posted on October 12, 2000 02:45:13 PM
I have read about these scams, and now it happened to me twice in one day! Scam #1: High-bidder from Indonesia wants me to ship my expensive electronic item "right away" upon receipt of a fax'ed confirmation that his wire-transfer has been sent. No? Then how about his credit card? Stolen you say? Hmmm...I can't understand why he hasn't e-mailed me back regarding my request for payment by money order. I promptly contacted my "losing" bidders to make a deal, but they already bid on another. Scam #2: High-bidder has a valid-appearing name/address on their ID contact request. Payment promptly received at PayPal. However, name on PayPal account is completely different than high-bidder. Buyer requests shipping to Thailand ("a gift for my father"...buyer was also high-bidder on 5 identical items...that's a nice daughter who would send five identical gifts to her poor father who is undoubtedly suffering in Thailand without his expensive electronics). I attempt to e-mail sender of funds only to discover e-mail address was not valid. I e-mailed bidder asking for contact information of Card Holder...no reply. I notified PayPal and the money sits (temptingly) untouched in my account. If I withdraw and ship the item, I'm sure I will receive a "charge-back" when the stolen card # victim reviews his bill 30 days from now. "NO MORE SHIPPING TO SE ASIA" will read my future auctions for high-end items. This really sucks...P.S. - Both had "0" feedback and shades. E-Bay & PayPal have been notified. These bidders are probably doing the same thing with new user ID's. Thanks for your vigilence, E-Bay!
posted on October 12, 2000 03:05:13 PM
Definately stinks. Is there some way you can get the money out of your PayPal account...I mean to send it back to where it came from? I'd be nervous with it sitting there, with all the horror stories lately.
posted on October 12, 2000 03:10:15 PM
I have requested NPB's & FVF's...just posting to alert others. I did call PayPal Customer Service (who answered the phone LIVE on the first ring!) and informed them of the "suspect" funds. They are checking it out and promised not to freeze my account as I was being cooperative and forthcoming. I can't return the money to sender because their provided e-mail account doesn't exist! How disappointing is it that these slimy little Third World p*#cks can circumvent all this alleged credit card "fraud-prevention" features and I can't even program my G#* D*#$ VCR...
[ edited by schoonerdude on Oct 12, 2000 03:12 PM ]
posted on October 12, 2000 03:21:12 PM
I'm not suggesting you do anything until you hear back from Paypal.
But, did the buyer also remove the email address from their Paypal account? If not, you would still be able to send it back, even though the email address itself is no longer valid.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
All rights reserved. All wrongs reversed.
posted on October 12, 2000 03:55:03 PM
The bidder sent an e-mail from their E-Bay registered address. The PayPal payment arrived with a different e-mail address (that
's when the alarm bells started going off). Within minutes of receiving the PayPal e-mail, I attempted to contact the sender of the funds at his (PayPal) e-mail address. It was bounced back immediately stating "address does not exist". I tried two more times from two different accounts with the same message. Somehow, this bidder was able to manipulate PayPal in such a way that there is no way to contact the legitimate card holder nor to send the money back. Would anyone like for me to transfer this $420 to their PayPal account? I would be happy to get rid of it!
posted on October 12, 2000 03:59:49 PM
BidPay is issuing alerts with all payments not to ship to any address other than the one supplied in their confirmation letter- especially Indonesia and to report any violations immediately.
posted on October 12, 2000 05:46:32 PM
I had this happen to me with a tv they wanted me to send it to Indonesia "a gift for brother" and were going to pay 450.00 just in shipping to get it there and this just wasnt one auction it was 3 with 3 supposidly different people. They all wanted it shipped to the same address in indonesia. needless to say I didnt ship it. well thanks for the scam info. I wonder if its the same person.
thanks
howecow
So howe ya doing today?
