Need your insight please. Got scammed by ebay: art_wars2009

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obey horrr
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Need your insight please. Got scammed by ebay: art_wars2009

Post by obey horrr »

So I made a huge mistake and completed an ebay transaction by depositing the money into the sellers account as the form of payment.
I bought 2800 dollars worth of prints from the seller. Made a deposit into his bank account and the seller now has ceased all communications with me. (its been a week)

Facts:
-I bought through ebay
-Paid via Bank deposit/transfer
-Have records of the deposit
-Text records of him claiming to have sent the prints to me.

-Have his:
Full name
bank account names
bank account number
address of bank account
cell phone number
email

He resides in the Boston, Mass area. Does anyone know what steps I should follow to expose and report this fraudster? (ie. court, local authorities, FBI cybercrimes, etc...)

I was hoping that some people on this forum have gone through similar sitations and know the appropriate steps to bring this person to justice. Thanks in advance.
Last edited by obey horrr on Sat Aug 02, 2008 9:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Tad Ghostal
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Post by Tad Ghostal »

I've been in this situation before, and based on personal experience it's unlikely that you're going to find much interest among law enforcement to pursue this guy for criminal charges. That means you'll most likely be left with the civil route. Fortunately, its pretty easy to get a judgment in small claims court, particularly given the fact that the defendant or his attorney has to appear in court, or he has to draft a written response (if allowed in your local court), and its highly, highly unlikely that he will. As a result, you'll be awarded judgment by default. Unfortunately, that leaves you in the position of being forced to attempt to collect on the judgment, which is another matter entirely. If the guy has any real estate, you can have a lien placed on his property which will take first position, meaning if he goes to sell or refi, you're paid first. If he doesn't have any real estate, then your only other option is to sell the judgment to a collection agency or pay them to pursue it for you.

Either way, it isn't likely that you'll get satisfaction in the form of criminal charges or your money back.

However, it would still be worth going through the process of filing a criminal complaint with the local police department (contact both yours and theirs and ask them what you need to do), and absolutely go ahead and file suit as well. If nothing else, you'll get an excellent first hand experience on how our justice system works, and it will be a superb object lesson on the critical importance of performing solid due-diligence and insuring your interests are thoroughly protected in future dealings.

Good luck dude. Sucks, I know.
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Petro
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Re: Need your insight please. Got scammed by ebay: artwars_2009

Post by Petro »

Just out of curiosity, why would you make a deposit directly into a sellers bank account? I've used ebay for years and I've never heard of people doing this. Also, what happened to artwars_2009? There's no ebay account with that name.
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Re: Need your insight please. Got scammed by ebay: artwars_2009

Post by truthiness »

I'd contact his bank. The bank will certainly not want to be part of any money laundering scheme and I would hope can put some sort of hold on your funds given the situation. Might be a longshot, but I'd try it. I looked up his username and it is not found in eBay, do you have a link to the auction in question?

Also, to help others understand, can you describe why you went direct deposit vs. using PayPal, etc? Was it to avoid fees, or were there other reasons the seller wanted it done that way.

What was his feedback rating?

Sucks man, but I hope you stick with it and break this guys chops as he deserves it.
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. -- George Orwell
obey horrr
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Re: Need your insight please. Got scammed by ebay: art_wars2009

Post by obey horrr »

Tad, thank you very much for your informative response. It was exactly the type of direction I was looking for in guidance. I'm sorry you went through that too.

His ebay name is: art_wars2009
I misplaced the underscore. here's the link to my auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180270217048&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=008

The reason I went through paypal is that Paypal would not let him use such a high dollar amount on this young profile. I tried paying through paypal and they froze his account. I actually had him end the auction with me as the high bidder and had him write the auction terms in the amendment. (read the bottom of the amended auction) That's why I deposited the money into his account. I feel very stupid that I did this already, so I guess I just have to move on and figure out how to take him to justice. Thanks again guys.
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Re: Need your insight please. Got scammed by ebay: artwars_2009

Post by mrxscarface28 »

truthiness wrote:I'd contact his bank. The bank will certainly not want to be part of any money laundering scheme and I would hope can put some sort of hold on your funds given the situation. Might be a longshot, but I'd try it. I looked up his username and it is not found in eBay, do you have a link to the auction in question?

