Fraud

[jujmc.us.29jzih]

My name is Julie. I've been having trouble finding a place to email this.  My daughter's husband was listing an item for a seller thinking that he could make some additional income.  He listed a watch and did receive a payment so he thought this was legitimate.  The person asked him to use friends and family for payment.  My daughter and her husband found out that this person didn't send the watch and they were turned over to collections for $8600.  My daughter is 22 and needless to say does not have money.  Her husband was mortified that he fell for this and wouldn't let her tell anyone so this has just sat in collections since it happened.  I don't know what to do or if there is anything we can do.  If there is someone that we can contact for help on this please let me know.  This is just going to continue to ruin their credit and we certainly don't have the money to pay it.  I understand this is certainly a horrible lesson but this is so wrong.  If anyone knows who I should contact at Ebay, please let me know.

Thanks

[threshold.sales.group]

Fwiw, I think the story is 100% believable. Spend any time scrolling c-l and you'll see it's full of scams such as this one.  The fact that a mom is looking to help her daughter who got scammed  - shocker.  (IMO, instant attack mode unfortunately seems to be the default mode for too many.) 

The real question imo, is why was a newbie able to list an $8K plus high risk item?   

[thatsallfolks]

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@threshold.sales.groupwrote:

The real question imo, is why was a newbie able to list an $8K plus high risk item?   

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The scammer could have hacked an account in good standing, and then set up a listing with SIL's PayPal email address to route the payment.

[city*satins]

The real question imo, is why was a newbie able to list an $8K plus high risk item?   

The OP didn't say how long the SIL had been selling on eBay.

It doesn't take all that long for eBay and Paypal both to relax their restrictions on new accounts, that the SIL's accounts might not be all that new.  After a few months of successful, problem-free sales, the safety bars come off.

[missjen831]

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@coolectionswrote:

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@emerald40wrote:

Just curious but why is everyone thinking the SIL did something wrong on purpose.  Sometimes people are desperate so they take chances - unfortunate ones.

But do not understand based on what was posted that some think he was in on the fraud or it is a story to get MIL to give them some money. They are family, so why the need to tell her such mishegas. 

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From the story it does not make sense at all. Who is the person who had the watch in which the SIL supposedly sold it for ? Something is not adding up. What do you mean he took a chance out of desperation ? Who would agree to sell a $6,000 item for someone ? Why would anyone agree to list a watch they never saw ? It sounds like they might not even know the person who supposedly had it. Why would anyone hold off for that long to do anything about it ? Someone is not being honest with the OP. Too many unanswered questions.

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It’s a scam that has happened here before. She filled in some of the gaps. They found an ad on Craigslist from someone looking for a business partner. The partner’s role was to ship the goods. Daughter and son in law’s role was to list the good & receive payment. When the watch sold, they sent the money to the scammer via PayPal friends and family, the scammer was supposed to ship the watch but he never did. The OPs story makes sense if you are familiar with this scam.

[missjen831]

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@city*satinswrote:

The real question imo, is why was a newbie able to list an $8K plus high risk item?   

The OP didn't say how long the SIL had been selling on eBay.

It doesn't take all that long for eBay and Paypal both to relax their restrictions on new accounts, that the SIL's accounts might not be all that new.  After a few months of successful, problem-free sales, the safety bars come off.

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Also maybe it was an auction? 

[a_c_green]

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@missjen831 wrote: 
Also maybe it was an auction? 

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Ayup; that's possible. I asked for the listing number but there's been no reply (yet).

All you'd need in that case is a 99¢ opening price followed by a bidding "war" between two fake bidders to push the price sky-high at the end. Since the watch doesn't really exist, you can copy stock photos of any expensive model to use for the listing, and you're all set. 

For a BuyItNow/fixed-price listing, you'd need one fake or hacked eBay buyer account; for an auction, you'd need two.

[webwanna]

For all of you saying this story is believable, I have a bridge I want you to sell for me...  (LOL)

The story does not make sense.  Yes, there are some naive/gullible/stupid people that fall for scams.  But,  if you are a victim of a crime, you file a police report.  If you are a participant in a crime, you don't. 

You need to provide your name, address, phone , email address to open a Paypal account.The money that was sent via Paypal Friends & Family was either sitting in a Paypal account, being used to make purchases, or had been transferred to a bank account.  The money is recoverable or traceable if somebody filed a police report.    In the US you are required to have ID to open a bank account.  If the SIL sent the money to somebody in Nigeria, then that is an important missing part of the story.  That would also be another obvious sign that this very lucrative "job" was not real.  

