I got scammed

[cananot2112]

So I sold my laptop and within 2 mins I got a message saying I purchased this from the wrong address can you please send it to this one and gives me a picture of the address so I messaged him back and told him I think I can but never answered me back so I started looking the sale and found another eBay ID so I sent them a several messages and no response so then I sent it out to the new address well the original person that brought it started a complaint and he wouldn't answer any of my messages only through the complaint I screen shot him the address and join asking for me to send it to a different address he claims is wasn't him I told him I been messaging you for days and never get a response only through complaint will you respond he didn't answer that either but he still telling eBay that I'm stealing his money it got delivered and it wasn't the right address. So if you get a message saying I'm changing my address to this one don't do it

This is a scammer address goes to a company shipping and receiving department 

[isaiah53-57]

Yes - Its sad - In my opinion, this site is the EPITOME of "no good deed goes unpunished"...

Know whats sadder? - Since they dont really research these cases to find evidence the buyer is a thief and just quickly default to "the buyer is always right", that frees this criminal to just go ahead and do this same thing to the next unsuspecting victim - possibly doing it right now as we speak - and they likely did the same thing to someone else shortly before they got to you...

We had a thief steal from us who was reported a large number of times and they were still at it months after scamming us... they may still be here on a perpetual crime spree - We did find a fix though - we simply don't list here anymore due to what we perceive as uncontrolled buyer theft...

[stephenmorgan]

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@cananot2112 wrote:

Ittybitnot ,

I shouldn't have to pay eBay a selling fee since it wasn't sold eBay didn't even look into this scam they said wrong address you made a mistake so that's your problem, **bleep** 

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For your $1700 computer that is over $200 in fees.  eBay help the scammer commit this crime by allowing the person to use their unsecured system to send you their address and have the computer redirected to them.  eBay does not deserve anything in this case and I would ask for those fees to be reimbursed. 

Even if the buyer or yourself asked eBay to help resolve the case they still do not deserve to keep the fees.  They should have easily seen by looking at the messages from their own system that they monitor and forwarded to you, that you were scammed.  A fair resolution would have been the original buyer is refunded and eBay does not receive any fees.  I would continue to fight that with eBay.

That is good that you filed the IC3 report.  Have they responded anything back to you yet?

[wastingtime101]

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@cananot2112 wrote:

after looking into this deeper I see that there eBay ID was just like the buyer but had an underscore and period in it

then I found other for the same sale one minute past it being sold asking me to change the address to the same Delaware address that's 3 different accounts telling me to change the addres

why didnt the real buyer ever responded to all my messages??? 

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The way this scam originated is scammers would comb through sold listings of high value items, often electronics, then message the seller pretending to be the buyer and asking seller to ship to a different address and sellers would fall for it - especially new sellers.

The IDs are different and people were catching on to what was happening, so even though that still happens, now it sounds like the scammers are getting slightly more sophisticated.

In your case I think the original buyer is the same person as the scammer because you said the IDs were different by only a couple symbols.

To your question why did the original buyer not respond? Maybe the original buyer was the scammer. So they didn't make any noise until you fell for the scam, shipped elsewhere, then got a refund with a non-receipt claim. If you did ship to the original buyer's address, you probably would have been the victim of a different type of scam involving returns or disputes.

[nevilletetts]

As a general rule I always assume that anything unusual from a buyer is probably a scam, and this policy has served me well so far.  I am sorry this happened to you.

[mirror-in-the-attic]

That is horrible.  Learning from a mistake can sometimes be a bitter pill to swallow and, in this case, it’s true.

Once you go on and change an address after a sale, you will no longer be protected by EBAY if things go sideways.   If this ever happens in the future, you cancel the sale and select the reason “ problem with buyers address” and message the buyer to update their address to the correct one.

That buyer likely knows this little trick which would leave you outside of any sellers protections and decided to take a chance on your knowledge of the expectations of sellers on EBAY.

It is tough to realize but you can’t blame EBAY here.   If you read through this forum, searching scam or similar, or even just a GOOGLE  search for the known ones, it might help you to avoid any of these issues in future sales as well.  

I do not have anyone in my personal life to ask when situations arise and it can be very stressful when things come up (and they surely will) so this forum (and others) have helped me.

Sorry for your loss at anytime but especially this time of year.  It is a gross reality that there are people whose sole purpose is to take from others without (seemingly) a second thought.

[ittybitnot]

If this ever happens in the future, you cancel the sale and select the reason “ problem with buyers address” and message the buyer to update their address to the correct one.

@mirror-in-the-attic 

While that applies to a buyer WITH THE SAME USER ID that asks to change the address, it does no good to 'cancel the sale' on the REAL paying buyer when a scammer ID attempts the redirect.  Then all you are doing is cancelling the sale on the person who paid, and is generally ignorant that you have been contacted by a thief that wants you to send the parcel to a F.Forwarder in Delaware. 

For example, you buy something from me.  You, for this purpose, will be BuyerA.  Right after you pay, I am contacted by BuyerABC (pretending to be you), who has some "emergency" and needs the parcel sent someplace else.   If I cancel the sale, I am simply cancelling on YOU (BuyerA). 

[mirror-in-the-attic]

I missed that part.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

In this case I'm also thinking the original 'buyer' IS the scammer when the 'other ID' that messaged to change the shipping is so similar.

[itsjustasprain]

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@toomuchstuffagain35 wrote:

In this case I'm also thinking the original 'buyer' IS the scammer when the 'other ID' that messaged to change the shipping is so similar.

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That is possible but (especially if the IDs were randomly assigned when the accounts were set up) it is also possibly just horseshoes and hand grenades - a close match but close does not count here. If the message did not come from the EXACT ID of the buyer then it is not from the buyer.

If the message does not come from the buyer ID then it can be safely ignored and shipment to the original address received with the payment should be done. If the message DOES come from the buyer (the ID is an exact match) then the buyer needs to be told that shipment can only go to the address received with the payment. If he needs it sent somewhere else then he will need to request a cancellation and repurchase with the new address.