HELP! I'm a victim of fraud! Fake Seller used someone else's Amazon Tracking # to fake a delivery

[coledaron]

Hello All,

Please help however you can. I'm about to report my case of this drone I won on auction to the State AG's office because I'm getting the run around everywhere. I've only got one more dispute left in me before I file suit against eBay and PayPal Credit \ Synchrony Financial for a variety of issues they've created that I'm facing here. I won an auction for a drone, automatically paid with PayPal Credit.

I did not check seller until auction closed, but that shouldn't be my fault. Seller had no feedback, except the -1 star I left them, no prior sales. Somehow was able to list a drone and have it go through auction to $599.29 through eBay Germany. Indicated it'd be shipping out of Los Angeles, CA. Though their misleading and fake tracking number for someone else's Amazon order, it allegedly came in 6 hours - from Beloit, WI, an Amazon Warehouse, to my house in Indianapolis, IN. This was not a legitimate auction, this was not a legitimate seller and all the red flags are there including the timeline that only Amazon can do - meaning it was billed, shipped and delivered in a 6 hour window and that they used AMAZON'S SHIPPER NUMBER and that eBay isn't setup to flag that as invalid for a tracking number. There'd never be a world where someone would use an Amazon order tracking number from UPS to ship an eBay order, it's Amazon's shipper account 1Z47VY. I contacted seller, they said they'd refund and then didn't have 3 days. Said they'd cancel, then ghosted me, totally gone. Closed their account just as soon as they got their money. Now I don't have a drone that I paid for and I don't have a way to return or get a refund if I did have it because they're not longer on eBay and cannot be contacted. Ebay says they can't refund because I opened dispute with PayPal Credit. Problem is that PayPal credit has been going with eBay's tracking number that claims it was delivered to "Indianapolis, IN" on a porch, but not mine and not my name or street address from UPS's own customer support team. eBay will not reopen the request because they "have the believe" that I received this, even though they did no actual followup beyond looking at the UPS website and seeing, Indianapolis, my zip code and porch. Problem is nothing on my porch, there's tens of thousands who live in 46201 and I can't get any more info of who's doing this or anything because it's not my actual address, not my actual name and just because seller was provided with my address doesn't mean they used it. Should be a red flag to ebay that not only the times don't line up, they retroactively shipped it on March 30th saying it was actually shipped and delivered same day on March 28, but they never communicated until the dispute I opened. These scammers and fraudsters are extremely sophisticated at looping together the policies and procedures of PayPal, PayPal Credit, Amazon and eBay so that they can continue this cycle of scams undetected because no body can give me information due to protection policies and what have you, just like UPS doesn't mention its an Amazon.com purchase on their tracking header like it should. I 3-way called UPS, PayPal Credit and myself were on the phone together so it was recorded to PayPal's line that they in-fact did hear to their customer service team that this was not my order, the tracking number wasn't for my order but for an Amazon order. That tracking number is this: 1Z47VY660351716270 This has no declaration of hazardous materials, has no proof of drop off, receipt of purchase of the shipping label, copy of the shipping label. Just that eBay claims that they have "reason to believe" that this was delivered to my house but they can't have that reasoning when they haven't called UPS or Amazon to confirm that this was for an amazon order, not mine and that that I am a victim of fraud and a scam. I am now missing $599.20. I keep reopening this case with PayPal Credit because that's where this ended up after eBay closed my case twice since they were lead to believe that I was lying (even though I've bought and sold since 2008 and have around 290 positive feedback stars). So they definitely are losing a lifetime buyer and seller at the minimum out of this. I've had zero luck trying to get anyone to actually pick up the phone and confirm what I'm saying between eBay, PayPal Credit and UPS, so they WILL STOP going with eBay's assumptions that this fake, vanished, scammer first-time seller is to believed over me. It is insulting, I feel victimized, scammed and very violated. eBay should do the right thing, I'm trying to figure out how to get them to, to contact UPS and/or Amazon and confirm what PayPal Credit and I have been told. Right now I have 2,705 Twitter followers and 13,948 Subscribers on YouTube. I plan to let them all know how untrustworthy this is and how to avoid this type of scam in the future. They've done nothing to help me, they keep responding to the charge back with the same info but they have not actually contacted UPS to confirm that in fact NO THIS IS NOT LEGIT and is not my order.