[thatsallfolks]

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@webwannawrote:

For all of you saying this story is believable, I have a bridge I want you to sell for me...  (LOL)

The story does not make sense.  Yes, there are some naive/gullible/stupid people that fall for scams.  But,  if you are a victim of a crime, you file a police report.  If you are a participant in a crime, you don't.  

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In the real world, millions of crime victims don't file police reports. It shouldn't take you much effort to think of a few reasons for that.

[thatsallfolks]

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@webwannawrote:

If the SIL sent the money to somebody in Nigeria, then that is an important missing part of the story.  That would also be another obvious sign that this very lucrative "job" was not real.   

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SIL sent money to a PayPal account, as clearly stated. PayPal accounts don't reveal their location. Try to keep up.

[dairywyfe]

I didn't even know you could send that amount of money over Paypal.  My husband made a huge purchase on ebay once (for tools... far over $8600)... we had to do a wire transfer.  Although I suppose you're taking a risk that way too.  I guess my hubby trusted the guy 😉  Good thing it worked out.

In OPs case (SIL), I would definitely contact an attorney.

[sin-n-dex]

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@southern*sweet*teawrote:

Here's how the scam goes:

You answer an ad for someone wanting an Ebay seller to sell things for them. They have a business, want to expand online and have no time or experience selling online so they need someone to do it for them. They provide the items, the pictures, the listing info. You list on your seller account. You receive X amount of the proceeds. Sounds great, right?

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This is how I got my gig selling on eBay... only after the first part of the speech, I was told "come down to my store and pick out some items you want to sell." I started picking cheap junk, and expanded with comfort after several months of doing 99 cent auctions. I didn't answer an ad though, I met the shop owner at my local gym (he kept coming over to talk to me while I was lifting weights).

Cheers, C.

[turquoisetulips]

Since you're an avid reader, this one is pretty easy to research if you are interested.  And it isn't even 'fake news'. city satins - unquote -------------- ----------------------------

I've never researched anything about Mother Teresa . However I do know she had a deep belief in a higher power and in life after death .  I don't know how other people see this , but for me, common sense would dictate  she wouldn't  have been  purposely  involved in things that may have damned her soul . In any event it would  take more than just the opinion of one author who may or may not  have some sort of bias against religious people  to convince me  she was a bad character .  I'm not saying your opinion is wrong ,, but as for me I'd need more substantial proof  gathered by more than just one objective  source  . Tulips 

[webwanna]

@thatsallfolkswrote:

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In the real world, millions of crime victims don't file police reports. It shouldn't take you much effort to think of a few reasons for that.

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First of all, I think that is a fictitious claim.  Second, I can't think of a single reason why an innocent person would not report this crime and yet be so concerned about their credit report.   Why don't you share your plethora of outstanding reasons not to report this crime?

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@thatsallfolkswrote:

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SIL sent money to a PayPal account, as clearly stated. PayPal accounts don't reveal their location. Try to keep up.

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I guess you have never tried to send money via Paypal Friends & Family internationally.  You have to specify the country.

[thatsallfolks]

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@webwannawrote:

I guess you have never tried to send money via Paypal Friends & Family internationally.  You have to specify the country.

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Oh, did the OP say it was international?

[emerald40]

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@turquoisetulipswrote:

Adult daughter and adult son-in-law.  Neither of whom has done a single thing to resolve the problem on their own except that now that it's a monstrous (previously huge) problem,  call mom.  

How is that not total mishegas?   city satins to emerald - unquote --------------------------------

Please bear in mind these are basically kids were talking about . I remember being 20 years old  and being  still in the dark  on how to handle some  difficult situations  in the right way. I was still asking my parents for advice as well . I don't think we need to jump to some harsh conclusions  without knowing more of the facts  . Tulips 

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Embarrased to say my son did it whil living in college.    Racked up a bunch of parking tickets and did not have money to pay for it.  So they multiplied.  Got really out of hand.  Finally had to admit it.  We had to set him straight.  Helped him pay them off so they would not continue to multiply.  Then had him get a job to slowly pay us back.

Our children were taught to take resposibility, but even then they can sometimes not handle things correctly.

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