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eBay Scam Victim Strikes Back
jcomeau_ictx writes "Justin Spence doesn't take lightly being scammed out of $1155 for a laptop he never received. The seller, Salvatore Wise, Jr. of Philadelphia, is growing openly more hostile over the webpage Justin produced exposing his and his wife Michelle Heinlein's scams to the world. So far Justin has documented $6841.00 total lost to this crook, but the total is more likely in the tens of thousands. " As it goes along it just gets more and more bizarre. My favorite part is when "Sal" says that all the earlier messages were sent from a different Sal, but you can tell them apart because the true Sal always writes his emails in italics.
Has anyone heard of the P-P-P Powerbook? Its another case of the scammer being scammed, and quite amusing. Theres a full list of correspondence between the scammer and seller, complete with photos and videos. Enjoy.
This is a long and complex story. I dont blame either party but since I'm more intrested/concered in what eBay is doing to thwart crimes.
Ain't revenge a bitch?
Salvatore Wise, Jr., or someone going by that alias for several years at least (verified since 1997), has taken tens of thousands, and perhaps hundreds of thousands, of dollars from eBay shoppers. Whether or not he does other types of online trading is not yet known to me.
"How could that be possible?", you must be asking. Surely there are safeguards against that kind of thing, right? Yes, there are. But Sal has been ingenious in finding workarounds for those safeguards. See, for example, how Justin Spence, a shrewd businessman himself who was initially suspect of Sal's integrity, was conned into finishing the deal. Sal doesn't accept credit cards nor Paypal in any form; he wants his money in checks, cashiers checks or money orders. And he often makes believe he hasn't received your payment when in fact he's already cashed it.
Sal's accounts have all been terminated, of course, but he always seems to have one more on the back burner he can use in a pinch. Lately, his wife Michelle Heinlein appears to be actively involved, since in at least one case a check made out to her name was cashed, in one of the scams. Notice the same trading pattern as Sal's former username needforspeed97, starting off good then, once he gets a good reputation, cashing it in for a few thousand dollars before eBay kicks him off. I'm pretty sure this guy Robin, needforspeed, is the same dude too, but Sal of course denies it.
I'll post more info as I can. Watch out for anybody on eBay from PA who sells high-dollar items. Sorry Pennsylvanians, but you've got a scoundrel in your midst. He lives at 1941 W. Passyunk Ave. in Philadelphia, but he sometimes sets his eBay "area" identity as Pittsburgh.
So if I know where he lives, why don't I just go break his legs? Believe me, I've thought about it, but I don't want to do something illegal that'll get me thrown in jail. Besides, he's threatened to shoot me if I come there. So if the threat turns out to be real, I'd either have to kill him or get killed myself, either of which has consequences I don't want to consider. And on top of all that, I'm a coward.
Well anyway, not to be outdone by Justin, I'm digging up my emails now too... here's the most recent thread which shows the same typing style (being very loose with that word here) as his recent threats to Justin. More to follow!
Wow, that was fast! Here he is again... it's after 2AM on the east coast, so he must be sweating bullets! Aren't you, Sal old buddy?
This is getting to be another blog in itself, so let's just follow the story in my existing blog, shall we?
Two documents that contain no data, and another horrid green background. Wow.
Check this out.
That guy's hosting bill is going to be huge after we're done with him. Maybe he'll do an expose piece on how slashdot users cost him thousands of dollars in hosting fees.
"Glory is fleeting but obscurity is forever" - Napoleon Bonapart.
So, buying anything in those priceranges is taking a huge risk. I'm not saying that these scammer should get away with it (they should be thrown in jail), I'm just saying that I prefer not to take risks.
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
Man, that is a great idea! I've been scammed a few times by the same kind of people. The last one I dealt with came to my attorney sending him a certified letter saying we were going to take him to court if he didn't produce a refund or my merchandise.
It goes the other way, too. I recently sold an Otis player on eBay and they guy failed to respond to emails or pay. I got to looking at his history and he had done the exact same thing to 3 other people. Funnier yet, he left neg feedback 3 weeks later saying the sellers scammed HIM. Loser.
R(k)
I've got Pine. And it comes from UW, not Italy.
Give me my freedom, and I'll take care of my own security, thank you.
Though I can't remember where...
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
http://www.ibnads.com/sal/salwise.html
[I]Congradulashuns u have fownd the l0053R. No one but this guy writes in Italics.[/I]
/. standards.
