I have been scammed out of $7200.00

[tedwhite]

I seem to be one of the few former law enforcement types on the forum (detective sergeant, Imperial County Sheriff's Deptartment, CA). I would make an appointment to see your county attorney. Tell him you want to file a complaint (he/she will know what kind). If you live in the county call the sheriff's department and file a report (county attorney will need that). If you live in a city do the same thing. And if you have the phony USPS receipts those are the smoking guns.

If you paid via PayPal by funds transfer from your bank account, go the bank and file a fraud form. As for PayPal, I have no idea what response you'll get from PayPal.

Somebody mentioned escrow. ON a purchase of that magnitude escrow sounds like a wonderful idea.

YOu should also OUT this guy so we'll all know who he is, especially do it on the DSLR forum.

Then there are always "collection agents" who will get your money back (don't ask how) but they'll take half.

Bummer.

(and thanks for getting the forum back up)

 

[tedwhite]

AS I look at what I just posted, it's clear I didn't add much at all to the previous suggestions. Been a long time since I was in the business, and when I was it was simple stuff: homicides, crimes of violence, armed robberies, burglaries. Fraud, however, can be complicated.

 

[Little Prince]

I hope you used a credit card through Paypal. For such a large sum, it's a must. If you did, you can just chargeback. Your credit card company will cooperate. Now I don't know how Paypal will react though.

I do hope you get your money back, and quick. Don't see how this guy can get away with something of this sort.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

I would immediately initiate a dispute with PayPal and eBay; a police investigation may take a while, so explore all avenues, don't exclude any.

Sorry to hear about that, Jorge. 🙁 Let's see if eBay doesn't just give lip service when it comes to buyer protection.

 

[eric]

OMG. That's aweful. I got my Hassy's stolen last summer so I feel fer 'ya.

Yes, the Post Office Police are bad ass man. No really, I had freinds in law enforcement, serious guys these feds. If a mail truck overturns and there is mail all over, it is a federal offense for anyone to pick that stuff up to clean up...you got to wait for the post office guys to do that.
Its gonna be a long road so keep us up to date.

 

[nwcanonman]

.... kinda made me think of Johnny Fever's Phone Cops...

.........................
tekgypsy,
Thanks, I hadn't thought about that WKRP skit in ages - Thanks for the good laugh, I needed that 😀
When that show was on the air, I worked for "Ma Bell" and knew what he meant 😛

 

[Flyfisher Tom]

Jorge,

I'm not sure if you said how you paid via PAYPAL (either credit card or bank transfer). If by credit card, you can get a chargeback immediately by calling your credit card. If by bank transfer, I'd get in touch with the local prosecutor's office, file a police report with the local police, and also initiate proceedings with Paypal's internal redress.

But, if you paid by credit card through Paypal, you should be ok with a chargeback.

I winced when I saw your amount lost. Good luck and my sympathies.

 

[Grumblepunk]

I know it's the weekend, but I'm just wondering of you've found out anything new, about this guy?

This is one of those situations all of us have worried about in the past and I'm in total agreement about calling in cousin Vinny. For this kind of money, most of us West Coasters could fly down there and have a nice chat with the bastidge.

I'm sure you've been going over everything you should have done differently in your mind a thousand times, so I'm not going to add insult to injury. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, because these are the types of people and situations that can completely erase years of trouble-free business.

Man, I don't even know what to say. That is a freaking ton of money. I feel for you. 🙁

 

[Duncan Ross]

Sounds terrible!

I recently sold an expensive radio to a guy in Germany that he didn't receive. The worst thing was when I tried to track it on the Royal Mail site the tracking number didn't exist - this put me in a very bad light.

I then wrote to Royal Mail with a photocopy of my receipt and demanded they look into it. After a month of silence they reported that the parcel had indeed been presented at the post office but had never made it to the sorting office; obviously swiped on the way. Because of this the tracking number had never entered the system - it only existed as a small sticker on a piece of paper at the post office.

If your postal system works more-or-less the same as in the UK there is a chance he has actually posted it. Can you get him to take it up directly with the post office and copy you in?

I hope you get this resolved - it must be everyones worst nightmare when buying over the net.

 

[taffer]

Jorge I really hope you can solve this very soon, I don't really know what else to say... I'm sorry for you 🙁

 

[mattg]

Hi Jorge,
I'm very sorry to hear your bad news. I hope you'll be able to recover your money reasonably quickly. Just last night there was a news story about an Aussie guy arrested in the 'States for internet fraud that sounds very similar to your situation. He'd managed to con people out of $120 000 before he was caught. He WAS caught though so I'm sure the FBI/Postal police will catch this thief and hopefully retreive your money.

The fact he was able to get his hands on a post office receipt book makes me a bit worried that he's probably well organised and well connected. I'm sure you know that you can't make any threats against this guy despite the enthusiasm of all of us here at RFF, best leave it to those who do it for a living.

If he's got a Paypal account he has to be transfering the money to a bank account to retreive it, so if he can't be found then whichever bank opened the account without proper ID checks might be a good place to send a polite letter from your solicitor requesting the debt be made good.

I thought SFC was the place of love and fraternity/sorority and jazz cigarettes around the bonfire? I wish I was able to hide $7000 from my wife for photo gear but I wouldn'y wish this on anyone. Good luck getting your money back but don't let this make you too upset, it could have happened to anyone.

Best wishes, Matt.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Ouch!

What is Paypal's Response to this? Was this a confirmed Paypal member?

I think after reading this, everyone will start using Charge Card transfers for Payment. The credit card companies will side with the card holder and do a chargeback. I have not had to do it often, but it works. Nina had her cards stolen and the thief ran up ~$5000 of charges within hours. Most of the stuff was camera gear and electronics from Ritz and Best Buy. Those stores "ate" the loss. Also turned out that neither follwed procedures for getting proper ID's for the charges. One Credit Card company had us notarize a statement that the card was stolen, but that was the extent of it.

 

[dphotoguy]

FYI, EBAY and PAYPAL won't do JACK!!! I got scammed before and what they basically told me was "tough cookies." It's best if you do everything yourself.

By the way, if you are looking to head down to SD and rough this guy up, look me up. I'm only 5'5" but I'm always down to kick a scumbag around.=)

 

[NelsonFoto]

a lot of tough talk around here.

🙄

 

[Nick R.]

I think if it was a total con by the seller why would he even answer Jorge's email? Could be a screw-up by the post office.

 

[FrankS]

I'm betting on (against) the post office too.

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

In light of a few other experiences presented here, perhaps "innocent until proven guilty" applies in this case.

This sort of thing is best left to authorities rather than a grass roots, vigillanti action. And yes, the USPS might initially go into full CYA mode.

 

[MP Guy]

I am thinking the same thing. But the post office receipt is not even for a parcel. its for stamps. the insurance receipt is not even recorded in the comuter as being scanned. And now the seller tells me he no longer has the original receipt other than what he emailed me.

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

Yeah, that smells like trouble, certainly sounds fishy.

Did he by chance say which Post Office it was mailed from? I know when I have made shipment through the USPS with insurance, it is scanned right there.

 

[MP Guy]

yes. san diego. but the funny thing is i spoke with the po in san diego and described the receipt to them. they said that if the insurance number does not appear on the receipt than it invalid. guess what no scanned insurance number on the receipt.