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FBI States Online Auction Fraud Biggest Source of Complaints
dipfan writes "The FBI says internet auction fraud was the biggest source of complaints last year, according to the annual report by the Internet Fraud Complaint Centre. The Nigerian bank scam still remains popular, even after all these years. Quote: "During 2001, Internet auction fraud was by far the most reported offense, comprising 42.8% of referred complaints .... Non-deliverable merchandise and payment comprise 20.3% of complaints, and credit and debit card fraud make up 9.4% of complaints."
The report is a 27 page PDF file while the Washington Post
wrote up an article about it." Just ask CowboyNeal about some of his fun with dealing with dealers in Hong Kong.
Free cell phone tracking
Wow, can anybody believe this? I never would have guessed. My best bet would be that 22.4% of the auction complaints were legit, and 22.4% of the auction complaints were directly linked with Stuipd buyers.
Did I say Stuipd Buyers? Why Yes I Did.
Let me give you an example. Completely hypothetical, of course.
Say I were to sell something I no longer desire on Ebay. My goal is to get it out of my house, and recoup some of my investment. So I put it up for auction with a reasonable reserve. (This hypothetical item is a guitar that I haven't played in months)
Somebody new to good old EPay wins my auction. Horray. I now have in my possession my new ebay friend's guitar. I will release it in to his custody after I recieve my 177 plus 50 shipping, for a grand total of 227.00. (Shipping guitars is a joke)
A week goes by, the money order does not show up. My new ebay buddy informs me that he didn't budget his bills right, and can't afford the guitar now. He wants to back out of the auction, like I'm freaking Wal-Mart. He then understands that "Woah! I've entered in to a legally binding agreement, damn!". After informing my new ebay buddy of this fact, he agrees to send payment the next week.
Another week goes by. My Ebay buddy again emails me that he is fiscally irresponsible. He forgot to pay his car insurance for 3 months, and is about to get cut off. Go figure. I hope the insurance company cuts him off. He asks me if he can just cancel this whole transaction. I told him No, because I'm out my auction fees and I will have to file a complaint against him. He threatens, since he has my address (I'm in Iowa, he is in Hawaii), that he knows where he lives and what goes around comes around. After a polite email back to him, he agrees to send me a money order in 2 weeks and then add an additional $50 for my trouble.
Horray for me, but that doesn't begin to cover the time I've wasted on this transaction.
So I get the money on a Monday. The guitar gets packed and shipped out on a Tuesday, signature required. He gets the guitar this past Monday. On Tuesday I get a nice email threatening that because I did not put brand new strings on the guitar for him, that he is returning it. I informed him that I am not a Guitar Center and that he can't realistically expect to receive a like-new instrument for the price he paid on Ebay.
Nothing back from him yet, and I doubt that there will be. But I bet that you can add him to that 42.8% of complaints, if he can figure out how to dial a phone.
I give up on ebay. Dealing with idiots is not worth the $$$.
-S
We Apprentice Developers and Designers
Why is this news? "Oh, gee, you mean this person I'm trying to buy something from, whom I've never met before, have no idea what his real address, phone number, or even his name may be, might be trying to rip me off?" You know, if people were conducting this transaction over the phone, or by snailmail, everyone would say, "Well Duh" and laugh at the person's stupidity. But it's on the Internet, so suddenly it's a major catastrophe and the FBI has to step in and save us.
It's like all common sense flies out the window whenever any issue deals with the Internet in any way.
It hurts when I pee.
The beauty of this is that if your generated number gets "stolen" by an unscrupulous dealer, you don't need to worry about it because the number will be almost useless!
I'm honestly surprised that these services aren't advertised more widely, because they're probably one of the best ways to protect yourself against credit card fraud when dealing with unknown and far-away merchants. I know that American Express and MBNA cards have this capability, and I've heard rumors that Discover can do the same thing.