Stung By An Ebay Scammer!

[DeusMR2]

this is a long post so make sure youre sitting comfortably!

but first the backstory: my cousin works for a electronic hardware wholesaler so he can get them at huge discount prices. He had the clever idea of selling a few of them on eBay to make a healthy profit but he doesnt have an account. Heres where I come in, with my account I offer to sell them for him. So alls good and well, I've sold about 10 or 11 units now all fuss free and a nice batch of positive feedbacks to boast about :hokus-pokus:

..until last week. I have a policy of dispatching the item the day after the payment has been made (not cleared) by next day special delivery (its good for the feedback dont ya know!). This leaves me with the risk of the payment bouncing after ive sent it but i thought "it could never happen to me" since i always check the feedback before dispatching. This last sale was made by a guy who had 7 positives, he paid with paypal and i dispatched as per usual next day. well you can guess what happens next, i recieve an email from paypal saying "we have reason to believe you amy be holding unauthorised funds" and have deducted the amount from my balance! (£420.01)

hmm oh dear, i contact the guy, but not in an anger or anything, just politly enquiring as to whats happened. He replies 2 days later (last friday) saying this:

Sorry dude!

I had some scammers hacked into my accounts. So PayPal stopped all the

payments that been made from my account.

Can you accept any other way of payment?

fair play so i say drect bank transfer or cheque is fine. No reply since then.

This is where it gets sticky... I checked his feedback tonight to see if theres something I missed, I email the sellers of his last two transactions asking whether his payments went succesfully (both of these were on 2nd november). One of them replied a few hours ago saying:

I am chasing someone on a bounced cheque but it not Martin Ritcihe... Someone else from London

Re-submitted the cheque

Rich

I reply asking if this guy has the same eBay id as my guy

Give me a second, Im tracing his details currently

Rich

if its the same guy I have got his mobile and have spoken to him

6 minutes later...

Looks like we have a thief on our hands.. Yes this is the same person

Rich

yes...the **** has hit the fan...

Now it turns out that this guy has given me and Rich different addresses (but both in london). The address he gave me is right next to my uni so when he had made the purchase i offered to hand deliver it to him next day, he said it would be better for me to post it! (I should have refudned the payment and cancelled everything there n then).

I emailed Rich back askin what we should do, in the meantime I'd appreciate any help!! I'm not gonna display the guys eBay id/the transaction etc just yet incase he finds out (Once this is over I will)

Im not covered by paypals sellers protection thing since he has an unconfirmed address (which i might go and visit if he doesnt reply soon)

apologies for the stupidly long post

[Cubic Incubi]

1. it is a crime.

2. crimes commited are normaly bealt with by the authorities AKA the Police.

3. go to the police station and report the fraud/theft.

4. dont send goods til funds are clear.

hope that helps.

[System~G]

eBay have a means of dealing with people like this. Contact them and they will advise best.

eBay are eager to catch and expose scammers as they are getting a lot of bad publicity lately. IIRC, there was a feature on watchdog not too long ago???

[DeusMR2]

Thanks for the replies guys. Unfortunatley I've already sent it since I usually want to send it out asap! I checked the tracking and its been delivered. I think I'll contact eBay first then get police involved if nothing happens. Thanks again!

[Firthy]

Hope you get it sorted out mate, and i hope the guy gets what is coming to him

[EarL]

A lesson to be learned indeed.

NEVER send the goods until the cash is in your bank!

[CoRoLLa_KiD]

A lesson to be learned indeed.

NEVER send the goods until the cash is in your bank! 

←

Agreed!

First call is to contact eBay and let them know the situation, like System~G said they are very eager to stop this from happening! They will give you the best advice.

[DeusMR2]

Agreed and a harsh lesson learnt!

Also another related thing:

Do not not leave positive feedback until the payment is in your bank! You canot alter the feedback if the payment subsequently bounced..as I have found out! So he gets away with it and gets to scam the next poor ebayer who comes along..

[knightrider]

paypal is not safe ive been done over for 270 quid had to empty my bank and there charging me allsorts of fees for this its utter toss,