Have you ever heard of a 'Triangle Scam'?
This is what happened to me; (follow closely)
I purchased an item on eBay, paid using PayPal. When the item arrived, it came directly to me from Cabela's. I noticed the receipt inside was for more than I had paid and was charged to the credit card of a lady out in California (not the seller from eBay).
After hours on the phone, mostly with unhelpful people on the other side of the world (Cabela's reps were the best and told me about the 'triangle schemes'), I was refunded my money by PayPal.
Turns out the scammer was out of Vietnam or at least that is where Paypal sent the payment. The thief had hijacked the original eBay account (I called them also, older couple with a seldom used account. They were not involved and had no idea what was going on until I explained this mess to them). Scammer fraudulently used the California lady's credit card, purchased the item from Cabela's, had it sent directly to me (making it look like I had fraudulently used the CC).
Victims (much more than a 'triangle');
1)Me 2)Paypal 3)Lady in California 4)CC company 5)Cabela's 6)eBay 7) General Public (we all pay higher prices in the end to cover thief)
Apparently, this convoluted crime is a common occurrence, news to me.
Cabela's gave me a deal on the item, not as good as the original eBay list but I took it so I wouldn't have to pay to return the item. The older couple canceled their eBay account. The California lady had her CC charges reversed and closed her account. The thief's Paypal account was closed (he was in the process of doing several other scams).
Some posters think people shouldn't be concerned about CC theft? Amazing!
Do you not get concerned if your neighbor is being robbed, how about you mom?
As I said before, we all pay in the end to cover thief. Merchants don't absorbed the cost, they pass it on to us. As a (unnecessary) cost of doing business, they raise prices.
We ALL pay, get concerned.