My eBay/PayPal "scammed" story...

[dougp]

If you still have the IMEIs, I'd report them as stolen.

 

[isekii]

If you still have the IMEIs, I'd report them as stolen.

Report them as stolen and tell them you know who has it and give that fuggers address.

 

[Paulson]

To all of you I confused:

I won the eBay case, but he filed a chargeback through PayPal. PayPal doesn't decide the outcome of the chargeback, the bank that filed the chargeback does. PayPal did a horrible job fighting the chargeback and the bank sided with the scammer.

PayPal won't give me the bank's information so I can sue them for siding with a criminal unless they get a subpoena. I have no way to subpoena them as no lawyer in my small town wants to take this on. I've contact my district attorney and the states attorney but no one can do anything.

The police in Florida won't even bother helping me or swinging by to talk to him and just tell me to take him to court.

 

[halik]

Well that went exactly as I imagined; the guy claiming the iphones were "fake" and demanding refund before sending them back and then not sending anything/sending BS.

 

[sze5003]

Looks like you need a claims court lawyer to get the investigation started. Can't you open a case in PayPal and give them all the evidence you have like you did with ebay?

 

[halik]

To all of you I confused:

I won the eBay case, but he filed a chargeback through PayPal. PayPal doesn't decide the outcome of the chargeback, the bank that filed the chargeback does. PayPal did a horrible job fighting the chargeback and the bank sided with the scammer.

PayPal won't give me the bank's information so I can sue them for siding with a criminal unless they get a subpoena. I have no way to subpoena them as no lawyer in my small town wants to take this on. I've contact my district attorney and the states attorney but no one can do anything.

The police in Florida won't even bother helping me or swinging by to talk to him and just tell me to take him to court.

You can file a small claims case in FL, their limit is $5000. Or do it in your state, but it may not compel the guy to give you money... even if you win a default judgement.

Any fingerprints on the book?

 

[Paulson]

And yes, I have the serial numbers for the phones but its a lot harder to report a phone stolen than you'd think.

As for whoever said send a money request and enter in a tracking number, you can't do that unless he paid the money request and I seriously doubt he'd pay a $1600 invoice out of the blue.

 

[halik]

Looks like you need a claims court lawyer to get the investigation started. Can't you open a case in PayPal and give them all the evidence you have like you did with ebay?

You generally cannot have legal representation in small claims...

 

[darkxshade]

Well if you were in FL, you could buy the phones back and then file a chargeback claiming it was stolen to even the score

 

[Paulson]

No one will check for fingerprints on the book. Local police won't. I still have the book and package in my possession.

 

[dougp]

OP, you've overlooked the suggestion a few of us have already made and that would be to report the IMEI numbers as stolen.

 

[Paulson]

Well if you were in FL, you could buy the phones back and then file a chargeback claiming it was stolen to even the score

True but I don't live in Florida and I'm sure he already sold them...

This happened back in October... PayPal just finally got around to taking the $1600 away from me (they gave me a credit while they were "fighting" the chargeback.)

If anyone from Jacksonville Fl wants to help out I'd love that!

 

[halik]

No one will check for fingerprints on the book. Local police won't. I still have the book and package in my possession.

Just file a small claims case against him in MN, getting served should be enough to compel him to give you money. If not, default judgement will completely fuck up him credit if he decides not to show/pay.

Plus you can also execute the judgement after and go after his wages / put a lean on his real estate etc... you really should just reach out to your lawyer friends, the latter I understand to be somewhat complicated and don't really know how that works across state lines.

 

[Paulson]

OP, you've overlooked the suggestion a few of us have already made and that would be to report the IMEI numbers as stolen.

That doesn't get me the phones or my money back though...

 

[dougp]

That doesn't get me the phones or my money back though...

Actually, it could. Report the IMEIs and then purchase the phones from him if he has them at his store - and since you can't activate them, do a chargeback on him.

 

[sze5003]

I would have removed the bank acct linked to PayPal once he started this bs.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

To all of you I confused:

I won the eBay case, but he filed a chargeback through PayPal. PayPal doesn't decide the outcome of the chargeback, the bank that filed the chargeback does. PayPal did a horrible job fighting the chargeback and the bank sided with the scammer.

