Screwed out of 20 Grand!!!

[Poohbair]

I know that this stuff is mainly meant for the forum, but I wanted to make sure that as many people read it as possible!
My friend was bidding on a chopper on Ebay. He won the bid (for 20 grand). VERY shortly after bidding was up, he received an email w/ payment and shipping options, etc... He decieded to pay by money transfer, so he was given an account #, etc... and he made the payment for the bike.
Turns out he got screwed /forums/images/graemlins/angryfire.gif
The auction was totally legit.
The person who contacted him w/ the account info, etc... was not the person selling the bike. They copied the escrow account page EXACTLY, except that they put a - in the name between 2 words. He transfered the $$, they withdrew it, closed the account and ran. He is out 20K, has no bike, Ebay and the FBI are both involved but told him don't hold your breath for getting your cash back because these guys that did this are GOOD! F*CKERS!
At least the guy that was selling the bike was understanding and isn't still trying to stick him w/ it after he was screwed.

He may have not done things the smart way w/ the transaction, etc... but I just wanted to let people know that there is somebody out there that is raping people in their leather cheerio on Ebay, because according to Ebay and the FBI this has been happening ALOT.

 

[CyberSniper]

With how much eBay makes... you'd think they'd be better at policing. You'd think they'd also make it so anything over $2,000 you'd have to jump through some hoops.

For $20,000, I'd take a plane trip and hand my check over in person.


I thought the point of an escrow service was to avoid a problem like this.

es·crow n. Money, property, a deed, or a bond put into the custody of a third party for delivery to a grantee only after the fulfillment of the conditions specified.


Certainly sucks to be your friend, but let's all try to learn from his disaster.

 

[Poohbair]

That was the problem was the escrow account. It was fake, and created by the scammer.
Yeah, sucks to be him. He is taking it alot better than I would have, and it may be better for him anyways as he probably would have killed himself on the bike.

 

[K5MONSTERCHEV]

Oh man that is totally the shits. Doesnt sound like they'll make a slip up and get caught either.

My buddy said that happens a lot with street bikes. He said usually, if you ask them how they want the money, and they say Western Union, then its probablly a scam.

 

[Desert Rat]

The FBI could catch them if they wanted to invest the time and effort. Tracking down people who do transactions on the Internet is far easier than people believe. However, these kinds of scams are so common, the FBI, and most local jurisdictions, don't have the manpower or time to invest in pursuing all of them. So, they stick to the really big players.

 

[highrider_44s]

that really sucks big time /forums/images/graemlins/angryfire.gifi hate
people that rip people off