Western Union and ebay

[sohdahere]

OK a seller from ebay from the phillippines is sending me an amazon.com gift certificate
before I pay based on my good feedback and his good feedback.
I have verified that it is a working egift certificate and he wants me to pay via western union.
I have already redeemed the GC into my amazon account..
Is there any reason I should be wary of using western union? Should I even care
now that I have already received what I'm going to be paying for?

 

[Lord Evermore]

Why would you be wary of using one of the oldest and most trusted companies for sending money?

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: sohdahere
OK a seller from ebay from the phillippines is sending me an amazon.com gift certificate
before I pay based on my good feedback and his good feedback.
I have verified that it is a working egift certificate and he wants me to pay via western union.
I have already redeemed the GC into my amazon account..
Is there any reason I should be wary of using western union? Should I even care
now that I have already received what I'm going to be paying for?

probably that the GC was stolen... WU = shady

 

[iamtrout]

With western union (bidpay) you have to pay a fee for the payment. It's perfectly safe for the buyer. International sellers like to use them. The scams that you hear about are all about "buyers" sending you FAKE money orders.

 

[crobusa]

WU is notorious for 419 scams.

 

[Lord Evermore]

It's not Western Union's fault if you chose to send money to someone in Nigeria.

 

[sohdahere]

Originally posted by: iamtrout
With western union (bidpay) you have to pay a fee for the payment. It's perfectly safe for the buyer. International sellers like to use them. The scams that you hear about are all about "buyers" sending you FAKE money orders.

Which is why I'm thinking I should be fine since he already sent me the gift certificate
and I have already checked that its value is what it should be.

 

[sohdahere]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
It's not Western Union's fault if you chose to send money to someone in Nigeria.

haha its not Nigeria, its the Phillippines...
and I'm not paying first

 

[Lord Evermore]

That was in response to crobusa actually. At any rate, using Western Union to send money is completely safe, it's not like they're giving your account number to the recipient or something. You give them a wad of cash, they take a few bills out for themselves, and hand some cash over at the other end.

 

[UncleWai]

The person most likely used a stolen credit card to buy the GC, or else why would someone from the Phillipines has a GC to amazon.com

You put yourself in this predicament for saving a few bucks, is it worth it?

I would use the GC right away and keeps your fingers cross that you don't get a call from amazon.

 

[Lord Evermore]

An interesting question: if money is stolen (or a credit card) and then used to buy something else, which is then sold, is the buyer held responsible for receiving stolen goods, as he would be if he'd bought a stolen item?

 

[crobusa]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
It's not Western Union's fault if you chose to send money to someone in Nigeria.

Right. Sending money to 3rd world countries for unsolicited offers off ebay that can't be disputed is a hobby of mine.

Why do scammers love WU? It can't be reversed.

 

[sohdahere]

Yeah, I've emailed Amazon and provided the gift certificate number and asked if its ok for me to use it. They have'nt gotten back to me yet,
I tried calling in and the guy said their system was down.
I'm going to wait until amazon gives me the OK.
Thanks for the input.

 

[crobusa]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
An interesting question: if money is stolen (or a credit card) and then used to buy something else, which is then sold, is the buyer held responsible for receiving stolen goods, as he would be if he'd bought a stolen item?

The CC would do a chargeback to Amazon, and Amazon would void or send you an email informing you that you paid w/ a stolen GC and would you like to reimburse them before they close your account and call the cops?

 

[sohdahere]

Originally posted by: crobusa

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
It's not Western Union's fault if you chose to send money to someone in Nigeria.

Right. Sending money to 3rd world countries for unsolicited offers off ebay that can't be disputed is a hobby of mine.

Why do scammers love WU? It can't be reversed.

Well this is the main reason why I was wary but my situation is different in that
I was getting the gift certificate before I paid because the seller said I have good feedback as does he. This is probably the more appropriate question:

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
An interesting question: if money is stolen (or a credit card) and then used to buy something else, which is then sold, is the buyer held responsible for receiving stolen goods, as he would be if he'd bought a stolen item?

 

[Lord Evermore]

Originally posted by: crobusa

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
It's not Western Union's fault if you chose to send money to someone in Nigeria.

Right. Sending money to 3rd world countries for unsolicited offers off ebay that can't be disputed is a hobby of mine.

Why do scammers love WU? It can't be reversed.

Please, tell me you didn't think I specifically meant that YOU personally had to have fallen for a 419 scam.

Regardless of what scammers may like it for, Western Union is still a legitimate company, providing a legitimate service, and the service in and of itself is entirely safe to use. Blaming WU for 419 scams is like blaming the postal service if you were to mail cash to a scammer.

 

[Lord Evermore]

The CC would do a chargeback to Amazon, and Amazon would void or send you an email informing you that you paid w/ a stolen GC and would you like to reimburse them before they close your account and call the cops?

In this case, yes Amazon can track the sale and all. But in general, would a buyer be held responsible? Like if it was a stereo system, you bought it for cash, but the cops busted the guy who sold it to you and they came to your house. Ethically, sure, stolen money was used to buy it in the first place, the seller stole a credit card and bought a bunch of stuff with it, you knew it was probably stolen. But technically, the stereo you bought was not "stolen" as such, so did you receive stolen goods? The only thing I can see is that since it was fraudulently purchased from the store, then maybe that would count as "stealing" it.

 

[crobusa]

They advertise it as a service to transfer money to family and friends.
It is a legit company that's often abused by bad peoples.

His story has all the trademarks of a scam, which have been mentioned by halik and UncleWai.

1. The offer is unsolicited, through the mother of scams, Ebay, which specifically warns you against doing this.
2. He's generious to send it in advance.
3. He wants to use a service for payment that is not reversible, that has a history of being abused.

How recent is the feedback? Did he buy several $.50 items? Was the ebay account itself stolen? People who don't win ebay auctions can't give feedback.

 

[Toonces]

dosen't matter - you're still at fault and would have to surrender the merchandise (stereo or GC value)

 

[Lord Evermore]

Could you be prosecuted for receiving stolen goods?

 

[crobusa]

Screw ethos.

TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 113 > § 2315. Sale or receipt of stolen goods

Could you be prosecuted for receiving stolen goods?

YES

 

[Lord Evermore]

Ah, the "unlawfully converted" part would probably apply.

 

[OVERKILL]

this transaction smells fishy and if it is a scam, then it wouldn't be a shocker if you were to be held partially accountable.

 

[Toonces]

ignorance is not a defence, usually if it was a legitimate scam that had the person come into possession of stolen goods charges are not laid - but the merchandise must be returned without re-imbursement.

 

[crobusa]

ignorance is not a defence, usually if it was a legitimate scam that had the person come into possession of stolen goods charges are not laid - but the merchandise must be returned without re-imbursement.

Winner!
If you can tell me the state you're in, I'll provide the specific statute.