Fraudulent buyer scammed by business for a few thousand

[minttech]

I own a small business that sells mostly electronics. We had a buyer saying that a ton of items he purchased were not as described 40 days after delivery. While we did not accept returns, I accepted 14 returns from the same buyer after 40 days as a courtesy. The buyer ended up shipping 10 packages back. Anyway the buyer stole all my items and returned a bunch of worthless iPhone 7. We are talking about receiving 1 x iPhone 7 back instead of an order of 3x iPhone 12 and one iPhone 7 back instead of 2 x iPhone 13, etc. All 10 packages were worthless junk. I am out a bunch of iPhone 12 and 13 and need help. I am down over $4000 and my business can not suffer these losses. Any help will be appreciated and this has never happened to me before so please any guidance. Ebay is not willing to help me even though i showed multiple evidence that I have been robbed.

[the-hook-and-the-loop]

I won't state the obvious because you're hurting but you have their information, I hope?

[minttech]

Yes i have the buyers name and number from the order as well as the delivery address which is a post office.

[isaiah53-57]

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@minttech wrote:

I own a small business that sells mostly electronics. We had a buyer saying that a ton of items he purchased were not as described 40 days after delivery. While we did not accept returns, I accepted 14 returns from the same buyer after 40 days as a courtesy. The buyer ended up shipping 10 packages back. Anyway the buyer stole all my items and returned a bunch of worthless iPhone 7. We are talking about receiving 1 x iPhone 7 back instead of an order of 3x iPhone 12 and one iPhone 7 back instead of 2 x iPhone 13, etc. All 10 packages were worthless junk. I am out a bunch of iPhone 12 and 13 and need help. I am down over $4000 and my business can not suffer these losses. Any help will be appreciated and this has never happened to me before so please any guidance. Ebay is not willing to help me even though i showed multiple evidence that I have been robbed.

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@minttech 

Wow - So sorry to hear of this crime against you  - From what I have seen, I wouldn't doubt this criminal does this often and will continue to do it...

I would start by filing police reports with yours and the buyers local police dept - Also IC3 and USPS Reports if you shipped that way - You may be able to appeal ebays decision once you have all this information in hand. Best of luck to you.

[minttech]

Hi thank you very much, according to eBay they are only able to give you a courtesy refund for one transaction a year.  Since these were 10 transactions they said they can not do anything and to ask law enforcement for help. The total was around 4700 and ebay gave me back a few hundred but i am still down over $4000

[duffy4444]

   Stop selling these highly scammed items. Find something else to sell. Electronics and phones, cameras, computer cards, etc. are a magnet for online scammers.

Cheers, Duffy

[playwithitagaintoys]

You've only sold a broken Fitbit for 94.99 in the last 90 days

[stephenmorgan]

Did you refund on your own or did you not refund and then eBay refunded from your account?

If you made eBay aware of the fraudulent return and they forced you to refund anyway then it may be possible to get eBay to reverse their decision and refund you.

[ebooksdiva]

The OP may have another account. 

[slati_2013]

I think you should consider not selling multiple phones. I think it is possible to limit how many items a buyer can buy. This was a carefully thought out crime and like others have suggested, you need to get the police involved. Normally the police don't like to get involved in such crimes but maybe the scale of it might make them take this case. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     For that kind of money I would be working with the buyers local police department and make a trip to the buyers location with the serial numbers of the stolen items. That is the problem with PO boxes you don't have the persons actual address so you will need an assist from the local police department to run down the scammer. 

[minttech]

Lol, obviously I am not messaging you under that account for safety concerns. My business holds 2 accounts as I am also a big shopper on ebay and want to shop under a different account. 

[minttech]

This is a good idea, I will look into the local police department.

[minttech]

Ebay forced the refund, according to eBay, they do provide courtesy refunds but it comes out of their pocket. They said they can not approve more than one case a year and since there was 10 transactions, they can not do much (not sure if that is accurate but that is what I was told, seems unrealistic). Anyone have any luck with small claims court or US Postal Inspection. 

[a_c_green]

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@dbfolks166mt wrote:

That is the problem with PO boxes you don't have the persons actual address so you will need an assist from the local police department to run down the scammer. 

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...and the local postmaster, since you need ID to rent a PO Box. The post office should have the ID of the person who opened that PO Box.