fraud please be careful!

deerefan · Oct 26, 2005

My wife recently came across what she thought was good deal on a saddle on ebay. She bid on the saddle and lost. A couple hours later she received an e-mail stating the highest bidder declined so it was hers if she wanted it. After giving it some thought, she decided to do it. The deal was not to cheap to seem to good to be true. The seller even sent her an ebay invoice regarding the deal. Well, she sent the money Western Union to a "David Dalven" in th U.K.. Long story short, the money is gone and no saddle. This is called "spoofing"?. Too bad for him though...he left his picture i.d. with Western Union and we have a close family member who actually works for the FBI in their fraud dept.. The process to gat him has begun. Hopefully we will be able to catch this guy. It is a shame but we will no longer use ebay...too unsafe. It is a great site that bad people have ruined. Be careful! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Gatorboy · Oct 26, 2005

( It is a shame but we will no longer use ebay...too unsafe. ) 

It's not eBay that's unsafe -- it's the small percentage of folks trying to scam people.

I, personally, would not buy anything where I had to wire money via Western Union (BIG RED FLAG). I hope you are able to recover your money.

BB_TX · Oct 26, 2005

I have purchased quite a few items on ebay. Only once did I have a problem and that was the only time I purchased outside the US. It was Canada. The seller said they never received the money order. The seller had high near 100% positive feedback and a very high number. Thru continued e-mail correspondence, I actually felt the money order never made it to the seller. The amount was fairly small (about $30) so I did not worry about it too much. I have bought much higher priced items ($3500) but only when it was local and I could go directly and pay and pick it up in person. I would never buy from a second chance e-mail without going back to the original auction and clicking on Ask The Seller A Question to make sure it was the same person. I do still buy, but very carefully.

ptfarmermd · Oct 26, 2005

I know what you mean. I have bought some inexpensive items on EBay and have always been more than satisfied with the deal.
Last year I started looking for a new, or good used, tractor. I received pricing from some local dealers to use as a benchmark. I then went on EBay and saw a tractor the locals priced at $16K+ for about $9,500. According to the advertisement, it was a slightly used tractor, had less than 50 hours on it, and the seller was including free shipping from France. I checked the references for the seller and they looked outstanding. Something looked wrong though.
The ad for the tractors said to e-mail an address outside of E-Bay. Looking at the seller's past comments, what they sold were all figurines or something small like that.
I contacted the person to ask some technical questions, and soon after that the auction ended. The seller then contacted me a day later to say the buyer who out bid me backed out and I could have the tractor. But the tractor in two days had moved from France to somewhere in the western US. I was to send the money via Western Union to their address in my wife's name, they would ship me the tractor, then once I had a chance to look it over, I would go to Western Union and change the name from my wife's to their name. The photos included were stock photos which someone else found out and got the word out.
Again, something did not sound right. I did not pursue it. Within a month or two, I saw probably 10 or so auctions almost exactly like this.
The moral of the story is if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If I see something like this on EBay, I bring it to the attention of the EBay staff so they can shut it down before someone bites and gets bitten back.
I still would buy items on EBay, but only after doing some research before I do so.
Buyer beware! Especially on EBay!

This is my $0.02 worth and only my opinion.

Jagmandave · Oct 26, 2005

Doesn't using Pay Pal give you some recourse? My wife has bougth a number of things on Ebay, including silk from a seller in Pakistan, all with no problems. But, she always uses Pay Pal........

CTyler · Oct 26, 2005

Well there were a couple mistakes made and you learned a hard lesson.

1) Do not use WU to pay for stuff on Ebay, once its gone its gone.

2)Do not make deals outside of Ebays forum like that.

If your going to use Ebay then use it as inteneded. Its unfortunate but someone from another country offering me a second chance is a huge red flag! I assume they asked you to use WU, another huge red flag!

This a an old scam. Sadly there are a lot of scams around. I hope you know better than to use links/urls sent to you vs going the site site yourself. Especialy ones that will ask for confidential info, CC, user id, PW etc.. etc..

to add...

( It is a shame but we will no longer use ebay...too unsafe. )

Typical reaction....Sounds harsh but You circumvented the system and now you want to blame Ebay. This was your mistake not Ebays.

deerefan · Oct 27, 2005

Actually, I am not blaming ebay. I am saying it is a good site for all types of items but unfortunately provides yet another way for fraudulent activity to prosper. After researching again last night the steps taken, my wife did everything by the book minus the Western Union transaction. This was handled through ebay, she was contacted via ebay and we have the invoice to prove it. The only contact made outside of ebay was when she did not receive the proper info in the correct amount of time. All other methods used were correct and within ebay guidelines. They are looking into this matter currently and hopefully the money will be refunded. I am sorry if you think ebay is wonderful but the 2 times she has used it their have been problems. I think ebay is a fantastic thing, a great invention. I have never used it personally b/c I do not believe in doing business transactions over the Internet. Call me old fashioned or behind the times, but give too many people access to your money or private info and sooner or later you will get burned.
I feel in this situation, no one is really to blame but for the thief himself. Unfortunately, the crime took place through ebay therefore they will have to help us reach a conclusion.

MadReferee · Oct 27, 2005

( Unfortunately, the crime took place through ebay therefore they will have to help us reach a conclusion. )

I wouldn't be holding my breath on that one. Ebay has a history of not offering much, if any, help in recovering funds.

CTyler · Oct 27, 2005

I'm not going to try and change your mind however its unforunate you feel that way. Hopefully you will get your money back but have doughts the thief will be caught. The DL is most likely a fake if the thief had half a brain. Then again there are a lot stupid ones, lets hope yours is one of them.

Yes I do think Ebay is a good thing for me and hundreds of thousands of other people think so as well. I've made hundreds of deals with virtually no problems. This is the case for almost everyone. A couple people have tried to scam me over the years very similar to the way you got took, this isn't to say it could not happen to me.

Ebay, to name just one, does have a problem with people that are not computer savvy. These are otherwise normal, nice, intelligent folks that give away thier information. They happily follow a link in an email and give away thier, username, passwords or financial information. The phisher then hijacks a legitimate account. This is why Ebay recomends using Paypal or your CC through paypal or merchant account. This way your covered under paypal or through your CC company.

deerefan · Oct 27, 2005

Again, ebay is fantastic. It has alot to offer. Everything seemed legit, even the ebay rep said so. They seemed stumped as to how "real" everything was. Thankfully, all the thief got was her name and address. No bank account, social security # or anything personal. I told her not to worry too much about the address, that can be found almost anywhere on the net or phonebook. Please do not think I am saying to avoid ebay. Please, by all means, use it. It is definitely a benefit to commerce, both big and small. Just be very careful.