Also, to help others understand, can you describe why you went direct deposit vs. using PayPal, etc? Was it to avoid fees, or were there other reasons the seller wanted it done that way.

What was his feedback rating?

Sucks man, but I hope you stick with it and break this guys chops as he deserves it.


I don't know how much help the bank will be. I used to work for Wells Fargo, and dealt with a similar situation where a guy deposited money into a guy's account for a motorcycle. The motorcycle was supposed to be delivered to him, but it never got shipped. He deposited a certified check for $6000 into the seller's account. Since the deposit was made into the account directly, legally, and legitimately ... the bank will more than likely take the objective standpoint and leave you to deal with this guy on your own. There was nothing we could do for the guy except feel bad for him. Both accounts were with Wells Fargo too.
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Post by PDC »

Really sorry to hear that.
Good luck with everything and stay up on it as much as you can without driving
yourself crazy.
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Re: Need your insight please. Got scammed by ebay: art_wars2009

Post by conartstudio »

file a police report and contact high authorities regarding internet fraud
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Post by hercylicious »

police , banks they aint gonna do nothing , in all honesty if it was me in this situation , and i had his adress , i would make his life a frankfurter nightmare , i would be waiting in front of his door right now with a baseball bat to get my cash. this is the only solution where you have a chance of getting your money back fairly fast.

1st try threatening him. mail him tell him you'r gonna come pay him a visit etc. maybe he will react to that.
2nd send handwritten letters , saying you will f*ck him up. try to get his phone number and if you want give it to me , i will call him.
3rd go to his place.
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Re: Need your insight please. Got scammed by ebay: art_wars2009

Post by admonkey »

obey horrr wrote:Made a deposit into his bank account and the seller now has ceased all communications with me. (its been a week).


It looks like the auction was only ended on the 27th (a week ago today, and only five business days). Why are you thinking you're not going to receive the prints?
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Post by skoola »

hercylicious wrote:police , banks they aint gonna do nothing , in all honesty if it was me in this situation , and i had his adress , i would make his life a frankfurter nightmare , i would be waiting in front of his door right now with a baseball bat to get my cash. this is the only solution where you have a chance of getting your money back fairly fast.

1st try threatening him. mail him tell him you'r gonna come pay him a visit etc. maybe he will react to that.
2nd send handwritten letters , saying you will f*ck him up. try to get his phone number and if you want give it to me , i will call him.
3rd go to his place.


:shock: d@mn hercy, you are one bad mofo!

shut yo mouth!

but i'm talkin bout hercy

then we can dig it
obey horrr
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Re: Need your insight please. Got scammed by ebay: art_wars2009

Post by obey horrr »

admonkey wrote:
obey horrr wrote:Made a deposit into his bank account and the seller now has ceased all communications with me. (its been a week).


It looks like the auction was only ended on the 27th (a week ago today, and only five business days). Why are you thinking you're not going to receive the prints?


Admonkey, fair question. I am usually very patient. But we agreed on the 27th over the phone to end the auction and have me deposit the money on Monday the 28th and he would send this express mail by Tuesday the 29th. Prior to that, the communication was free flowing. After the money was deposited we texted for until the 30th and he said he finally sent it out. I didn't hassle him figuring maybe he didn't like to use the phone. On Friday, I realized he didn't send it after I contacted him about a tracking number. He doesn't respond to my email, text, phone calls. So maybe I'm a little paranoid, but when commnication is free flowing prior the the transaction being completed... then is not existant there after... I feel that I got baited. I will gladly eat my words if the prints arrive or I get my money back. But so far neither has happened and no communication has occured.
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Re: Need your insight please. Got scammed by ebay: art_wars2009

Post by extremeimages77 »

obey horrr wrote:
admonkey wrote:
obey horrr wrote:Made a deposit into his bank account and the seller now has ceased all communications with me. (its been a week).


It looks like the auction was only ended on the 27th (a week ago today, and only five business days). Why are you thinking you're not going to receive the prints?