[eburtonlab]

Once you open a dispute with PayPal, eBay can no longer help.

Good instructions for dealing with false tracking prior to getting PayPal involved can be found here:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/Tracking-number-provided-shows-delivered-but-to-another-address...

[bonjourami]

I couldnt get thru all that, but you should have filed a case at Paypal for item not as described, not item not received. You did receive something with a tracking number. I dont expect PP will refund you either because the tracking shows delivered. If you paid with a cc, try them for a chargeback, using item not as described, not item not received, good luck.

P.S. its too late now, but you should have opened an item not as described with Ebay. The seller couldnt have closed his acct that quickly with a pending transaction, Ebay shut him down.

[coledaron]

Thank you for mentioning this. No I didn't receive or get anything. The scammer used someone else's Amazon order and order tracking number with UPSs Amazon shipper number to validate the shipping on ebay and PayPals side of things to make it seem I got it it. It only says delivered to front porch in my zip code not my actual address. Seller never provided proof of drop off or proof of purchase for the free shipping I was supposed to have. I used PayPal credit to buy this and didn't receive it. Then PayPal keeps believing ebay over me. My latest dispute I made them set on the phone with me to listen to UPS explain this, not my order, not a drone, wasn't properly declared as a drone or having batteries and didn't have insurance on the order because it was just 9.9 pounds of Amazon stuff in the order. 

[bonjourami · Accepted solution]

Can you get a written statement from the shipper that it was not delivered to your address, then submit that to PP? While they wont give you the address it was shipped to, that can be pulled up on their GPS monitor.

[ittybitnot]

Then PayPal keeps believing ebay over me.

@coledaron 

What has happened to you with the "fake tracking scam" is nothing new. We see a new victim here just about every day.  Since they say just a very few users come to these boards, one has to wonder how many daily victims there might be.  eBay knows about it, PayPal knows, credit card companies know, and carriers of the parcels know as well.  None of them really cares even if the tracking shows that it was initiated BEFORE you even bought the item in the first place.  A 2 oz. parcel sent to the local Walgreens in your zipcode is enough to satisfy everyone, but the victim.  Nobody is going to check, and if they can get rid of you with their denials they will and save some money on top of it. 

When you filed with eBay, then PayPal you likely still filed an "item not received" claim. This is natural since you didn't get anything.   PayPal sends the claim to eBay who responds with the same old fake tracking number showing delivery, and your PayPal claim is denied just like it was for the eBay claim.  The same thing is going to happen to you if you don't seek some written documentation from the shipper saying the said parcel with that tracking number was not intended for you that either PayPal or your credit card company will accept.  

eBay has a decent money back guarantee UNLESS YOU ARE A VICTIM OF THIS SCAM.  Then the money back guarantee is a giant fail.  

That is why some posters are suggesting that you change your PayPal claim to one of "not as described".  You can send back a package of air to the crook with delivery confirmation and likely prevail.  Use the bots in your favor for a change, or get some documentation and seek redress from your card company. 

[kensgiftshop]

See if you can get a letter from Amazon stating that the package with that tracking number was not addressed to and it didn't contain a drone. Let them know that Ebay suspended to seller for fraud.

File a police report, stating the same information.

File mail fraud with USPS.

Once you have all of that, use it to appeal the Pay Pal case.

[coledaron]

Thank you so much for chiming in. I have an email I proved to PayPal Credit during all of this, each reopen to show them the email. It's from Amazon's Customer service telling me to have PayPal contact them and that they can't provide any info specifically because it's not my Amazon order, not my name, not my delivery address. If you notice on the UPS website it doesn't say what address specifically so they use that as a means to just send a scam order to someone else to make it seem the order delivered to my porch. I figure I will also do a 3 way call with PayPal credit, myself and Amazon next. 

