ebay - criminal intent (a little off topic)

[sports-rings]

I was alerted to the following and was hoping someone here could help since ebay never responds to my alerts.

I had sold an expensive golf-simulator that sold for many of thousands of dollars on ebay recently. This item is in high demand and rare to find on ebay. It will sell for thousands of dollars. I did not use stock photography, the pictures were taken in my office.

I was alerted this morning that an ebay seller with 0 feedback stole my pictures and using my exact description has started an auction. The seller is not the person who bought it from me.

When I looked for other items this zero-feedback scammer was selling, sure enough there was a high-end gps that was already bid upon for many thousands of dollars (who knew gps systems could cost so much?).

Could anyone with any pull with ebay help? I'd hate for buyers to get ripped off and it looks like the seller wants to speak with the bidders first, probably to give them a story about why they can't use paypal.

Here's the link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fsight-GC2-G...item3a89d3ce30



Thanks!

[tiger8mush]

looks like the FedEx box in the picture has a label with your name and address on it.

[drcy]

It is possible he has the item, but just found it easier to steal your pics and description. I know of cases on eBay where people sell technical equipment, but they have little knowledge about it or how it works.

[sports-rings]

It is possible he has the item, but just found it easier to steal your pics and description. I know of cases on eBay where people sell technical equipment, but they have little knowledge about it or how it works.

I had a few custom items with the unit and 5 extra golf courses (out of a universe of about 60) so it would be an amazing coincidence that he would have the extra hardware and the 5 of 60 extra courses I have.

And he wants to communicate with the bidders before they bid or buy the unit.

[earlywynnfan]

do you happen to have a link to your sale?

[Section115]

You can report him for putting his email address in the listing if nothing else. That is against eBay policy.

[doug.goodman]

Obvious scam, I don't care if he has the items, I reported both of his listings.

[sports-rings]

thanks for reporting the listings. I tried too. ebay makes it hard to alert them. I finally took their cookie-cutter one-size-fits-all form and left my phone number with them. Of course they did not call.

Here is my original listing...(and the sale was completed and the new owner did not resell the item)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121213026242?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1561.l2649


and here is the scammer (what in the world must someone do to get ebay to unlist something???)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fsight-GC2-Golf-simulator-/251420462640?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a89d3ce30

[earlywynnfan]

Poof!!

[thehoodedcoder]

your two links don't line up. the bottom one takes you to an item list, not a specific listing.

kevin

[Section115]

Originally Posted by thehoodedcoder

your two links don't line up. the bottom one takes you to an item list, not a specific listing.



kevin

The item has been removed by eBay.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[sports-rings]

Thanks for your help!

Boy, you think ebay would want to make alerting them a little easier!

[sports-rings]

He's at it again....

Here's the newest link.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Foresight-GC...item1e86173459

stealing my pictures and description again. He does not have the gc2 and is trying to get people to pay directly and not thru paypal.

I tried to alert ebay but they are oblivious.

I'm thinking of taking a picture in my conference room in the same location as the photos he's using with a sign showing his email address and also writing that he is out to rip you off and put it in an ebay auction.

Can someone alert ebay? Do you think I should do the auction to alert bidders or should I just leave it alone?

Thanks!

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by sports-rings

He's at it again....

Here's the newest link.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Foresight-GC...item1e86173459

stealing my pictures and description again. He does not have the gc2 and is trying to get people to pay directly and not thru paypal.

I tried to alert ebay but they are oblivious.

I'm thinking of taking a picture in my conference room in the same location as the photos he's using with a sign showing his email address and also writing that he is out to rip you off and put it in an ebay auction.

Can someone alert ebay? Do you think I should do the auction to alert bidders or should I just leave it alone?

Thanks!

I can not believe ebay does not cancel the auction because of the email address in the description. I have alerted ebay to many fake/altered cards and nothing has ever happened, they just want there cut of the sale. Now I just see them shake my head and move on.

Good luck, I hope you can get this scammers listing pulled.

[cardsfan73]

Ebay pays more attention when you report a listing that is trying to avoid ebay fees. I reported the listing for this reason, hope it gets pulled.

I know the bigger deal is the fact that it's fraud, but ebay does not seem so concerned with that.

[Section115]

Originally Posted by cardsfan73

Ebay pays more attention when you report a listing that is trying to avoid ebay fees. I reported the listing for this reason, hope it gets pulled.

I know the bigger deal is the fact that it's fraud, but ebay does not seem so concerned with that.

I did the same thing. Did it The first time it popped up as well.

[RichardSimon]

delete

[sports-rings]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate your help!

The auction may have been cancelled again, but my scammer put it back again.

I think I have a new way to stop him from using my photos, sadly, this will not stop him from stealing other items from unsuspecting sellers.

I put up a bogus gc2 item for sale, with the following picture. Just some background: very few gc2's sell on ebay, perhaps a handful a year and they are very sought after. Unlike a common item with dozens of listings everyday,
anyone bidding on his auction will see my auction too.



Here's the link and warning message if you are interested.....
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Foresight-GC...item1c3bb3aab8

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

Very clever. I like it.

[lharri3600]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/131098686553...84.m1438.l2649

[lharri3600]

Originally Posted by bnorth

i can not believe ebay does not cancel the auction because of the email address in the description. I have alerted ebay to many fake/altered cards and nothing has ever happened, they just want there cut of the sale. Now i just see them shake my head and move on.