Admonkey, fair question. I am usually very patient. But we agreed on the 27th over the phone to end the auction and have me deposit the money on Monday the 28th and he would send this express mail by Tuesday the 29th. Prior to that, the communication was free flowing. After the money was deposited we texted for until the 30th and he said he finally sent it out. I didn't hassle him figuring maybe he didn't like to use the phone. On Friday, I realized he didn't send it after I contacted him about a tracking number. He doesn't respond to my email, text, phone calls. So maybe I'm a little paranoid, but when commnication is free flowing prior the the transaction being completed... then is not existant there after... I feel that I got baited. I will gladly eat my words if the prints arrive or I get my money back. But so far neither has happened and no communication has occured.

i had a few auctions end two weeks ago...i still havent shipped...was on vacation....i think you are getting worried a little early
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Post by truthiness »

well another person jules102304 (member here?) won a Monkey Pod print for over $2300 and I don't see that he's left feedback indicating he's gotten the print... maybe contact him through ebay and get some details from his experience.
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Re: Need your insight please. Got scammed by ebay: art_wars2009

Post by PDC »

extremeimages77 wrote:
obey horrr wrote:
admonkey wrote:
obey horrr wrote:Made a deposit into his bank account and the seller now has ceased all communications with me. (its been a week).


It looks like the auction was only ended on the 27th (a week ago today, and only five business days). Why are you thinking you're not going to receive the prints?


Admonkey, fair question. I am usually very patient. But we agreed on the 27th over the phone to end the auction and have me deposit the money on Monday the 28th and he would send this express mail by Tuesday the 29th. Prior to that, the communication was free flowing. After the money was deposited we texted for until the 30th and he said he finally sent it out. I didn't hassle him figuring maybe he didn't like to use the phone. On Friday, I realized he didn't send it after I contacted him about a tracking number. He doesn't respond to my email, text, phone calls. So maybe I'm a little paranoid, but when commnication is free flowing prior the the transaction being completed... then is not existant there after... I feel that I got baited. I will gladly eat my words if the prints arrive or I get my money back. But so far neither has happened and no communication has occured.

i had a few auctions end two weeks ago...i still havent shipped...was on vacation....i think you are getting worried a little early


Reminder to self, don't buy from extremeimages on ebay.
:lol:
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Re: Need your insight please. Got scammed by ebay: art_wars2009

Post by obey horrr »

extremeimages77 wrote:
obey horrr wrote:
admonkey wrote:
obey horrr wrote:Made a deposit into his bank account and the seller now has ceased all communications with me. (its been a week).


It looks like the auction was only ended on the 27th (a week ago today, and only five business days). Why are you thinking you're not going to receive the prints?


Admonkey, fair question. I am usually very patient. But we agreed on the 27th over the phone to end the auction and have me deposit the money on Monday the 28th and he would send this express mail by Tuesday the 29th. Prior to that, the communication was free flowing. After the money was deposited we texted for until the 30th and he said he finally sent it out. I didn't hassle him figuring maybe he didn't like to use the phone. On Friday, I realized he didn't send it after I contacted him about a tracking number. He doesn't respond to my email, text, phone calls. So maybe I'm a little paranoid, but when commnication is free flowing prior the the transaction being completed... then is not existant there after... I feel that I got baited. I will gladly eat my words if the prints arrive or I get my money back. But so far neither has happened and no communication has occured.

i had a few auctions end two weeks ago...i still havent shipped...was on vacation....i think you are getting worried a little early

Exteme, your statement is accurate in the fact that usually people expect extenuating circumstances like your vacation to recieve the print. If you read the facts which I posted. The seller and I moved agreed verbally that I deposit the money the day after the auction completed and for shipment to occur immediately through USPS express mail. Which is overnight. Once this agreement is made, people follow through. If he needed to go on "vacation" then he would have told me when we talked over the phone and not go ghost after I send the money and leave me hanging.
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Re: Need your insight please. Got scammed by ebay: art_wars2009

Post by extremeimages77 »

obey horrr wrote:
extremeimages77 wrote:
obey horrr wrote:
admonkey wrote:
obey horrr wrote:Made a deposit into his bank account and the seller now has ceased all communications with me. (its been a week).


It looks like the auction was only ended on the 27th (a week ago today, and only five business days). Why are you thinking you're not going to receive the prints?


