P-P-P-PowerBook for a S-S-S-Scammer...

kormoc writes "It all started with a ebay auction when the seller got a email from a dude who wanted to scam him. It was a normal setup and it went horribly wrong... for the scammer. This has turned from a awful plight for a ebay user to a wonderful prank on the scammer. Throw in some crazy brits with digicams and you have the making of a great story. Mirror Mirror" That should get the coffee out your nostrils on a fine sunday morning. Note that you have to download the PDF to read the story.

Comments

A bit hard to follow...... but funny....

[ewwhite]

I loved the photos. This seemed like a big production. Any idea of the status of the "buyer" now?

it must be said...

[chachob]

in soviet eBay, YOU scam the scammer!

Truly an awesome story.

[DrEldarion]

This originally started off as a "I think this guy is trying to rip of me off" post on the SA forums. Through the magic of peer pressure and paypal, it blossomed into this wonderful production.

The thread is now in the Comedy Goldmine here and has over 3200 replies and 3/4ths of a million page views.

Re:too long

[dougmc]

no mean to rant, but the pdf is too long, i can't be bothered to read it all, someone want to summarize it please? :)

Sure!

It all started with a ebay auction when the seller got a email from a dude who wanted to scam him. It was a normal setup and it went horribly wrong... for the scammer. This has turned from a awful plight for a ebay user to a wonderful prank on the scammer. Throw in some crazy brits with digicams and you have the making of a great story.

Or were you looking for a *longer* summary?

Re:Where did I see this...

[gnu-generation-one]

"Herflich, prepare the fake banknotes to pay for the painting of the madonna with the big boobies"

Re:What a great way to start a dreary Sunday!

[panurge]

The scammer is in England and using an accomodation address. The sender is in the US. Where was the contract made? I bet that wasn't even specified, since it was off eBay. So who has legal jurisdiction? What's more, the arrangement is escrow, in theory. That means if the goods are unsatisfactory payment is not released. A genuine buyer would have to accept the risk that the duty would be paid and the goods would be unsatisfactory, and that the duty would not be recovered, unless there existed a proper contract specifying the country of jurisdiction and it was likely to be enforceable. This scammer has the option of visiting the US to start a lawsuit, but he has got to find a court which accepts jurisdiction, and all this is going to cost just a little more than $500.

The real moral of this story, I think, is don't get involved in interstate (that's state as in country, not as in US state) commerce unless you really know what you are doing, and you are going to be doing it often enough to make all the aggravation worthwhile. The scammer was obviously too dim to realise this since he hadn't realised in advance he would have to pay import duty and Value Added Tax, or even that someone might send him a fake parcel.

Re:What a great way to start a dreary Sunday!

[YankeeInExile]

who says the value is far above the real value of goods sent?

As far as the beef with customs goes:

An artist can take ten dollars worth of canvas, smear five dollars of oilpaint on it, and sell it in a gallery for tens of thousands of dollars

By the same token, a sculptor can take a three ring binder, some magic markers, and a broken keyboard and make a sculpture easily worth two thousand.

Art is in the eye of the beholder

Since the eBay transaction never occured, they have no beef with him -- he merely used the contact made with the person who stole the german account to sell some artwork in a separate transaction

Re:What a great way to start a dreary Sunday!

[PunchMonkey]

who says the value is far above the real value of goods sent?

I agree... after all, if the P-p-p-powerbook resurfaces and finds it's way on ebay, I'm sure it'll fetch far more than a couple dollars (the value of the goods used in construction). :-) ... goddamnit... the scammer could still make his money back....

Re:A bit confused

[YankeeInExile]

My instinct tells me the prof in Terre Haute has nothing to do with it, and just had his name pulled out of a directory to be stuck on a domain registration, as a red herring.

Re:too long

[Sgs-Cruz]

You know that tl;dr is bannable, right?

amusing but not the best

[mabu]

The best scammer-scam I've ever seen is the infamous The Holy Church of Fish Bread & Wine. If you haven't seen that one, be sure to check it out.

Here are the pics mentioned in the article

[Psychic Burrito]

Fake Escrow Website (zipped).

Pics of the shop (scroll down, shitty forum...)

:-)

Street Justice

[Weaselmancer]

Personally, I think it's pretty horrible to defraud someone in this manner. While I'm sure this guy in the UK is not totally without blame, it seems pretty goddamn stupid to send someone a fraudulent package with a ring binder instead of a laptop and make them pay ~$300 in VAT

It's called street justice, my friend.

This guy wouldn't have gotten nailed for $300 if he hadn't tried to rob someone in the first place.

And as for the publicity, good. Maybe it'll stop the next guy from trying.

I always view calling a policeman or getting the law involved to be a last resort. If you can solve your problems on your own, more power to you. Here, we have crime, and we have just punishment. Bravo, guys.

Weaselmancer

Thye funniest part of the pics

[bjdevil66]

The keyboard's re-arrangement including:

UFAG
and
LOL

... great stuff ... thanks for the laughs...

I bet the P-P-Powerbook would Ebay now for $2,000+

[xenolaeus]

So, there goes that silly export fraud claim..

BEWARE SELLER F----!!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd just like to point out that unlike this picture real Powerbooks only have one button below the trackpad! This is obviously fake!