Seems i may have been an unsuspecting scam target.
I recently replied to an ad on an online shopping site. Not ebay but similar.
After some to and fro stuff, i decided to purchase the item. The bloke said he’d gone to the UK to live and the item (a zero turn mower) had been left to him by an uncle in a will. It was still in Australia. He said Ebay motors would handle the transaction and that i should send half the bucks thru western union to an agent in London. The item would be dispatched to me, i would keep it for a week and then send the other half if not happy with the mower
Until this time ebay had not been mentioned and western union is an untraceable transaction. Very sus, but i kept looking because it was a nargain.
So i used the ebay live help line, who passed me onto their bogus stuff people. They said the email was a fake and i should contact the police. I did so, they didn’t care. So i went online to the feds. They only care if i actually get ripped off. Interpol only care if the crime exceeds 8000 pounds.
Looks like no one cares if you uncover a crime waiting to happen.
Watch your back people!

Gee no wonder there are so many crooks out there…. one on cares that they are breaking the law!!!!

Thanks for the heads up Longy.

never trust anything to do with Western Union.

bluegreen said:

never trust anything to do with Western Union.

Yes i guess that’s the bottom line BG.

Longy said:

bluegreen said:

never trust anything to do with Western Union.

Yes i guess that’s the bottom line BG.

You only come on to agree????? Not like you at all.

pomolo said:

Longy said:

bluegreen said:

never trust anything to do with Western Union.

Yes i guess that’s the bottom line BG.

You only come on to agree????? Not like you at all.

Hmm. Yes.. I think you may be right…….

Longy said:

pomolo said:

Longy said:

Yes i guess that’s the bottom line BG.

You only come on to agree????? Not like you at all.

Hmm. Yes.. I think you may be right…….

Being right is just something I have to live with.

pomolo said:

Longy said:

pomolo said:

You only come on to agree????? Not like you at all.

Hmm. Yes.. I think you may be right…….

Being right is just something I have to live with.

Modesty a burden too Pom?

;^)

CollieWA said:

pomolo said:

Longy said:

Hmm. Yes.. I think you may be right…….

Being right is just something I have to live with.

Modesty a burden too Pom?

;^)

Sure is Collie. You should see my rounded shoulders.

I am stringing this internet scammer along, making him think i’m a dummy.
I’m open to suggestions about how to give him a slappin, using the net. Like sending a trojan that will eat his head or something. In the meantime, i am thinking i’ll get my mates to respond to the adds and string him along too.
I know a few people in London. Wonder if i could get one of them to check out the addresses given to me. Maybe make a visit on my behalf. Gees it’s tempting innit!
I’m also contacting all the advertisers and letting them know it’s a scam. Might save someone a few g’s. Wish i could do more.
As i said. Suggestions readily considered.

Collie, you’d be a scammers nightmare i reckon…..

>Collie, you’d be a scammers nightmare i reckon…..

I’m a dab hand with a cricket stump…

8^)

CollieWA said:

>Collie, you’d be a scammers nightmare i reckon…..

I’m a dab hand with a cricket stump…

8^)

LOL. Was thinkin something more technical, but if you are going to London any time…..

A few years back I got scammed on Ebay by some late teenager. He took my $AU140 for a pair of sunnies and never heard from him again. A short time later the Ebay account closed. To this day I have never had a reply from Ebay about my complaint.

That was until I found out where the seller lived and sent an email to his home address CC: to the local Sherriffs Office.

Through email conversation I new out his name and the state he lived in. After using various legal means I located him on the local Sherriffs website (it’s either legal or a legal requirement for traffic offenders to be publicised in FLA). I found his home address, birthday, sent correspondence to the local law enforcement and an email reply within 24hrs letting me know how sorry he was an that the cheque was in the mail.

I got my $AU140 back.

We’ve bought heaps on ebay, here and OS, with no problems. Be wary of any seller who doesn’t have a reasonable number of satisfied customers.

>Be wary of any seller who doesn’t have a reasonable number of satisfied customers.

Wise, but makes it tough for genuine first time sellers..

enduro said:

A few years back I got scammed on Ebay by some late teenager. He took my $AU140 for a pair of sunnies and never heard from him again. A short time later the Ebay account closed. To this day I have never had a reply from Ebay about my complaint.

That was until I found out where the seller lived and sent an email to his home address CC: to the local Sherriffs Office.

Through email conversation I new out his name and the state he lived in. After using various legal means I located him on the local Sherriffs website (it’s either legal or a legal requirement for traffic offenders to be publicised in FLA). I found his home address, birthday, sent correspondence to the local law enforcement and an email reply within 24hrs letting me know how sorry he was an that the cheque was in the mail.

