Gift Card Fraud

[stalangle0]

The last month I have been trying to communicate with eBay Gift Card Fraud team about a scamming ring advertising cars. A local person posts the ad, and then when ask to respond, they give a email address. The person answering the email, is very persausive and replies that ebay will handle the transaction. Yes, the first of July I fell for it, and got scammed for $1500. Ebay claims no responsibility, but the $1500 ends up in the bank account of ebay. Ebay then honors the cards numbers for merchandise, and they make a profit on that transaction. Then ebay is alerted that the money was stolen by deceit. They know who bought the merchandise with the gift cards. Why doesn't ebay go back to that account, and debit that account, and return the money, or credit the ebay customer that got burned? On Aug. 1, I was able to identify another ad on CL, that looked like mine.

I played the people involved, and came up with documents, to purchase the vehicle. This sales document, had been updated, and 3 pages of instructions on buying gift cards. Same thing as my July 1 deal. I sent them card numbers from the first time I got burned, knowing those numbers were frozen. I sent a message yesterday afternoon, If everything had worked out for them, and if they got the message? I got a response from this scammer. She said the cards were empty, and to stop wasting her time!!!! How arrogant, and heartless. I responded by saying she needed to be wasting her time in a jail cell, cos she was nothing but a crook. If I can locate these people, what's going on with ebay? I sent them the documents, with ebay logos, and at the end, it even gives the copyright of ebay, saying All Rights Reserved, trademarks of ebay on and on. When I told this story the first time, I got 2 responses. And it says there are over 5,000 included in the ebay community? Really? I wonder about the apathy, or the fear of critisism from the administration. Doesn't anyone care? Speak up. Your company is being scammed.

[lacemaker3]

---

@stalangle0 wrote:

It's in small claims court, and doing it myself. The fee was $38.

---

Has anyone answered the claim yet? Has it been served on someone?

Unfortunately, small claims court is only good for local cases, and the chances are that none of the people involved are even in this country, since they will be using spoofed phone nubmers and IP addresses.

[annadryl]

---

@stalangle0 wrote:

Obviously you know nothing about buying a car on CL.

---

But this isn't CL. And people that DO know about buying cars on CL know that ebay is a separate site with nothing to do with CL. And they know about this scam which is OLD AS THE HILLS.

People still fall for it so scammers still try.

[mr.elmwood]

It has nothing to do with gift cards. That is a trillion dollar industry.

You saw a phony listing on CL and responded. You were sent phony "documents". All information, links, phone numbers were fake. Free shipping? Across the country? Shipping, alone, is $1000-$1500.

The CL page has specific warnings about this sort of fraud. You had to ignore the warnings, follow fake links, answer fake emails.

The 12 years I refer to is how long I have been aware of this EXACT scam. Back then, "Send the money via Western Union". Then it was other various money orders. That morphed into gift cards. Recently it has been "Pay for the car with iTunes gift cards". Really?

The first rule of eBay car buying is: "Put your hands on the car, first". If you won't do it, get someone you trust to do it.

[stalangle0]

Hello, I am trying to take the approach that the first person in line, offered the car for sale, and with my payment, that formed a contract. I do know that there are others down the line, that are not going to be held liable in any way. I am working with the local law enforcement to be sure. If someone else used this person phone number to intiate the scam, my understanding is that the owner of that phone number has the opportunity to prove that she was not involved. I have just sent in the petition, and the court may throw it out right away. I'm not happy with eBay's reaction, and I bought the ebay cards, and the statement on the back says they know who used those cards. I have emails from eBay stating that they have that information, and their investigation is still in process. I'm going to add the copy of the lastest fake purchase documents, and I don't know if every one can see them. It seems a serious situation, but there is a huge amount of apathy.

[buyselljack2016]

You can bet that 1st person was not involved.  The scammers could have used your name to promote the hoax.  Maybe they will with the next car/boat/travel trailer/ATV/skid steer. They probably have enough of your information to do that now. Why would anyone within legal reach(in this case "shake them severely by the head and shoulders" close) ever attempt a scam such as this?  They did not, and will not.

[mr.elmwood]

Have you considered that the car was never even listed on eBay?

All the pages you saw were crude fakes?

eBay has nothing to do with this.

Use all the legal jargon you want, there was no car, there is no seller, the phone number was fake, all the "documents" are fake.

[stalangle0]

And you're confused. First time I brought this up I got 1 response, today I got 35. Thanks for everyone's input, and I hope we can find some way to be kind to each other. Bye

[tony1963]

I'm not sure that counting replies means anything other than many of us have keyboards.  You were asked to share the details of the lawsuit and you didn't .  Funny that you didn't even bring it up until I recommended same.

Had you actually filed a lawsuit, that would have been your leading line and story.  

[mr.elmwood]

Yes, I am confused. I did not pay $1500 for a non-existent car.

[corndog2]

The above reply by Mr Elmwood is 100% correct. I am so sorry to say that, but most of us have been here for 20 years or more, and have been around the block a few, and have seen this scam many, many times before, and often times for a lot more $$. It is not that we don't want to help.  There is no way to help since Ebay had nothing to do with it. 

If there is a valid Ebay item number for the vehicle, please post it here so we can all see it.

I am really sorry that you got scammed. I know web developers that could make a page like that look like a listing from Ebay in an hour. And phone number masking is rampant. I got a call the other day from Apple, Inc. Yeah right. It was someone selling lower interest rates. It is a daily occurrence.

You can bet that we all would be in your camp and willing to help  you if there was a valid transaction that really was on Ebay. But since there was not, there is nothing anybody can do.

Again, I am sorry this happened to you. The best that you can hope for is that others who read this forum will learn from it, and your situation will have prevented them from making the same mistake.

[honestdom]

You would have a Better shot at Getting anything from
your Lawsuit by Talking the 38$ and Buying Lottery Tickets
atlest you would Have Something

when anybody thinks that you Get Something for Nothing
You are WRONG

Live Learn and Die a Fool

[mr.elmwood]

I accidently clicked on his "invoice" attachment.

It is that cartoon eBay invoice we have seen before. The one drawn by a chimp with crayons. Stunningly fake in all aspects.

OP "claims" to be a paralegal, yet seems to know little about court processes, number masking, fake paperwork, the most common of all car scams, how to research phone numbers, how to research people's names.

Basically, the perfect target for a scam.

Then, THEN, is rude to me saying that I am confused. $1500 will buy me a lot of beer, just saying.

[honestdom]

I Like Gatorade lemon lime Myself!
that way I can stock up on it.

Just my 3.5 cents

[ripsmc]

Seriously? You fall for a very common scam that middle schoolers can see through and you say that Tony knows nothing about selling a car? Please.....

You also claim to be a paralegal and you still fall for it? Please......

When you "win" this suit post a copy of the judgement. Until then I wait with bated breath.....

[mr.elmwood]

How many times, over all of the years, have we been regailed with The American Battlecry: "I'm gonna sue!"?

"The paper trail is there. I know who it is. I found them."

Then, nothing. Chasing glosts. Going to sue, for a non-esistent car, from a non-existent person?

If they have all this capacity to navigate the legal system, search for peole system, do all the digging, would they have fallen for this grade school ruse in the first place?

Yeah, "I'm gonna sue". However, as the OP said to me "You are confused".