So contacting the scammer, eBay, and PayPal have produced nothing. I went on to file a police report with the department in her area. The fraud detective assigned to the case has tried to contact her numerous times, but she just ignores him and doesn't return his calls, nor will she respond to me. The detective says he can do nothing about it (Really? What a great way to avoid punishment for a crime - just ignore the police and they give up!) unless I fly across the country and press charges in person.
Here's my problem. I'm disabled, and physically incapable of traveling 2500 miles to meet with the magistrate in person to file charges for a warrant.
Has anyone ever successfully busted one of these online thieves? Does anyone out there know of a law or other procedure so that I can bust this thief and get my money back? Or at least bust her so she can't do this to people any more? I'm praying that there's some type of justice out there for people in my position. I can't believe all she has to do is ignore the police and get away with it, and there's nothing I can do because I physically can't make the trek across the U.S..
I'd be eternally thankful if someone knows of some kind of law that will help me with this situation. If there's anyone in the internet fraud busting business, I'd love to hear from you.
Update: I can't find a way to respond to an answer for clarification, so I'll add this here. The transaction was in the United States (both myself and the thief). I just got off the phone after another long conversation with their %26quot;customer service%26quot;. They continue to insist that they will not accept any kind of dispute because I did not file one within 45 days, even though eBay themselves told me after a month to continue trying to contact the seller (who just ignores communication and continues selling), which stalled me just long enough to cross the 45 day period. I tried explaining this to the CS rep, but he just kept repeating the same thing. No disputes after 45 days, even though they told me themselves to go try and work it out with the seller first. Having the fraud detective from the thief's city contact them will change nothing. Payment was made via PayPal with funds already in the account (there's no direct credit or debit transaction I can dispute with my bank). PayPal gave me the exact same story. No disputes accepted after 45 days, even though they too told me to continue trying to work with the seller, the same trick eBay pulled to stall long enough that they don't have to do anything now.
This is ridiculous. There has to be some kind of legal action i can take against this person since eBay and PayPal refuse to show any integrity whatsoever. Again, I'm disabled, and can't travel the length of the country to her city to press charges. Please, if anyone out there knows of a legal procedure that can get this resolved, I'm dying to know. eBay, PayPal, and the local police in her area all basically say their hands are tied.
Internet Fraud (eBay)?
Since this is internet crimes, contact Internet Crimes Complaint center FBI (IC3) it is an interstate transportation of goods and money laundering scam. so see what they will do for you.
Internet Fraud (eBay)?
Sorry to tell you but eBay and PayPal are the same entity. They just don't publicize it. I closed my account after continued problems with them. Best site I ever used is planetfeedback.com. Heard about them on NPR and have used them twice with amazing results. Once was with a major bank, the other with a credit card company. The issue was resolved in my favor within a week. Hope it helps.
Okay first if it was shipped by USPS and you have receipt contact the post office. Also contact better business bureau and also contact consumer protection agency. In the future use your credit card to purchase anything on line, You will be covered in situations like you describe. And be sure who you are dealing with on ebay, there are many honest sellers on ebay but check their ratings. I never buy from any one that has less than 99.% rating. Also leave a negative report on the seller on ebay. I hope this gives you some help. I have been dealing on ebay for many years and have had few problems. Good luck and God Bless.
Great question and answers.
Perhaps I can just add to this that the best way to guard against being ripped off by online sales or auctions of any kind, eBay inlcuded, is to use a bona fide online escrow company. Although it does add some cost, that will take uncertainty out of the transaction.
For my money, the best bona fide online escrow (and there seems to be ten fraudulent escrow sites for every bona fide one) is probably Escrow.com (http://escrow.com). In fact, it鈥檚 the only one that eBay recommends.
Take care,
Ulf Wolf
My friend, you know I've been on Ebay for some time now 3yrs I think.
Maybe the reason why ebay wont give your money is because its their policy.
What I will advise you to do, to prevent this fraudsters is that, when you use your ebay account, dont put cash balance on your paypal account. Use your credit card to pay for the sellers.
Because with your cash, your protection are limited, that goes the same way with your checking account. Dont ever use them in online transaction. Never use them. I had a bad experience once using my checking account. I bought 4 dvd's which is $15 each, and I run out of funds, so each of the transaction I paid $35 to the bank, so i paid $140 fee for over draft.
Anyway, I dont have a bad experience on ebay and paypal, all of my transaction I dispute they gave my money back in full. The thing is that, when you expect you package to arrive in 5 days, and it didnt arrive at your mailbox, you must immediately file a dispute on ebay, in this manner, it is like you are letting them know that you didnt get the package at the right time, so after that try to send message to the seller and ask her if she had shipped the item, if she does not answer in 2 days, then escalate your dispute to a paypal claim. And leave a message to your original dispute post that the seller is not communicating with you. Then after that in 72 hours, ebay will decide in your case. As of now, just this last few weeks I claimed for 2 items that didnt arrive, so they refunded my money back.
you just need to let them know at the very moment that you expect the package to arrive but it didnt. And also the most important thing is that, always, always use your credit card. Because you are more protected using them, you can dispute it directly to your credit card company.
Next time, dont let the dispute passed in 30 days, International shipping can take like 14-20 days.
These are the secrets to avoid problems regarding online transactions;
1. Always pay with your credit card.
2. Always know when you should receive you package.
3. If the package didnt make it on the expected day of delivery, give it a 24hr chance.
4. If it still didnt arrive, file for a dispute for an item not received.
5. Contact the seller, talk to him via messages through ebay so that ebay will see your communication.
6. If she doesnt communicate, escalate the dispute to a claim.
Im %100 sure ebay will return your money because they have the ebay buyer protection.
You just need to do and follow the procedure step by step.
Also if ebay found out that neither you or the seller has the fault, they will still refund your money back. Because sometimes, its the post office or the couriers fault that a package was lost.
If the package was found, ebay will contact you, and ask you if you still want the item, if yes then you will pay for it, since they give you the money back you will need to pay for it when it is found. But if you dont like it anymore, then you will just need to send it back to the seller. And ebay will take the money you paid from the seller. Thats how it is. Ebay's policy is good enough for both seller and buyer.
So in your case, maybe because you dont know their policy and I dont blame you for that because you are disabled. I just want to give you an idea how to deal with them. I feel sorry because you lost money. But I dont think you can do anything about it, if its their policy then forget it, and move on. And so now you already know what to do. I hope it does not happen to you again.
God bless you!
