
Hi,
Im Manas Rawat ([email protected] ).
I bought a Sony Slimtop from EBay last week and paid $1000 to Surplus of NasherVille.
Soon, I realized that it was a SCAM and the guy has robbed people of over $400000 in 2 days. I have filed the fraud protection thing at paypal. But reading all these stories, I have little faith on it.
Credit Card Companies give 100% fraud protection... so dhould paypal. And I dont see a reason to investigate. Over 300 people are robbed in 1 shot.
I am also sending you a mail. PLEASE TELL ME WHAT I SHOULD DO.
Dont give me the standard... fraud protection thing.
Thanks,
Manas
Here is the link : http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2002035160
posted on February 19, 2002 05:40:20 AM new
wow,i just looked at your seller rating and yours too!
you have a rating of (-2),did somone bid for you on campus?????
do they really have a suite in downtown nashville??
posted on February 19, 2002 05:59:46 AM new
Yes it wasnt I who bid for those laptops. Infact, I didnt bid for this slimtop too. It was all an unauthorized transaction but then I logged on and thought it was a good deal... that i would sell it once I get it and so did not complaint to PayPal or my Bank... just changed my passwords.
But right now, it really is irrelevant what my ratings are. The guy has done the same with people who have positive ratings in hundreds. And tell you what, I have purchased many things on EBay before and used paypal. Never had a problem... never cared to ask some1 to give me a positive feedback. If this is an issue with Paypal... they are atleast stupid, if not crooks.
I wonder if your bank says the same thing and you would take this crap from them.
posted on February 19, 2002 08:00:22 AM new
this is something which could involve FBI.
Do they really have an office?who registered the toll free number and whose merchant account are they using to accept amex cards??
could be some mischievous employee who is also by the phone??
this must be some kind of hoax,the co which they advertise have too much trails to do something like that
posted on February 19, 2002 08:02:09 AM new
i bet this guy's paypal account has been locked up already,so you could have your money back,can you find out by going to paypal website??
posted on February 19, 2002 03:28:12 PM new
Hi manasrawat,
Please file a Buyer Complaint against the seller (if you have not already done so). The process does not guarantee recovery from the party. It also takes at least 30 days from the date you filed the claim.
posted on February 19, 2002 03:37:14 PM new
how long can ebay keep saying WE ARE JUST A VENUE??
This seller could have multiple dutch auctions running in a short period,he may not even be from TN,suite number could be a mail box number and phone calls are forwarded some where else.
anyone can scan a photo of an office building and some products and start listing,i can scan a picture of MSFT head quarters and sell ???????
it does not take much to qualify selling dutch auction on ebay
posted on February 19, 2002 07:53:24 PM new
hi,
Thanks for posting your views. I wonder if anyone can suggest me how I should take a legal action against thig guy.
One thing I feel very strongly is - if I had paid thru my bank or Credit card , I would have got full return in case of fraud. By making the payment thru paypal, that option is over... shouldnt paypal make up for it. It is ridiculus that they provide upto $200.
PAYPAL is a very bad option... guess u realize once u have already burnt ur fingers.
Manas.
posted on February 19, 2002 08:56:12 PM new
it is ebay which allows crooks to sell !!!
i looked at his past auctions and he touted BBB,square trade,paypal premier account.
he sold individual items to earn enough feedback to stage the dutch auctions-35 of them in a few days!!!!
he said he accept credit cards thru paypal and amex if you call him at a toll free number.it does not take much to get a merchant account with american express.
hindsight of course is 20/20,why does he say he takes credit card thru paypal but amex thru phone call??
why should an outfit like his not have a merchant account which accepts mc,visa ,amex and more??
if you are counting on paypal to recover your money,lets hope you are first in line,there is a few hundred people who bidded on his dutch auctions.
you should also call your cc company and ask what can be done??
posted on February 20, 2002 05:33:47 AM new
stopwhinning "paypal have locked up his account and you will get your money back" please if this guy is smart enough he will have multiple accounts and the money will be transferred long time ago. you read these boards SURELY you can work that one out. Also what makes it even FUNNIER is that PAYPAL will NOT REPORT this person(s) to the FBI etc they can simply start up again next week and do their next scam.
Bottom line PAYPAL and eBay are a heaven for people wanting to commit fraud.
posted on February 20, 2002 06:37:20 AM new
i am not sticking up for paypal.
if all these ebay bidders sent him a postal money order,they are not going to get their merchandise.
it makes no difference what kind of payment they use,this guy is a big crook.it could be more than one guy,they could have multiple seller id and each selling 35 dutch auctions.
if buyer used his credit card and it sounds like he did,then he should file chargeback with his credit card company.
as for withdrawing paypal fund and transfer it to different accounts,how successful ??it depends on how early the bidder blow the whistle on him,how fast he empty his paypal accounts and how does he empty it??
this is scary,go look at that auction and see how he touted himself,and look at all his past auctions
posted on February 20, 2002 07:27:20 AM new
Manas,
Just a few words of advise which is what you were asking for.
First, I would be very careful about using public computers when you are logging in with account name and password. If you have to do it this way, make sure that you log out, and do a few double checks to make sure that no one can access it again, once you walk away.
It doesn't look like it is an isolated incident for you. The three bids for the laptops were done on two different days 2/6 and 2/9. Be very careful.
Another part of your post didn't make sense to me. You stated that after logging in and seeing this bid you decided it was a good deal and therefore didn't complain to ebay or your bank. Why would you of complained to your bank? Did someone else pay for this laptop like they placed the bid for you? Or did you see the bid, like the price and then you went to paypal to pay?
