posted on October 27, 2000 07:47:32 PM
Well, this is a new one, at least for me. I did buy something from the person this is about. They are now naru'd. I paid with paypal, it was only a little novelty item, total including shipping was $5.15. I'm not concerned about the money particularly, but thought I'd see if any of you have any experience with this sort of thing.
I sent all the pertinent info to the detective in question and was just sort of wondering if this is the end of it or what.
I also wonder if I should stop the payment with paypal. I'm concerned though that they'll freeze my account over a $5.00 transaction.
Only weird thing I noticed about this was the EOA notice wanted me to send them my phone number so "we can work this transaction out." I wrote back and said they didn't need my phone number. Now, I think maybe they wanted my CC info.
I edited the e-mail to take out any identifying info.
**********************************
eBay,inc.
2145 Hamilton Avenue
San Jose, CA 95125
Hello,
I'm Angela XXXXXXX, eBay's Fraud Manager. eBay has been contacted by the
XXXXXXX Police Department concerning a former eBay User that is
under investigation for their activities on eBay.
This investigation is not complete at this time, and your cooperation will
be appreciated. Please keep in mind that these are allegations only, and
that no charges have been filed nor should you draw any conclusions as to
the outcome of the investigation.
If you WON an auction posted by these User(s) through eBay, AND if payment
was sent and the item was NOT received, NOT as advertised, or a refund was
NOT issued, then the XXXXXXX Police Department would like your
assistance in their investigation. Here is a list of the Name(s) and User
ID's that are currently under investigation:
On behalf of eBay, I hope that you will take a moment to fill out the
information below, and mail this information to Detective XXXXXXXXXXX of the
XXXXXXXXXXX Police Department in order to help with this investigation.
XXXXXXXXXXX
PO Box 7068
XXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXX
ATTN: Detective XXXXXXXXXXX
or you can email Det XXXXXXXXXXX at : XXXXXXXXXXX
Please take a moment to fill out ALL the information below, and print and
send this copy. Also, please be sure to keep a copy for your records.
Surname, First name:
Mailing address:
City, State, Zip:
Telephone number (day):
Telephone number (evening):
Pager number:
Cellular number:
E-mail:
Subject:
Bid number:
Describe auction item:
Amount of loss:
Type of payment:
If you paid by check or money order, do you have a copy of the cancelled
portion:
If Yes, please send a COPY of the check or money order:
Method of sending payment (mail, FedEx, wire, etc.):
Screen name of seller:
Any additional identifying information on seller or methods of contact:
E-mail address (seller):
Telephone number:
Address (complete):
BRIEF narrative of incident(s):
For future reference, this email address is intended for information
collection purposes only. Responses to this email may not be made. Please
direct all other inquiries to:
posted on October 28, 2000 06:21:02 AM
You might want to edit out the name of the Police Dept. in the 3rd paragraph which begins with "If you WON..."
I would give a call to Ebay or the police dept. mentioned (call the main number that you receive when calling information and ask for the detective mentioned in the letter) to be sure that it is not a hoax.
When you get the Det. and find out that they do indeed work there and it isn't a hoax to get info, have the Det. call you back so that you aren't wasting anymore of your money on this.
Sorry to hear that you got mixed up in one of these things...I am glad to hear that they do eventually take fraud cases seriously and prosecute though. We hear so many times of people who have gone to the police and Ebay with $250.00+ bad deals and are just shooed off like pesky flies. Good luck.
posted on October 28, 2000 07:52:55 AM
If you started this, you now should follow the rules/laws. Not concerned about the $5? ...hmm? I really would like to read the letter you sent to this detective, I hope you didn't inflate your case, if not, so don't be afraid. What it surprises me is why this detective is so interested on this case that he even contacted eBay, and soon probably contact PayPal, and for only $5? Please UpInTheHills share the letter you sent to this detective. But, if you didn't do anything wrong, why are you so concerned about giving your phone number? You started this, now you should comply with the law enforcement so they can do their job.
What I am about to say is obvious not your case ===> But many people love to complain about anything and everything. I don't know if their work/purpose if to bring down all the sellers, or just give them hard time because they are doing good, then when is time to face the consciences for their acts they say it wasn't me and ask for our help.
So Mr. UpInTheHills please comply with eBay and the law enforcement and soon probably with PayPal too, so we all can feel safe, and we really thank you for sharing this with us.
posted on October 28, 2000 08:10:33 AM
Good Grief Poton. I did not start this. I received the above e-mail from e-bay. I answered all of the questions put forth and sent it to the detective. I even stated in my letter to the detective that I hadn't begun to worry about this yet as it had only been 5 days since the auction closed.
I didn't want to give my phone number to the person I'd won the auction from, not the police department. I did send my phone number to the detective. I saw NO reason the seller in the auction needed my phone number, so I didn't send it to them.
Not concerned about the $5? ...hmm? I really would like to read the letter you sent to this detective, I hope you didn't inflate your case, if not, so don't be afraid. I should have said, my main concern has nothing to do with the $5., but rather with the potential headaches this may cause me.
But many people love to complain about anything and everything.
I didn't complain about anything.
So Mr. UpInTheHills please comply with eBay and the law enforcement and soon probably with PayPal too, so we all can feel safe, and we really thank you for sharing this with us.
I am complying with the request from ebay and the police department. I thought I'd made that clear in my original post.
posted on October 28, 2000 08:13:25 AMpoton, I think you're not reading the original post carefuly enough. ebay and law enforcement are interested in all the auctions of this seller, not just this buyer's. The seller asked for the buyer's phone number in the EOA notice, and there would be no reason for the seller to need this. Safeharbor is giving the buyer info and asking the buyer to respond to the detective. No one posted anything about paypal being contacted.
Sorry for the redundancy, the original poster and I were responding almost simultaneously.
[ edited by london4 on Oct 28, 2000 08:16 AM ]
posted on October 28, 2000 08:14:52 AM
Here ya go Poton. this is the response I sent to the detective.
(edited to take out identifying info.)
***********************
Detective XXXXXXX,
I was contacted by e-bay regarding an auction I'd won. The auction ended on 8/22/00. I paid for that auction on the same date with PayPal.
I hadn't started to be concerned about this auction yet as it only ended a few days ago.
My info:
Name XXXXXXX
Address XXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
phone number XXXXXXX
e-mail addy XXXXXXX
I bought this item from user name XXXXXXX.
The item I bought was e-bay item #XXXXXXX, a XXXXXXX.
The bid price was $1.95 with shipping of $3.20 for a total of $5.15.
I paid by paypal www.paypal.com transaction # XXXXXXX
The only other thing was the end of auction notice requested I send my phone number so that we could finish this transaction. I wrote back that they didn't need my phone number.
Please let me know if you need anything else from me.
Thanks,
XXXXXXX
********************
I don't think I inflated my case.