Good luck, i hope you can get this scammers listing pulled.

you think they really care?

[bnorth]

This thread is great. To the OP I can not believe he canceled you $43,000 bid.LOL

lharri3600, I would think they care about the scammer putting there email in the description to circumvent them(ebay) getting there fees.

[cardsfan73]

You would think ebay would just ban the seller already. Reported again.

[sports-rings]

some of the people who bid on his bogus golf simulator told me that he creates new ebay accounts all the time and that he tries to con them into sending money. He even sends a bogus ebay invoice to them that looks real.

Ah, ebay, gotta love it!

[sports-rings]

some ebay bidders are as outraged as I am. One promised to help and conned the conman into supplying wiring instructions.

Here they are:

I don't have a phone number but here are the wire instructions he forwarded to me

Beneficiary: Kenneth Washington
Bank name: Wells Fargo
City, State: San Francisco, CA
SWIFT Code: WFBIUS6S
Routing Number: 121000248
Account Number: 2454280369
Country: United States


If you were me should I email this clown and threaten to contact the bank? Or the local authorities?

Or publish this on my website?

Or can someone contact ebay (they don't seem to care).

any other ideas?

thanks

[drmondobueno]

Hmmm. Wire fraud?

[drmondobueno]

Originally Posted by lharri3600

http://www.ebay.com/itm/131098686553...84.m1438.l2649

Is this guy shilling his own crooked auction? Unbelievable.

[sports-rings]

not only is he shilling... he set up a domain...

get this...

He has created a domain (fvn-ebay.com) through Tucows only 3 weeks ago.
link here...
http://who.is/whois/fvn-ebay.com

this way he can send bogus emails that look like they came from ebay.

You think ebay would care....

[callou2131]

Ebay does not care. They have now gotten as bad as auction universe was and Yahoo auctions were. I have literally reported hundreds of Fraudulent Cards, Sigs, Counterfiet items, Fake Game used items, (i know, ebay police blah blah) and I have never had a single item get pulled. Most recently was a fake patched Gretzky Auto card that was numbered. Sold for over $3,000. They now wont let you see the buyer of the item to warn them either. EBAY is setting their own site up to help with fraud while screwing honest sellers.

[callou2131]

BTW I am the high bidder.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by sports-rings

some ebay bidders are as outraged as I am. One promised to help and conned the conman into supplying wiring instructions.

Here they are:

I don't have a phone number but here are the wire instructions he forwarded to me

Beneficiary: Kenneth Washington
Bank name: Wells Fargo
City, State: San Francisco, CA
SWIFT Code: WFBIUS6S
Routing Number: 121000248
Account Number: 2454280369
Country: United States


If you were me should I email this clown and threaten to contact the bank? Or the local authorities?

Or publish this on my website?

Or can someone contact ebay (they don't seem to care).

any other ideas?

thanks

Why threaten? Just report him. I'd start with the postal inspectors and just lay out all the facts and have printouts of the pages. Eventually it will involve the mail, and that's their area. As a bonus, even if they don't do anything, if he gets on their radar there's no statute of limitations on crimes involving the mail.
After that, the local authorities and the bank. and even if they don't care, Ebay/paypal.

Eventually someone might care. Although it's likely too small at this point.

Steve B

[sports-rings]

I'd start with the postal inspectors

Which postal authorities and how do I do this? My local postal authority? I'm on the east coast and I have no idea where he really is located.

Do I contact a postal authority in San Francisco?

How do I contact them?

As far as contacting ebay, I send emails and never hear from them.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by callou2131

BTW I am the high bidder.

I bid on it also but the buyer cancelled my bids and blocked me. I asked for his phone # or address so I could pay in cash with no luck.

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

The two agencies you should contact are the USPS and FBI. That being said I doubt they will assign this a high priority.

[earlywynnfan]

Forgive my ignorance, but why would the Postal Inspector care about this? He's obviously never going to mail anything.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by earlywynnfan

Forgive my ignorance, but why would the Postal Inspector care about this? He's obviously never going to mail anything.

Because they have some jurisdiction over electronic fraud.

https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/aboutus/laws.aspx

"Electronic Crimes (18 USC 1029, 1030, 1037, 1343, 2701)
Inspectors protect postal customers from fraud schemes and other crimes that may occur online and involve the misuse of the mail or of the Postal Service. This includes using or selling stolen or counterfeit access devices, such as credit card numbers; using protected computers without proper authority or exceeding authorized access; using computer communications in a scheme to defraud; using a false identity when sending commercial e-mails to mislead or deceive recipients, as with spam; and unauthorized access to communications that are stored electronically via a communications service."

(red highlighting mine)

So, it's not exactly their area, but they can get involved if they want to.
Reports can be done through their website, or by mail, or probably begun by discussing it with your local postmaster or supervisor.

The link above wasn't working with IE, but worked fine with firefox.

Steve B

[callou2131]

Bids cancelled, item relisted as well as the GPS again. Both reported ...Again...

[sports-rings]

You guys have been great, thanks for all the advise.

Not only have some of you reported it, some of the gc2 bidders have seen my fake gc2 auction with the warnings and also complained to ebay.

Yet, the relistings continue...

I did alert the bank over the weekend by email and will try to reach out today to the postal authorities.

Thanks for everyone's help. While this post was a little off topic, it is a reminder that we need to be careful in our dealings with auctions and buying off ebay.