posted on July 3, 2003 12:38:40 PM new
Bidder won 4 identical necklaces over a period of time. Made her feedback private halfway through the bidding. Emailed me three times a day wanting to know when they would arrive.
Today she has gotten the first, and here comes the inevitable:
"You are rude...you charged me xx.xx and stamps only come to...no insurance...you took my insurance money and didn't insure..."
There's more in this vein, and then:
She signs this as a "Senior Investigating Officer, Internet Fraud Unit, International Web Police".
Bwah-hah-hah!
I got to give 'em credit for creativity.
So I Googled it. Yeah, there's a web page and there are lots of links elsewhere pointing to it...but. It looks like most if not all of the referring links were put up by people who simply assumed the International Web Police (because they have a web page, doncha know) are a valid actual entity.
This is a problem with the Web that I and my friends predicted years ago. There's all this garbage out there and who's to say what's real?
I advised Ms. Senior Investigator to pursue all remedies available to her via eBay and that I would as well.
posted on July 3, 2003 12:41:18 PM new
Oh, one more thing.
I have had an extraordinary number of bad bidders lately, even more so than I usually do. Could be the season, could just be a coincidence, but it could also be a person or persons posting here who have nothing better to do.
If that is the case, hear this: I do this for a living. There is nothing that you can do from a distance to significantly damage my business.
And I bite back.
[ edited by fluffythewondercat on Jul 3, 2003 12:41 PM ]
posted on July 3, 2003 01:03:26 PM new
I've always wanted to be in law enforcement and now I can become a Senior Investigating Officer, Internet Fraud Unit, International Web Police.
Fluffy, you are a VERY opinonated poster and you should guard your ebay identity much better than you do. After reading one of your recent posts I was able to find your ebay ID in less than two minutes with the ebay search engine. ( no, I haven't messed with your auctions )
posted on July 3, 2003 01:10:13 PM new
Fluffy - just scratch her eyes out. At least she gave you a great laugh for the day.
Mario Andretti - “If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough.”
posted on July 3, 2003 01:11:26 PM new
No, never heard of the International Web Police but then again anyone could make up a page. Such clout!
Fluffy, that's why I always advise anyone here to not give out info about anything they do on ebay that can be tracked. If you are the least assertive or outspoken, sooner or later you will cross the wrong person. Most only feel empowered if they can create problems from a distance. Sad, but true.
Then again, maybe you just got a bunch of losers all at once. They always travel in packs it seems.
Edited to say that I went to the International Web Police site and found out the Training Academy is under construction.
posted on July 3, 2003 01:23:30 PM new
A bit of an update:
I called the "official" phone number for the IWP, using the cellphone that has free long distance...just in case someone actually answered.
Got a very bad and scratchy recording telling me all their lines were busy. Yeah, baby! Yeah!
Googled the Usenet newsgroups, where the consensus seems to be that these folks are nutjobs who post using anonymous remailers and are,shall we say, less than diligent about the truth.
I'd love to get the Wall Street Journal in on this one...this would be a great expose and maybe save some unwitting person from grief.
I am not a bathtub full of brightly-colored machine tools on Vendio.
posted on July 3, 2003 03:56:28 PM new
Officer ACE, You have crumb cake crumbs in your lap. Spiff up! Get out there and and take bite out of crime! Be careful out on the streets! and, look both ways!
Always vigiliant, Officer ACE. He'll be watching You, he'll be wathing you,,,,every move you make , every step you take, he'll be watching, You!
AND THE BEAT GOES ON,,,,,
[ edited by jackswebb on Jul 3, 2003 03:57 PM ]
[ edited by jackswebb on Jul 3, 2003 03:58 PM ]
posted on July 4, 2003 12:26:53 PM new
The idea of messing with someone's auctions to punish them for speaking their mind on a public message board is an act of rank cowardice. Anyone who does it deserves to be shredded like coleslaw. But the fact that they will do it is why I keep myself "incognito."
As for the "Web police," the website is incredible both for the range and variety of spelling and grammar errors and the seeming lack of basic intelligence about how the Internet works. (For starters ... no official police agency would use the word "Web" standing alone in the title of their agency.)
The "qualifications" are a real hoot. A police agency is a police agency if it is 1) (nominally) run by a government and 2) has arrest powers. Neither qualification appears on their list of "generally accepted rules for determining a valid Police Agency." Of the 10 criteria, there's little to separate this group from any Rotary Club on the planet.
The closest they come is No. 10, when they say they're "recognized" by "hundreds" of governments. But uh-oh, they can't tell you who, because that would violate "confidentiality agreements." As my five-year-old niece is fond of saying ... I don't fink so.
And at times, they're so painfully naive it's almost cute. "Must always act in the best interests of the community it serves?" Have they been to Bogota, Calcutta or Miami?
This really is the giggle of the day, even if the day was yesterday ... thanks, fluffy.
------------------- We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are.
------------The Talmud
posted on July 6, 2003 08:10:00 PM new
Based on further action from the "International Web Police", I no longer believe the imbecile in question posts to Vendio.
She is malevolent in an insipidly dull-witted and slow-moving fashion, but seems to lack the requisite brain cells to figure out how to post to a message board. 40 chimpanzees pounding on 40 typewriters will get it long before she ever does.
Anyone, however, can send email...even hairy-chested diaper-wearing troglodytes.
So good night and dog bless, Ms. "Rican", and never forget, stupidity is its own reward.
I am not a bathtub full of brightly-colored machine tools on Vendio.
posted on July 9, 2003 08:59:03 PM new
As Jack would say, the beat goes on...
I think this person (who continues to email me daily and continues to make threats) is genuinely mentally ill. Needless to say that I'm happy there is a continent-width between us.
Thanks to your stupid policies, eBay, there is no way I can alert anyone as to the true identity of this person.
I am not a bathtub full of brightly-colored machine tools on Vendio.
