Victim of Ebay Fraud?
Don’t feel bad, I am a Private Investigator and I was scammed for over $400. The worst part…I had a gut feeling it was a scam. This article is about what to do “IF” you have been scammed but, if your gut tells you the offer is too good to be true-it most likely is.
I was searching through Ebay one day looking for laptops when I came across this nice IBM Thinkpad. These laptops were selling for $1800 to $2500 at the time. Well, I found one for $400. It was brand new fully loaded and best of all-It was “Buy It Now” I was so excited about buying the laptop that I didn’t want to admit the fact that it was probably a scam.
I went against everything I knew and bought the laptop. I paid $400 through paypal and the seller sent me a tracking number. He was considerate enough to ship it priority. I couldn’t wait but I still had reservations about the transaction.
My laptop arrived three days later. The only problem was the package was in a standard letter sized envelope. Inside it was a blank piece of paper. The seller had shipped it just so he could give me a tracking number, giving him three days to hide.
What To Do If This Happens To You
I was furious but calm. You can’t think straight if you are highly emotional. You have to calm down and take a plan of action.
Step 1. Contact Paypal, not Ebay. You can open a dispute against the seller from your paypal account. Once the dispute is made all the funds in the sellers account are frozen. This means they can’t withdraw any money. This guarantees you get something. The sooner you do this the better. You want to open the dispute before he withdraws the money.
What did I do? Well, I noticed he listed another laptop. So, I waited till someone purchased the laptop. I then opened a dispute. This guaranteed that $400 would be available for me in his account.
Step 2. Contact Ebay. Ebay will give you the name and address of the seller. You can use this information to get a phone number if Ebay doesn’t give it to you. With this information you can do a quick background check on the subject to see if the address listed matches the name of the seller.
First, perform a reverse address check. You can do these free. Search Google, you will find alot of sites that allow you to do this. Enter the address Ebay gave you and see if a phone number comes up associated with that address. If not, go to Intelius and enter the info you have. It might cost $30. They will most likely give you the name and phone number of the person who lives there. You can use this to validate the info.
Step 3. Keep emailing the seller. Let him know you are onto him. Taunt him about his paypal account being frozen. Give him the information you have on him. Let him know you have alerted the local authorities and they are investigating the situation as well.
Step 4. Alert the police in the seller’s area. They most likely won’t do anything for you, they didn’t for me, but there will at least be a record. Give the police all the information you have.
If you follow these steps you should get your money back. It might take a couple of weeks but it will happen. If you need help just email me at charles@anonrecovery.com I will coach you through some steps if you need. Check out the other article on “How to avoid being a victim of Ebay fraud” in the Do It Yourself category.