Admonkey, fair question. I am usually very patient. But we agreed on the 27th over the phone to end the auction and have me deposit the money on Monday the 28th and he would send this express mail by Tuesday the 29th. Prior to that, the communication was free flowing. After the money was deposited we texted for until the 30th and he said he finally sent it out. I didn't hassle him figuring maybe he didn't like to use the phone. On Friday, I realized he didn't send it after I contacted him about a tracking number. He doesn't respond to my email, text, phone calls. So maybe I'm a little paranoid, but when commnication is free flowing prior the the transaction being completed... then is not existant there after... I feel that I got baited. I will gladly eat my words if the prints arrive or I get my money back. But so far neither has happened and no communication has occured.

i had a few auctions end two weeks ago...i still havent shipped...was on vacation....i think you are getting worried a little early

Exteme, your statement is accurate in the fact that usually people expect extenuating circumstances like your vacation to recieve the print. If you read the facts which I posted. The seller and I moved agreed verbally that I deposit the money the day after the auction completed and for shipment to occur immediately through USPS express mail. Which is overnight. Once this agreement is made, people follow through. If he needed to go on "vacation" then he would have told me when we talked over the phone and not go ghost after I send the money and leave me hanging.

sucks if you got shafted...for future reference i would suggest always using paypal or a credit card..they actually will fright for you when you have problems
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Post by whyhoo »

fockin a dude... sorry to hear about the drama!!! i'm in providence... let's go knockin on a door or two!!!
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Post by djsp »

I bought a Dalek print from him recently. Great transaction, but then something weird about refunding me and having me send him a money order. Very strange. When I said I could do that, as I already had my print in hand and wasn't concerned about the strangeness of the whole thing, I never heard back from him. I think he may have some issues with the whole process.
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Post by cybernigel »

Did you complete the purchase through ebay even though the payment was via direct bank deposit? If so you should open up a Seller Non-performance claim just to start documenting the situation.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/sel ... mance.html

I would also contact your bank. YIf you submit a fraud claim with them and they find it in you favor they may reverse the charge for you (could be long shot with a direct deposit.) Definitely file a complaint with Consumer Affairs in MA:

http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocamodulech ... &csid=Eoca
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Re: Need your insight please. Got scammed by ebay: art_wars2009

Post by superfly snuka »

That BLOWS. The same seller won an auction of mine two weeks ago and never paid me ironically enough.
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Re: Need your insight please. Got scammed by ebay: art_wars2009

Post by obey horrr »

Thanks Nigel. I have everything already documented, I think it just takes some time for ebay to take action with their grace period for "peaceful resolution".
I've also started the ball on the proper bureaus in the Boston areas.

Ironically the seller responded to me and told me that the reason why he hasn't sent my prints was because I caused paypal to lock his account and that paypal is still taking multiple refunds out of his bank account for the initial refund paypal forced him to give back to me. (I explained to him that I can't tell paypal to pay me over and over again.) So I'm confused on why he's using that as an excuse not to send my prints to me or not respond for over a week. No progress yet with this guy, I'll keep you guys posted.

Superfly Jimmy... sorry he didn't pay you for the auction. (outta curiousity, what was it for?)
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Re: Need your insight please. Got scammed by ebay: art_wars2009

Post by superfly snuka »

It was a Peace Ornament print. They kept emailing me saying payment was coming and that they were having problems with their paypal account so they were going to send a money order. 2 weeks later It never came so l relisted it.
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Re: Need your insight please. Got scammed by ebay: art_wars2009

Post by truthiness »

obey horrr wrote:Thanks Nigel. I have everything already documented, I think it just takes some time for ebay to take action with their grace period for "peaceful resolution".
I've also started the ball on the proper bureaus in the Boston areas.

Ironically the seller responded to me and told me that the reason why he hasn't sent my prints was because I caused paypal to lock his account and that paypal is still taking multiple refunds out of his bank account for the initial refund paypal forced him to give back to me. (I explained to him that I can't tell paypal to pay me over and over again.) So I'm confused on why he's using that as an excuse not to send my prints to me or not respond for over a week. No progress yet with this guy, I'll keep you guys posted.

Superfly Jimmy... sorry he didn't pay you for the auction. (outta curiousity, what was it for?)


forward the email he sent to you claiming that to PayPal and see what they say.
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. -- George Orwell
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