[coledaron]

Yes and what I did was 3 way the call and record it so there's proof that this time PayPal can't say they don't know because they do it's on their recordings, UPSs recordings, I have a recording of the whole call too. So it's now on record with everybody except ebay that this wasn't a legit tracking number and the whole deal. 

[coledaron]

I really appreciate this advice and thank you so much. I've learned many lessons and I just hope it's not an extremely expensive one for me. I could have just bought a new drone for the price I paid for this scam, so maybe if enough people come together to walk away from ebay (like we did Sears and the Sears Card) because it's happened to a lot of us, then maybe they'll look up and shape up. 

I mentioned to the previous person, but I just setup a conference call and will do that with Amazon as well as PayPal Credit Synchrony Financial. I'm just so sad and disappointed for the whole system that this is happening because we've got to be able to have faith in something these days. Thanks again, have a great weekend and best wishes to you and everyone here. I'm very grateful through this frustratingly humbling situation.

[fdjc9654]

report to police.  or BBB

[mudshark61369]

@coledaron,

"I did not check seller until auction closed, but that shouldn't be my fault. Seller had no feedback, except the -1 star I left them, no prior sales. Somehow was able to list a drone and have it go through auction to $599.29 through eBay Germany. Indicated it'd be shipping out of Los Angeles, CA. Though their misleading and fake tracking number for someone else's Amazon order, it allegedly came in 6 hours - from Beloit, WI, an Amazon Warehouse, to my house in Indianapolis, IN. This was not a legitimate auction, this was not a legitimate seller and all the red flags are there including the timeline that only Amazon can do - meaning it was billed, shipped and delivered in a 6 hour window and that they used AMAZON'S SHIPPER NUMBER and that eBay isn't setup to flag that as invalid for a tracking number".

When you finally checked the seller's feedback profile what country did it say the seller was registered in? You should check each seller's profile page before buying no matter what feedback number or percentage they have.  An item location in the U.S. for an auction out of Germany would certainly be a red flag. 

Trying to reply to the rest of your post is difficult because it is so hard to read without paragraph breaks, and you jump from issue to issue not in the order in which they happened. You've also left out some info such as what day you won the auction.

   eBay is hamstrung in what information they can access, because of shipping service's privacy policies. All their automated system can access is the tracking information, and it looks for a Delivered scan.  They cannot access label information for an address or package type/size/weight information, because they are neither the sender or recipient.  It is not only ebay who cannot access the info but neither can other 3rd party online shopping sites,  payment services, or a card provider. 

If you appeal any of the claims you lost without providing information that proves you did not receive the item, then you will lose them as well.  You accepted @bonjourami 's answer, but it is incomplete. To get the info you need, you will have to go to a UPS store and bring a copy of your order details page. If you bought using a phone or tablet you can bring that to show them that info.

 You ask the clerk to compare the address on the label to yours, and when the label was created. It may have been issued before you paid for the item.  Also ask them to check the package info for its type/size/weight to see if it was compatible for what you bought.  If any of the info does not match up, You ask the clerk to write on company stationary,  that the address on the label does not match yours, and the package info is not appropriate for what you bought, and If applicable that the label was issued before you made the purchase. They will not give specifics of the info. Have the clerk sign and date the note.  Then you should be able to add or send a Clear photo or scan of it to any claim you file.   I know ebay will not accept emails from shippers to you as proof of anything, because emails can be faked. The same may be true with PayPal and card providers. 

As for filing a law suite with your states AG, against eBay, PayPal, or card provider.  Good luck with that. They are going to want to know what actions you took to get proof, and provide information that you had been scammed. 

FYI. Sellers cannot just close their accounts, ebay shut it down. If they were no longer registered by the time you filed with PayPal, and you did not tell them that, you omitted info that probably would have had your claim accepted.

[tabcu51]

Clearly you did not receive what you ordered, sounds like a case of "Item Not as Described" to me.