Seriously, who bases identity based upon writing style, or even font style. That's surely not irrefutable proof, even to
503 errors, the gross mis-spellings in headlines. It's a wonder I don't just find something better to do... like work or something.
Kinda makes you wonder whether Sal posted the story himself..and must be laughing his way to the bank knowing the site's getting its ass raped by millions of pointed clicks..
By the way, hope Sal finds his way to the following conversation.
Sal, meet Bubba.
Bubba, meet thy Bitch.
Rapid Nirvana
Ignore whatever this guys says on his webpage. There are plenty of good sellers on ebay, and plenty of bad buyers.
If anyone is interested I have laptops for sale. Contact me.
Sal^H^H^HJoe
Spur of the moment inspiration based on this article.
[to the tune of: Erie Canal]
I know a guy
His name is Sal
I buy stuff from him
He's my E-bay pal
I send all my money
To his locale
He'll send me his stuff
He's my E-bay pal
Watch out!
He just skipped out of town
Watch out!
'cause in legal fees he'll drown
And all my angry neighbors
They're gonna hunt him down
'cause we're gonna take out this E-bay cloooooown.
Oh...come on! It's funny!
Next he can make a page about Slashdot, now that he is going to be bilked out of bandwidth overage fees.
I live near philly, maybe I'll pay him a visit.... or least go do a recon.
The One Rule Of Chess You'll Ever Need: Don't play someone who carries a kit in their bookbag.
jcomeau_ictx, or Salvatore Wise? Considering the accessibility of Justin's site, I think we can all guess who submitted this...
Did you ever notice that most scammers (particularly Nigerian scammers) write in all lowercase? This Ebay scammer does the same thing? Coincidence? Hmmm. I think not.
way to help him out ... take justin spence's site out with a quick /.'ing or so ... ;)
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Looks like it's well past time for eBay to have human beings vet all sellers hawking stuff over, oh, $1K.
<grrr>
Speak for yourself.
i am familiar with that area of South Philly and its only 7 blocks from Pat and Geno's Cheese steaks. its not the nicest area though.
Since the scammer wants money orders, I assume that someone has sent a U.S. Postal Money Order.
_IF_ the sender was VERY CAREFUL to enclose the POMO with a "mail order" that PRECISELY describes the item ordered, the Postal Inspectors are VERY happy to help out; they HATE eBay scammers!
It usually takes them a simple fone call or casual visit (flash badge and BIG gun) to convince the seller to cough up the goods pronto.
If necessary, the inspector can patiently explain how 5 years "quality time" with Bubba is a 5 FULL years: no time off for ANYTHING in the Federal pen.
Been tried on me twice. In both cases I eventually received the merchandise - in the condition described at the time of the sale.
Yes - it make take as long as 9 months (in one case) but I have yet to be dissapointed by the power behind that $.90 piece of paper.
Bill
T_O_M
I meant to reply to the first post.
I too am skeptical of Ebay, however, I have found a bargain once on some cisco routers. Nevertheless, I found them on Ebay - but was able to pick them up in person before payment was made (not far from where I live). That's the only reason I made the purchase. Even then, the guy was in a hurry to get cash - he said he was leaving town.
Salvatore probably couldn't get him to take his site down, so instead he posted this story on Slashdot and let the /. effect do his dirty work!
Muhahaha!
I know a Goatse/Tubgirl redirect when I see one, pal!
"Michelle" is one of the aliases that the computer personality in Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress goes by. Cute.
What Would the Fab Five Do?
I posted a back-link to this slashdot article on his obituary thread at the Lexus owner's club... it was promptly delted. You all should do the same.
Luckily, my vigilance paid off, and Brian Silverman, aka "electro_depot" was caught and charged by the FTC for his crimes.
Dozens upon dozens of people were scammed by Brian over the course of a year or two. Many of them went to google to find out more about him, because he failed to return emails and phone calls. At that time, my Advogato diary entry was the only hit that google returned, and over 80 people contacted me directly via email to ask if I had ever received my laptop (at the time, I hadn't).
I had an officer, Det. Mike Gischner from the NYC "Computer Crime Squad" division call me directly, based on that same Advogato diary entry (the only one mentioning "Brian Silverman" by name at the time), asking me if I had heard of anyone else that had problems with Brian. I asked him if 120 people was enough. Silence on the phone. He thought I was kidding. I forwarded him all of the emails I had received at the time, and proceeded with his end of the case. He had no idea that there were that many people being screwed by this jerk.