I got my $AU140 back.

awesome. Good work. Should you be going to London any time, please advise me. Collie will lend you a cricket stump.

bubba louie said:

We’ve bought heaps on ebay, here and OS, with no problems. Be wary of any seller who doesn’t have a reasonable number of satisfied customers.

Yes i have too Bubba. This was not ebay, but said ebay motors would be contacting me. They sent a bogus ebay email. Very similar to the real ones too!

enduro said:

A few years back I got scammed on Ebay by some late teenager. He took my $AU140 for a pair of sunnies and never heard from him again. A short time later the Ebay account closed. To this day I have never had a reply from Ebay about my complaint.

That was until I found out where the seller lived and sent an email to his home address CC: to the local Sherriffs Office.

Through email conversation I new out his name and the state he lived in. After using various legal means I located him on the local Sherriffs website (it’s either legal or a legal requirement for traffic offenders to be publicised in FLA). I found his home address, birthday, sent correspondence to the local law enforcement and an email reply within 24hrs letting me know how sorry he was an that the cheque was in the mail.

I got my $AU140 back.

Well done

CollieWA said:

>Be wary of any seller who doesn’t have a reasonable number of satisfied customers.

Wise, but makes it tough for genuine first time sellers..

I’d probably buy something from a first timer if it wasn’t too expensive, or if it was local.

Longy said:

bubba louie said:

We’ve bought heaps on ebay, here and OS, with no problems. Be wary of any seller who doesn’t have a reasonable number of satisfied customers.

Yes i have too Bubba. This was not ebay, but said ebay motors would be contacting me. They sent a bogus ebay email. Very similar to the real ones too!

I see.

Longy et al any emails say they are overseas but dealing thru ebay motors/western union etc are scams pure & simple. I have never had a problem with ebay tself buying here or overseas (US) even big ticket items.
On a forum I’m on (dungbeetles) a similar scam using a gumtree ad and pretending that a truimph m/c (rocket 3) had to be sold per divorce settlement and the owner was now in london etc but the bike was in Darwin in a mates yard blah blah. A member there started to have fun with said scammer and as he was in darwin he could go look at the bike. Then things got ruff for the seller and we had a laugh for a while and the guy playing the fish then got onto the feds and it all died quickly
When playing these guys DON’T send a virus trojan etc or you can be done for that crime and unless youre very techo savvy you will get caught. Play the fish but get him/her to wear itself out

I did forget to add to my post about the sunnies dud purchase that we had previously and subsequantly purchased dozens of items (totalling many thousands of dollars) from Ebay and will continue to do so. The bargain of purchasing new items from Ebay, has in my opinion, diminished significantly over the last few years with the sellers (for example Asia located ones) realising that they can bump their prices up considerably closer to the AU dollar and still hopr to get sales.

Regularly it’s hardly worth purchasing new electronics via this online manner as EBay is a market strongly constructed by shop sellers with fixed prices as opposed to the auction medium that it once was 5 years ago. I can normally buy electronics online from stores in AU and achieve the same or better price (with local warranty) than on EBay.

Quality sunnies however (eg. Rayban) I will always buy from the USA as they are less than half price for the latest models.

If you are unsure about the seller in question a tactic I employ is to email the previous buyers and ask them if they got their goods, delivery time etc. Instant feedback or sellers sales history is far from a certain method of evavuating a seller.

Also, be aware of third party warranties. Even DoCEP warn about third party protection warranties on their website.

drylander1 said:

Longy et al any emails say they are overseas but dealing thru ebay motors/western union etc are scams pure & simple. I have never had a problem with ebay tself buying here or overseas (US) even big ticket items.
On a forum I’m on (dungbeetles) a similar scam using a gumtree ad and pretending that a truimph m/c (rocket 3) had to be sold per divorce settlement and the owner was now in london etc but the bike was in Darwin in a mates yard blah blah. A member there started to have fun with said scammer and as he was in darwin he could go look at the bike. Then things got ruff for the seller and we had a laugh for a while and the guy playing the fish then got onto the feds and it all died quickly
When playing these guys DON’T send a virus trojan etc or you can be done for that crime and unless youre very techo savvy you will get caught. Play the fish but get him/her to wear itself out

Yeah fairy nuff DL. The bloke hasn;t responded since i told him that it has to be Ebay pay pal or it’s not on. Wouldn’t be surprised if i don’t hear from him again.

LOL. Bloke is insisting i use Western union. I’m still stringin him along.
I s’pose if i typed his emaila ddress here and he got loads of spam because some bots picked it up, it’d be OK!!!