Obviously fake police report submitted to ebay, ebay using it to deny my claim. Any recourse?

[wowsource]

Pretty much at wits end here. Here's what happened:

1) Sold a Garmin Fenix watch on Ebay for $690 to a buyer with an account opened end of September 2020 with no feedback. I'm a top rated seller with perfect 900+ feedback, 10+ year old account.

2) Buyer claims the box was empty on receipt

3) I contact buyer twice for more information, he does not respond.

4) eBay rules in buyers favor, takes $690 from my account. Found out later that he is also using an address that has been reported multiple times. I appeal but eBay say's buyer filed a "police report" so they have to rule in their favor.

5) Managed to get a copy of the police report from eBay. It is obviously fake. The police department doesn't exist, the address is of an empty residential building on zillow, and the phone leads to a voicemail that says "You have dialed police department" in Eastern European accent.

6) Tried to file an appeal and get denied again, they claim that they determined the "police report" was legitimate.

I tried to contact them via twitter, tried multiple times through the phone, and via email. Anyone have any idea what I can do? Does anyone have an experience with small claims or arbitration against ebay?

TL:DR : Buyer submits obviously fake police report to eBay, eBay claims it is legitimate and uses it to steal $690 from me.

[donsdetour]

This is good news that you got your money back.

Took a  look at the so called police report: Yep 99 percent sure it is fake.

It does show some interesting things at that location stated as address.

Shows with search as a ministry, or a printing company. Not law enforcement.

Both  could be checked if some on desired.

So who would be best to report the" possible" fake police report to???

For sure the law enforcement of that town, and county, possibly the state also.

Filling of such a document, if fake could be under" impersonating a police officer".

[jerrysjeans]

If done using USPS it could be mail or wire fraud and if it crosses state lines that is a federal crime that the FB1 could get involved with. This doesn't sound like a run of the mill buyer but more organized or sophisticated.

[pinkweds]

I believe the entire process is 100% automated. You will need to somehow speak with a real ebay employee. 

[soh.maryl]

" . . . a buyer using a freight forwarder to hide their real address"?

Most, if not all, buyers who use a freight forwarder do so because they want to buy things that the seller does not want to ship to international destinations.

Where did you get the idea it would be to hide a "real address"?

[needitlikea0inthehead]

I just wanted to say that I have been following this thread like a great novel.  It was one of the most interesting.   So glad to see there was a "happy ending".  

[sea_cow1]

Your info is great.. I wish I read it before, the same exact thing happen to me.   Would you be willing to share the text of your original message that the buyer gave you when they opened the case.  I want to see if it is the same as mine.

This is what I received as my original message:

Nov. 22 :

The buyer requested a return

Comments

I am stunned , how come its empty, what happened to my product? The package is empty! I need answer

[7606dennis]

I'm afraid that I cannot put much credibility in your post.  I can't believe that eBay would violate so many federal privacy laws in order to furnish you with a copy of what you claim to be a fake policy report.  Since the filing of a false police report is a crime, I don't see where eBay would get involved in the matter.  It would be a matter for for law enforcement, not eBay.

By the way, as a seller yourself, I'm sure that you're aware that it is a policy violation for sellers to leave false positive feedback comments for buyers.

[silver-manatee]

Due to the value of the item, ebay requires a police report

[mgused]

Today, I also encountered a fake police report provided by the buyer to eBay. According to the name shown in the police report, it was not found on Google, and it was identified as a fake police report. At the same time, I have filed a report with the fraud office of the state inspector, and notified eBay customer service.
This buyer caused the seller to lose $730 and the item was not recovered. I am very dissatisfied with the eBay customer service ruling, and I am waiting for the fraud report investigation to let eBay customer service appeal again and request a refund.
Here is a warning to all sellers who have been deceived. Recently, I found that fraudulent activities on eBay are very rampant, and that technical means are used to fake eBay and PayPal customer service emails. Generally, the eBay account registration place for such fraudulent registration is not available. In the United States, most of them are mainly in the Russian Federation and Eastern Europe. They are all newly registered users, and there are not many recorded transactions.

