posted on January 4, 2005 02:52:43 PM
Personally, I wasn't going to do anything about it. I did see it coming. There was a seller that I had written to and asked specifically if the items she was selling were copies or computer generated copies. I tried to give her some advice as a seller and what I have learned in the event she was not being honest in her listings (although I didn't come right out and put it like that). She wrote back to say that they were original patterns. Well, I bid and won one of her auctions. I noticed that she kept running the same auctions over and over again, which made me realize what she was selling -- either copies or computer generated copies. Please note that when I bid and won, her feedback was fine. When I realized it, I figured that I would file with paypal and ebay regarding this seller. But I never did receive them. I wanted the patterns for myself to make some items. It was a type of charity auction (or so she said in her listing). She did put in her auctions that they were original patterns.
Well, I kept watching her feedback, because like I said, I could see it coming. I wrote to her to ask where my patterns were. I filed with paypal about 10 days after payment and not receiving them. To date, she has not responded and I don't expect her to.
Well, it finally happened and she was NARUd. She took alot of people for a ride. Unfortunately, I lost $35 and others lost even more. I was contacted by one of the other customers who wanted to go to the police about her. But I do remember a thread where someone stated that something like this could be internet fraud and the FBI would become involved.
Is this true? If so, how do we go about going after this thief? I don't expect to get my money back or the patterns. But I do want this person to pay for her dishonesty and for preying on the good faith of other people. Can anyone help?
Thanks for any help, Vendionians!
Diane
[ edited by bizzycrocheting on Jan 4, 2005 03:03 PM ]
posted on January 4, 2005 03:27:58 PM
Contact some of the other victims. See if any of them paid by check or preferrably a Postal Money order via mail.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on January 4, 2005 03:33:58 PM
Diane,
When I had something similar to this happen, I contacted the sheriff's dept. in the sellers home town and filed a report. I also filed a claim with the USPS for fraud. However, if she did not ship anything to you, the USPS won't work. I just mention it here so that you can pass the info on to others who did recieve copied patterns from her.
Also, if you used a credit card for payment, contact your CC company and file a fraud claim. IF you can, get names and auction numbers from other that you can give to the her local sheriff's office.
Let us know what Town and State she is in and one of us can help with the local contacts. I'm in North Florida.
This type of seller ticks me off enough that I am more than willing to help hang'em high!
posted on January 4, 2005 04:09:01 PM
Well, she responded (finally) to paypal with more lies. She said that she sent it and doesn't know why I didn't receive it. Then she provided a tracking number that is invalid. Paypal is continuing to investigate.
I have seen in her feedback that supposedly she has sent the items out for others, but the post office messed up. Yeah, right! She is such a liar and really turns my stomach.
Tom, I checked out the site and I'm going to have everybody file against her. BUT, I don't have any contact information other than what I can try to get from ebay. How can we get her contact information -- Name, address and phone number, etc.
Thanks, everybody. I'm going after this terrible person. She mentions in her listings that she is donating all of the proceeds to a certain charity/hospital. I wonder if I contact them, if they will go after her too for misrepresenting them.
posted on January 4, 2005 04:54:17 PM
Contact the Better Business Bureau and file a complaint against the hospital/charity. Be sure to state that you and several other victims intend to pursue civil and criminal charges against the charity/hospital for engaging in fraudulent fund raising activities by hiring this crook to hawk donations for them. The intent here is to get the charity's lawyers involved and let them do the dirty work for you. Don't worry, it won't cost the charity a dime. Most of their attornies donate their services pro bono and take a huge tax write off for their services. It shouldn't take them long to shut her down and wring refunds out of her. And keep trying to tie the U.S. Postal service into this somehow. Their fraud inspectors can usually get positive results.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on January 4, 2005 05:17:34 PM
PARKLANE,
That's HORRIBLE! It just blows me away that they let someone like that stay on ebay. How many do you get before you get kicked off?!
posted on January 4, 2005 05:46:35 PM
Tom is right, not that horrible. Two things amaze me about eBay that are high-lighted by this seller.
Firstly, does nobody ever look at the negative feedback? This proves what many here have been saying about feedback not really mattering. The nasty stuff in this seller's FB should put anybody on guard.
The second is more worrisome or interesting depending on your point of view. This seller sells both reproduction coins and posters as originals. See the last post on this link http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff74365.htm
for proof. The number of people that must have received phonies from this seller must be staggering. The ignorance of the feebay buyers is what is worrisome, or interesting if you consider how lucrative this racket must be.
posted on January 4, 2005 06:16:45 PM
Wow Diane Im sorry that happened to you.
I looked at her feedback and almost fell over. Everyone is complaining of copies ~ I didn't realize that you could not copy patterns. Learn something new every day.
I'm shocked that someone would say that they are doing auctions for charity and then rip everyone off. That's terrible
So if PayPal screws you, uh, I mean finds for the seller, I suppose if you can get enough people together and badger her state’s attorney general, something could come of it.
But then patterns aren’t iPods, so it would be a stretch. But certainly worth a try.
posted on January 4, 2005 08:03:41 PMBUT, I don't have any contact information other than what I can try to get from ebay
What? You sent money to someone without getting their address?
Rule number one. Never ever send anyone any type of payment without getting their address first. Even if you intend to use PayPal, if the seller does not give you their address in their WBN to you, ask for it. If they don't want to give it to you, then they shouldn't be selling anything any where and you need to keep your money and cover your rear end.
.
.
.
Alive in 2005
posted on January 5, 2005 11:24:31 AM
Thanks, Stonecold, for that bit of information. It will come in handy in the future. Thanks everybody else for all of your input.
I am in the process of writing this thief a letter stating that unless she can provide me with a charity tax ID number, that I will be filing charges with the state attorney's office and requsting ebay to look into it as, if I'm not mistaken, they can be held partially liable (but I'm not sure about this). However, ebay may want to file charges against her, too, for fraudulently advertising a charity on their site. I also am going to outline all of the different offenses of fraud that she has committed. I will be careful NOT to request that she refund everybody's money as this can be construed as extortion. Do you all think this is a good idea?
I'm working with another buyer who got taken as well as will be contacting the other buyers as well. I think if we all stick together, this thief may find herself in alot of hot water.
posted on January 5, 2005 12:04:18 PM
Diane, why tip her off. Let the Sheriff and other autorities take care of that.
If you send her an email letting her know that you are one behind this, she may start stalking your auctions.
[ edited by ltray on Jan 5, 2005 12:05 PM ]
