Like many others I've been doing online auctions for many years and to this day I've succesfully managed to avoid dodgy deals, but looks like someone got the best of me this time. Going to see how this unfolds over the weekend but on Monday or Tuesday I'm filing a report at police station if this doesn't get a quick solution.

Though I've pretty much given up hope already. The police is pretty much uninterested if financial loss is under 700 euros.

Anyone else got shitty stories to share?

EDIT: Oh yeah, let's rate this thread a five-star to celebrate my stupidity and human greed!

http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=8669

how the hell did u manage to get scammed?

What happened? If i may ask

About a year ago i bought what i thought was a Shoei helmet off ebay for $600 (retail $1100 new), it was listed as new. When it finally got here about 2 week's later, It wasnt a shoei at all, but a cheap version (dont remember the brand) with shoei sticker's on it (they did a great job). I ended up filing a report with ebay and sent the helmet back and got a refund through paypal. Not sure what, if anything, happened too the seller. Don't know if it's similar too what happened with you, but that was my only bad experience with ebay, or any online auction.

Quote from ayrton senna 87 :

how the hell did u manage to get scammed?

Yeah, good question. Maybe because for once I trusted someone?

Well this wasn't a Paypal, credit card or bank account phishing scam, so it won't break my balance. If there's no happy ending and the seller does not deliver the promised right goods my loss is 'only' 300 euros.

EDIT: He had a 100% positive feedback, his other transactions and personal info looked credible, I talked on the phone with him and even Google found connections linking the name, location and email address.

What helmet goes for over $800? The most expensive ones I've seen are about $700. AGV's Rossi replica goes for a little under $700. Shoei's X-Eleven is $600, and with full graphics it's $700.

Remember Gents: Don't buy sex online, or you could end up like this guy.

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

Remember Gents: Don't buy sex online, or you could end up like this guy.

what, screwed?

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

Remember Gents: Don't buy sex online, or you could end up like this guy.

That's feckin' harsh!

Quote from Forbin :

What helmet goes for over $800? The most expensive ones I've seen are about $700. AGV's Rossi replica goes for a little under $700. Shoei's X-Eleven is $600, and their RF-1000 is about $400.

I guess i shoulda been a little more detailed. The auction included more than just the helmet, and the total retail was around 1100. Everything in the auction was legit, other than the helmet.

Quote from spankmeyer :

That's feckin' harsh!

You know you love it.

Quote from th84 :

I guess i shoulda been a little more detailed. The auction included more than just the helmet, and the total retail was around 1100. Everything in the auction was legit, other than the helmet.

Did he promise to send the Stig with the helmet? That's when the scam alert should have gone off.

Well, we havn't really been scammed, my story is more serious Fraud.

Recently we were in a temprorary accomidation house untill we got ot the one we are in just now and the bank sent out a new bank card for my mum 2 days after we left. Someone else has moved into it and must just have such a sad life that they open e-mail that isn't theirs.

So they went into the bank (As only a new card was issued, no change of pin so they didn't know it) and signed out large amount of money, by signing for it in the bank. They took out this money and it comes to £540.

Clearly didn't thinking they hadn't made enough money from the bank card they used it 3 times for O2 top ups (another £30 gone) Couldn't have been my mum because she is on a vodafone contract. Then they also put another payment onto some O2 thing.

Now the bank didn't really bother, they said they would get the police bla bla bla, but 2 dasy later they hadn't even phoned them, so we had to and now it's in teh hands of the law (which probarly means not getting the money back)

And the cheeky bastards had the cheek to tell my mum even if it's prooved as fraud, she wil still have to pay for going ovver her overdraught....illepall

It's on the edge of my mind just to go over to the house but i'm sure they will know by now the card has been closed and someone is onto them and leave, if they havn't they will if one of us shows up.

Pretty shitty Spank, but you still havn't told us what you were selling and how you got scammed.

Quote from Bawbag :

Pretty shitty Spank, but you still havn't told us what you were selling and how you got scammed.

I'll give more detailed info next week after I'll find out if there's a happy ending on Monday. If not, then I'll file a report at the police station. I have all documents about the transaction and communication saved, just in case.

He was selling a business appliance I was interested in. There were no obvious signs of a scam, so I decided to pull the trigger. I was aware of the risks involved, so I'm only blaming myself for trusting the wrong person this time.

Sucks to hear about the scam, can't wait to hear the whole story. I usually trust people with 100% positive feedback too and send money over online bank transaction in advance so I wouldn't have to use COD (and pay little extra) when I pick up the package. Which auction site did you use btw? Ebay, huuto.net? I'm sure you should give the site admins a note of the scammer too.

i put an ad selling my psp on craigslist.

Next day i got an email from a guy willing to give me 100+what i asked for... to cover the postage to the uk... riiiight, i'll send it right away Mr. Zambambwe. Oh, and he was going to use his "special personal cheques which are guaranteed against fraud" LOL.