PayPal won't give me the bank's information so I can sue them for siding with a criminal unless they get a subpoena. I have no way to subpoena them as no lawyer in my small town wants to take this on. I've contact my district attorney and the states attorney but no one can do anything.

The police in Florida won't even bother helping me or swinging by to talk to him and just tell me to take him to court.

First, I'm sorry this happened to you. I closed my eBay PowerSeller account just short of 10 years with them after the second time I got scammed in a similar manner. Like you, I found that law enforcement was uninterested in helping. Regardless, I filed a police report both in my home town and the scammer's home. I also filed a fraud report with UPS.

Fortunately, I had drained my PayPal account so it simply went into the red. Eventually I received a notice from a collection agency sent on behalf of PayPal. I wrote them a letter disputing the validity of PayPal's claim, and sent along copies of the police reports and UPS fraud report. I never heard anything more from them and my credit rating never took a hit.

Up to you whether pursuing your scammer is worth your time and money. I hope you at least file formal reports with the police and UPS, though.

 

[halik]

Actually, it could. Report the IMEIs and then purchase the phones from him if he has them at his store - and since you can't activate them, do a chargeback on him.

Ha that is clever also - or just buy the phones from him and then do a charge back saying he sent you a phone book.

 

[Paulson]

Actually, it could. Report the IMEIs and then purchase the phones from him if he has them at his store - and since you can't activate them, do a chargeback on him.

Great idea, but I live in Minnesota, he lives in Florida.

No way to get them. Even if I did get them back and file a chargeback against him, I now have the phones, but they're blacklisted and not worth very much money whatsoever.

Unfortunately dealing with PayPal is devil's advocate... only way I can sell on eBay is to use PayPal... I just won't sell multiple items to a customer anymore... two phones max at one time.

I have filed police reports with both local police and florida police (doesn't do any real good but oh well.)

I thought I'd post some more of his messages as I find them hilarious in hindsight:

"If you want your phones back with all the accessories then send a prepaid return label otherwise I will trash them. I will never ever will sell fake phone with clever wording like you on my site. You can file all the lawsuits which you can think of, I care my foot."

"FIRST OF ALL, YOU REPORT THIS MATTER TO THE POLICE NOT ONLY JACKSONVILLE BUT THE WHOLE USA AND I ALSO REPORT THIS MATTER BECAUSE TO SELL FAKE ITEMS ON LINE IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE AND IS KNOWN AS MAIL FRAUD. IF YOU ARE A MAN ENOUGH THEN PROVE IT BY REPORTING TO POLICE AND WAIT FOR MY ACTION.

NO PREPAID VOUCHER NO RETURN AND MOREOVER YOU HAVE PROVED YOURSELF A CHEAT SO REFUND FIRST AND THEN SEND THE PREPAID LABEL FOR THE RETURN OF YOUR FAKE PHONES.

PROVE YOURSELF AS TO WHAT KIND OF A MAN/EBAY SELLER ARE YOU?"

 

[Paulson]

Here's a link kind of showing what I sold him (minus the fact that these are pink and he bought white)

eBay iPhones I sell

 

[LTC8K6]

The phones were stolen from you. There is no doubt about that. Report them stolen now.

Stolen is stolen. Doesn't matter that he stole them the way he did.

They are stolen phones, period.

 

[dabuddha]

Maybe you can scare him by telling him that the FBI is now involved since it's interstate fraud or some other BS

 

[dabuddha]

The phones were stolen from you. There is no doubt about that. Report them stolen now.

Stolen is stolen. Doesn't matter that he stole them the way he did.

They are stolen phones, period.

Yeah I don't understand why the OP is hesitant to do so. I would have done this the very instance this BS started.

 

[sze5003]

This is why I don't like to sell expensive things on eBay. For fear of some asshole getting the product then complaining they never got it or got something else. You have no proof of what you sold. Of course they can look at the auction, pictures, but if PayPal sides with the buyer half the time, what's the point.

 

[Brainonska511]

Did you send the original package to him by USPS? You could make an argument that he used USPS to facilitate in his fraud scheme.

And file reports with the FBI since it was interstate and over the internet. They may not pursue a small fish, but if he did it to enough people, it might catch their attention (or if the scammer was part of a ring).