[hrmusa]

We had the same issue, hit 2x in Nov, and now in Feb. Police report was fake all the way from the phone number of the police dept to the time stamp at the bottom which shows it was printed 13 hours before it was filed and signed. Generic name of person filing the claim with Birthdate and age mismatching to DL  State being NV. Called Wilmington Police dept and they confirmed the police report number was old and not related to this so called fake incident. Pointed all this info out to Ebay in appeals and we were still denied. I think it's alarming that Ebay does not want to protect their sellers and takes these fake reports with no research to legitimacy. 

[nathans_deals]

I just had the same issue happen to me! The buyer claimed the package was empty, reported it to eBay and provided them with the same **bleep** report. “Hueviy Police department”. And they decided the case in the buyers favor! I haven’t yet made an appeal. This just happened a day ago and I’m collecting as much evidence and I can against them. What do you suggest I do seeing that you been through this? Where you able to get your money back in the end? Lmk thanks!

[nathans_deals]

@wowsource 

[wowsource]

Sounds like you got a copy of the police report, which is a good step. Other people have been messaging me and they said they weren't able to get even that. I would suggest you contact @Askebay via twitter or Facebook as they seem to have more freedom in deciding cases.

 Here is what I posted on another forum:

1) I contacted @AskEbay via twitter and explained my situation. I explained that the police report was fake and listed the reasons why. I also said that fedex insurance will not help because I can’t present a fake police report as evidence.

2) Initially, they responded to open an insurance claim with the shipping carrier. I objected since I specifically said that insurance will not help because they will not take a fake police report.

3) I asked to escalate the case, they responded that “For this case, I have requested a team to review the details of the case and the reports. I will reach out to you with an update when I hear back. “

4) I added that I filed an ic3.gov report since my local police department doesn’t handle eCommerce crimes.

5) Finally, a couple days later, they said the review was complete and the money was transferred to my paypal account. They didn’t explain what happened or why my appeals were denied, or why it was approved this time. I believe this was done by a higher level team, because the refund was not tied to the ebay transaction. It seems like someone with authority just told the accounts team to send me a check.

[wowsource]

Minor update to this. I've received (through ebay messages, and on reddit) about 8 incidences of this happening to other people over the past few months. 

Seems very easy to fix if eBay does a quick check on the police report before refunds. Even if they catch half of the scammers and don't provide refunds, it quickly becomes unprofitable for the scammers.

[lite_corp]

Thanks for the story. This scam scheme is still ongoing. eBay doesn't take any action. 

I have the exact same case opened last Wednesday. The funny thing is the buyer opened the case of "received the empty box" at 6:30AM, which is 6 hours before the FedEx actual delivery in Florida. I googled the shipping address and it is freight forwarding address to Russia and later I called the owner of that business. The owner admitted the buyer is one of his customers who lives in Moscow. They already received the package and it is on the way to Russia. I talked to eBay and the customer service agreed that it looks fishy, but said they can only step in after the communication deadline expired, which is today. I even said I will file a police report first, but the eBay customer service said I should wait till eBay steps in and I should win without doing anything additional because of FedEx proof. To my surprise, this morning, when I got up and I saw eBay already closed the case and refunded buyer from my pocket. After numerous calls and emails I only got the following cold reply

"The buyer provided the report because it was determined that your buyer's claim is valid.

I know how you feel about this. But I hope you understand that the decision made was in accordance to Police Report and eBay policy. We also make sure that we consider each member's side on the matter. I hope that you would take this as a learning experience for you whom you can share to your friends who are also selling on eBay.

To avoid this in the future, if you are shipping an expensive item, make sure to ship the item with shipping insurance. If the amount of the transaction is more than $750.00, you must also ship the item with signature confirmation..

I wish you luck on your future transactions!"

How could a guy in Russia to file a police report in Florida?? eBay doesn't care the seller's statement as long as buyer provided the police report (fake or not). Also, the comments from customer service are not trustworthy at all. I am still trying to get my police report and collecting more evidence to fight.