Scammers selling counterfeit currency and eBay doesn’t care

[w00dst0ck2703]

Scammers selling counterfeit currency on EBay, and they could care less.  Talked to half a dozen customer support agents, whom I could barely understand and they informed me that I need to wait for these scammers to provide me a refund and ship them the counterfeit coins back 😂.  I informed them that it’s a felony here in the United States to counterfeit currency, to include possessing and shipping it.  Of course all they could do was keep parroting pre written responses.

What a joke.  

 

[ebooksdiva]

This is what you do…

Go to the item in your purchase history 

Click the menu next to the item that says RETURN THIS ITEM or Click More Actions to find RETURN THIS ITEM 

Click DOESN’T MATCH DESCRIPTION OR PICTURES follow the prompt you can upload the picture you posted here. 
The seller has 3 business days to issue you a return label , if the seller doesn’t issue you a label by day 4 you can ask eBay to step in for a refund. 
If the seller sends you a return label you should return the item within the allotted time stated in the return.

Once the item is returned to the seller, they have 2 days to send your refund, if that doesn’t happen, then on day 3 after delivery you can ask eBay to step in for your refund. 
To report counterfeit or fake items it needs to be done by clicking REPORT THIS ITEM in the listing its self. 
Good luck.

[w00dst0ck2703]

I shouldn’t have to wait days and be at the mercy of a scammer to return my money, it’s clearly counterfeit currency which I provided eBay proof of.  

I’m not shipping counterfeit currency (which is illegal) back to the seller so they can scam someone else.  There’s a reason these foreigners continue to do this, because EBay allows it.

Thanks for the not response though. 

[ebooksdiva]

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@w00dst0ck2703 wrote:

I shouldn’t have to wait days and be at the mercy of a scammer to return my money, it’s clearly counterfeit currency which I provided eBay proof of.  

I’m not shipping counterfeit currency (which is illegal) back to the seller so they can scam someone else.

Thanks for the not response though. 

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It isn’t illegal to return it .. It’s illegal to sell it. 

But if you don’t want your money back that’s your choice.

[whorunbartertown]

If enough Buyers do this, eBay will take notice.

[w00dst0ck2703]

Except the people selling it are doing so from overseas, and I’m here in the United States where it’s actually a felony and I can be prosecuted 🤦🏻‍

I’m not shipping counterfeit currency back to the scammers, period.  

Eventually I will be able to speak with an American at eBay to escalate it.

[mudshark61369]

@w00dst0ck2703,

I do not understand why you feel you have to contact customer service when you receive an item that is not as described. Just because there is not a specific reason "seller sold me a fake/counterfeit item" in the money back guarantee return reasons, does not mean you will not get a refund. It is covered by item not as described. If you post that photo of the broken coin, it could cost you your ebay protections, because it can't be returned in the same condition in which it was sent. A simple acid test would prove the "silver" was actual plate/toning.

eBay's phone/chat reps work for the call center that is contracted by ebay, they are not actual ebay employees. They work from the play book ebay provides them, which does not cover every single issue that a person may encounter, so they often give out poor, guessed at, and sometimes wrong information to get people off the chat/phone.

eBay cannot possibly verify each and every one of the millions of new listings posted daily. So you have to do your due diligence before buying from any seller including checking their feedback profile page.

As far as the legality of shipping back fake/counterfeit, coins or currency, since you can prove it was a return, there's no harm or foul.  

[w00dst0ck2703]

My neighbor dropped the coin and dented it, so I decided to cut it in half. 

They are silver plated brass so no, an acid test would not have shown them to be fake.  It was actually even simpler than that, they had to cast them much thicker to achieve the desired weight.

I don’t care about the money in all honesty, it’s a matter of principle that eBay invites this kind of rampant fraud.

[ittybitnot]

@w00dst0ck2703 

Since I am far from familiar with the coin/currency world, I have to ask what prompted you to buy this product in the first place?   Was a low price an enticement?  Did you not click through to see all the negative reviews, or actually think it would go better for you and they would send you REAL coins?   Is this the same seller who is now sold out of "Lock Picking Tools" and is a TRS?  Were you fooled by the TRS designation that eBay suggested that this was "One of eBay's most reputable sellers"? 

eBay starts to care when the seller starts causing eBay to lose money.  

[mudshark61369]

@w00dst0ck2703,

You're right there are several ways to determine if coins are fake. 

"I don’t care about the money in all honesty, it’s a matter of principle that eBay invites this kind of rampant fraud".

As I wrote in my last post, there is no possible way for ebey to verify all of the listings posted daily. That is why they do have the Money Back Guarantee.  Had you checked the seller's profile before buying, chances are once you saw the seller was located in China you would have hit the back button. The seller's feedback percentage is a terrible one for a Top Rated Seller.

[w00dst0ck2703]

There were no negative reviews.  The seller is giving refunds in exchange for buyers removing their negative reviews so they can keep scamming.  They actually had nearly 100% positive reviews when I bought and I did not notice country of origin until after.  

It’s not enough money to care about losing, but buyers shouldn’t have to weed out scams on a platform as big as eBay with the resources to proactively stop them, IMO.

[soh.maryl]

You have now altered the coin by cutting it in half, thereby rendering it impossible to return for a refund through eBay.

[w00dst0ck2703]

As someone with an IT degree who works in the industry, that is just flat out false.  Ebay has more than enough resources to actively flag and prevent these types of scams from continuing before buyers are taken advantage of.  I knew it was a scam as soon as I purchased it, despite 5000+ reviews with positive reviews of the same item.  

My issue is more with eBay at this point, and just how unserious they are taking the fact that counterfeit currency is being sold on their platform.  It’s a felony, and a huge deal.  

Scammers purchase accounts with tens of thousands of reviews and sales, and country of origin isn’t always easy to spot.  eBay could easily make this more prominent on the ad pages with a 5 minute code change.  

[w00dst0ck2703]

Good, now they can’t scam someone else who may not know how to check for fake coins.  

If eBay refuses to step in and acknowledge that counterfeit currency is being sold on their platform I’ll grind it all up and at least sleep well knowing someone else won’t get scammed by sending the coins back to the scammer.

[soh.maryl]

OK.  However, as multiple responders told you, all you needed to do is open an item not as described case.  You wouldn't have been committing a felony by returning the coin.  

You chose, however, to go your own way instead of using the option given by the MBG.

We have to assume that most of those who encounter counterfeit coins (or counterfeit anything) would open the NAD case to be refunded.