I realize that you stated that you have been buying on ebay and using paypal for a while with no problems. YOu just haven't asked for the positive feedback. Your user history shows a different history. That these are the first and most recent bids by you. This doesn't matter at all whether you are new or old. What does matter, is keeping your information secure. Being careful in paying. And taking responsibility for your actions.
As far as being out money, there are a few things that you can do. YOu can't do all of them, but do what works for you.
- Make sure that you have filed a complaint with the BBB. I realize that the BBB doesn't have a whole lot of pull, but at least you will be on file, if you aren't already. Here is the BBB page concerning the man doing business as S-o-n.
http://data.middletennessee.bbb.org/common.html?location=/home/common/www/mis67/report.php&bureau=nash&compid=23101069
- You might want to file a complaint with his local police department. Just send a copy of your payment to him, and a print out of the BBB page, and request that contact be made with him. I have done this in the past, and I have gotten "sellers" to refund my money. I guess the police presence "scares" them into it.
- you can always file with the eBay fruad. You won't come close to the amount that you paid, but as a last resort it is something.
- you can do a chargeback if you used your credit card through paypal.
- File USPS mail fruad charges. "Sellers" seem to act quickly when they are contacted by the USPS that a complaint has been filed against them.
I understand your frustration about things, but remember what would of happened if you had sent a check to this seller.
Would your bank just give you back the money if you told them it was fruad? Possibly not. I just reread where you stated that your bank or credit card would issue a refund in this case. Well it would seem your probably used your bank or credit card to fund this transaction. So if your bank/credit card will issue a refund to you, why don't you have them do it?
If you went to the seller's bank and asked for the money back that the seller deposited into his account, would they give it to you? NO. They wouldn't give it to you even if the seller had the amount of money currently in his bank account.
You are the one that accepted and agreed to send the money to the seller. Paypal transferred the money for you. You need to take the steps in recovering the money from the seller. Paypal can assit you but it is your money. Remember that.
edited to correct my very bad spelling
[ edited by cegore on Feb 20, 2002 07:43 AM ]
posted on February 20, 2002 08:41:23 AM new
there are many resellers on ebay,some use their sellers as drop shippers.
lets say i won an item on ebay,i list it on ebay minutes after auction closed.
then when i have a high bidder who sent me the payment,i will forward to my seller and ask him to ship to my high bidder,pocketing the difference between my bid price and the bid price of my buyer,the only expense i have is ebay fees.
just right click the photo and the item description,it is all there for free.
of course it does not always work out well.
posted on February 20, 2002 11:48:23 PM new
Hi mrfoxy76,
Your information is incorrect. PayPal does work with the FBI on internet fraud and you can read the article in Newsweek.
Some facts that I read in an article on online fraud:
- Only 1 out of 4 parties report the crime to a law law enforcement agency
-Approximately 80% (or more ) of the fraud is with checks and money orders
Reporting a fraudulent seller to law enforcement is of paramount importance.
(Many users seem to forget that the payment medium is not the cause of the fraud. The issue is between buyer and seller.
The buyer's discretion is the most important thing when trying to decide if they want to send payment to a person for an item listed for sale. If it sounds to good to be true, or if the person has extremely low feedback, then the buyer should use more caution before sending the payment.
A key difference between PayPal and paying via another medium is that we do have a Buyer Complaint Process in place. While it does not guarantee recovery of funds from a bad seller, we do have a fair amount of success in getting some users their money back. The ability to recover DOES depend on how quickly a buyer files a complaint once they notice an issue.We also supplement eBay's insurance if a claim is awarded in your favor (chargeback rights are still intact, but buyers MUST file a Buyer Complaint first and allow for notification on the outcome).
posted on February 21, 2002 06:41:39 PM new
http://data.middletennessee.bbb.org/common.html?location=/home/common/www/mis67/report.php&bureau=nash&compid=23101069
This is the better business bureau latest report on this company.
it is registered as a sole proprietorship under one person.
Better business bureau has already been in touch with the owner/
posted on February 24, 2002 05:10:31 AM new
then why does these "fraudsters" select paypal as their # 1 source of payment ALL THE TIME. question arises paypal = heaven for a fraudster there is no 2 doubts about it.
posted on February 26, 2002 11:44:26 AM new
fraudsters use paypal becasue they do not qualify for a mercchant account.
paypal did not lose money on small sellers,they lose money on taking on large transactions.
posted on February 27, 2002 07:03:48 AM new
CEGORE...
YOUR ADVICE AND RESPONSE TO THIS PROBLEM IS EXCELLANT.
YOU CAN FILE MAIL CHARGES ON THIS TYPE OF PURCHASE AT ABSOLUTELY NO CHARGE TO YOU. YOU DO IT AT YOUR LOCAL P.O.
THE US GOVERMENT TAKES THIS FELONY VERY SERIOUS. I HAVE HAD 3 RECOVERIES OF FUNDS ON BAD EBAY DEALS THANKS TO P.O. I RECOMMEND THIS COURSE OF ACTION TO ALL WHO HAVE FELT THE e"B"ay'S sting......
IT DOES TAKE A LITTTLE TIME BUT I HAVE HAD A 100% RATE OF RECOVERY. BEATS LOSING IT ALL.
posted on February 27, 2002 07:22:10 AM new
Thank you.
I just see so many people feel they get stiffed, and do very little about it.
There are a lot of avenues that can be used to get your money back.
If paypal is used it is a start. Then if they can't help you (meaning the account has no money), the buyer should move on to other avenues. There are so many ways of recovering your money with little/no cost and effort.