As if i was born yesterday.

Quote from RMachucaA :

i put an ad selling my psp on craigslist.

Next day i got an email from a guy willing to give me 100+what i asked for... to cover the postage to the uk... riiiight, i'll send it right away Mr. Zambambwe. Oh, and he was going to use his "special personal cheques which are guaranteed against fraud" LOL.

As if i was born yesterday.

That's why everyone over here sits on cheques until they clear, infact I don't know any site auction or not which will dispatch any good until payment is cleared. As such I'm yet to have any problems.

lol, this is too funny, minutes after my last post i get this email:





"##########################################################################
# craigslist Advisory: Fraud and Scam Warning! #
# Please read our scam advisory page before replying to this message: #
# http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html #
# #
# This warning is automatically attached to #
# ALL craiglist forwarded emails #
##########################################################################

Dear Seller,

i came over you item on net and love to bye.if it still on sale,pls let me know your mode of payment.i will be shipping it down to nigeria through poster-mail.Hope to here from you as ASAP.
Thanks....

--
___________________________________________


Right away! im sending it asap to nigeria, i trust my fellow friend .

too funny.

I guess some people were born yestarday. Who the hell would fall for that sort of thing?

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

I guess some people were born yestarday. Who the hell would fall for that sort of thing?

Fall for what exactly? I haven't got any payment for about a year from a Nigerian who bought my £2000 hifi system, but I expected that because he said it takes long for the cheque to be cleared , I'm sure he was very pleased because I shipped it immediately after the auction was over. Once the cheque reaches me, I'll be in the money! =)

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

I guess some people were born yestarday. Who the hell would fall for that sort of thing?

You would be surprised.

As well with the emails saying that the database is corrupt or something and they need your login details, papal login, whatever it may be. A guy at work fell for the ebay "we need your login details..." email and sent his account name, password, the whole bit. I don't know what ever came about with that.

Quote from mrodgers :

You would be surprised.

As well with the emails saying that the database is corrupt or something and they need your login details, papal login, whatever it may be. A guy at work fell for the ebay "we need your login details..." email and sent his account name, password, the whole bit. I don't know what ever came about with that.

Bah, I'll never understand how anyone can fall for things like that. Every time I get them I laugh a little inside that they think I'd really send them my details.

419eater.com people. It's the way to do it (anti-scam, not scam). Fantastic anti-scams there. Ever fancied getting a free sculpture?

Things have progressed in such way that this Monday I'll be filing a report at police station.

Here the story goes a bit interesting. I was contacted by another fellow who was screwed over by the same guy. His losses were somewhat bigger than mine, but the story was the same - the poor chap did not get the promised goods and now the seller refuses to answer to the phone. The call dodging is obviously deliberate, as we tested calling from other phones with concealed numbers and he hung up when he heard it was us on the other end.

I got about 20 sheets of printouts conserning the prankster. All emails, phone numbers, email addresses and various transaction info are sitting next to me printed, labeled, underlined and ready for mr. police officer.
Me and the other screwed fella have combined our cases and we both are filing reports on Monday. Hopefully the police will be a bit more interested with our case now, as there are already two frauds done by the same guy.


Oh yeah...

Additionally I got his full name, bank account info, home address and a photograph of him too. Thanks to Väestörekisteri (national citizen database) for supplying the info for a modest fee. He is living under 200 km away from my town.

Finally, I'm fully aware that it's almost guaranteed that I'll never see my money. I do believe in karma and the guy will end up paying one way or the other in the end... like getting his kneecaps busted.

If you combine cases which shows his done it more then once, they are more likely to act unpon it then if it was just one case.

Good luck with it though.

Of course the standard internet tough-guy response would be: Drive over and beat him up. But in the real world that would probably not lead to the desired results.

Unfortunately I've had to deal with a few similar issues in the past. How did you pay? If Ebay, Paypal or a CC were involved, there's a good chance you can get your money back from them.
I'm not familiar with Finish laws, but over here it's crucial to set the seller a time limit by which the goods have to be delivered. If it's the same over there, do that (by registered mail) and make it look somewhat official. I usually use the last names and address of my girlfriend and her room-mate and make the head of letter look lawyer-ish. Can't hurt to enlighten him about the consequences and quote the respective laws, too.

In my experience it's also very effective to make a big stink about this in his direct environment. Call his neighbours, employer, bank, parents, football-teammates and anyone else you can find via Google or phone books and ask them for other contact information. Also mention that the subject is owing you money, that you're gonna get the police involved and that they should relay this to him since you're unable to get a hold of him. Tell the other victim to do the same. If he's leading a halfway normal life otherwise, he won't want to lose his face in front of his friends and family, and they'll start to inquire, especially when hearing from more than one person.

If you do get a hold of him, give him an "easy way out". He's got to have an opportunity to pay you back without admitting to be a thief (unless that's painfully obvious already), because that won't happen.