As time went on, several web sites popped up to try to track the fraud from Brian Silverman, based on my original "collection" of users and emails that I had received. I take full credit for bringing enough evidence to bring him to justice.
I did eventually receive my laptop... the last one he actually sent out to anyone. I managed to track him down, at his home address, and called him one night asking (no no, demanding ) my laptop, or I would be at his front door the next morning. The laptop arrived a couple of days later.
As an aside note, the laptop, which I am typing this reply on right now, has been back to IBM 7 times for repair in the last couple of years, for repairs and replacement of almost every part, several times. Its definately a lemon, but it works well now.. and is basically brand-new again.
Basically his scam was as follows:
Eventually, he decided that the whole "Ship the laptop" thing was just too much trouble, and he started keeping the money, never purchasing any laptops at all, for any bidders.
I'm glad he's rotting in a federal prison right now, getting 60 months (from what I understand), for his crimes, and an enormous $600k fine and penalties.
Anyone seen the recent 3rd party company "SquareTrade?" I bought an item from a seller, he never responded to any emails from me, he left negative feedback and a squaretrade case, I responded with my side, and squaretrade still spams me every day telling me I have to pay $20 to get this dorks negative feedbacks removed. I needed the MPEG2 encoder unit for the 5th hope conference in NYC. Time was critical.
.... so once time runs out, eBay is home free. It takes like 2 weeks minimum to complete the non-paying bidder process.
The funny thing is, the guy never responded to squaretrade either. It eggs you on like it will take care of you and help you out, but then it always asks for 20 dollars. It's like the loch ness monster, only instead of $3.50 the fucker wants $20! This all happened months ago, and this Squaretrade piece of shit still emails me every other day about paying $20 to resolve some negative feedback that I honestly could care less about. It was false, I'm not giving the squaretrade assholes $20 to remove it from eBay's database.
Ebay and Paypal are a love/hate relationship. They have grown too big for their own good without proper competition to keep them in check.
I sold a Cray supercomputer on eBay. Ebay quickly took the $100 in commision, but the bidder was slow to pay. I went thru eBays 6 step process of reporting the non-paying bidder, and the bidder said he would pay. So eBay still charged me $100 in comission. Here I am 6 months later calling daily trying to get these people at VRSim to pay. I contacted eBay asking why they never did anything / refunded / assisted, and they said "Please go to this page" which took me back to step 2. The deal is, everything has to be done in 30 days
Oh well, what can you do? The deals are good. The fees keep going up on a site with basically no customer service. Gotta love it.
Southeastern Virginia REPRESENT!
order from ebay
risky way to get cheap stuff
rip-offs commonplace
Isn't there some special online protection plan that can remburse you in case of an online purchase fraud? Why don't people just get one of these cards specifically for ebaying.
As the saying goe:
The Fool and his money will soon be departed to Sal.
eBay = Buyers beware.
"Buyer beware" really is as old as the hills. Its an interesting challenge in this digital age as you can't see the person, and you can't be sure they are the person they say they are.
Would we buy a laptop off a bloke on the street who "promised to bring us the laptop same time tomorrow" ? Of course not. But on ebay we make a similar decision on a regular basis.
How about an "eBay bond" where sellers have to lodge the cash with eBay until the point at which the seller receives the goods, i.e. the money is in escrow until the whole transaction is complete. The company goes bust or fails to supply within a set period (agreed as part of the sale) then the money is refunded.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
and have this guy and his wife tossed in the slammer.
-
Comment removed based on user account deletion
The trick is to understand the risk.
For purchases of around $200 or less, the reputation of the seller, manner of shipping, payment, insurance, and general professionalism is usually enough to judge whether it is "safe". It's not worth soiling a rep over $200. Recent bad feedback is poison for an Ebayer.
However, for larger purchases, I prefer using a credit card that provides fraud protection, and if it is an individual that can't accept a credit card, either an escrow service acceptable to me, or cash on delivery works.
I purchased my speakers from an individual who was located (at the time) within 30 miles of me. Before bidding we had arranged that, should I be the high bidder, the speakers would be delivered, set up, tested, and payment made on the spot by certified cheque, upon my satisfaction that they were as advertised. The kicker was that I was willing to throw in an extra $70 for the delivery service -- that's what the shipping charges would have run, so it seamed fair.
To date, I have not been scammed on Ebay. I suppose it will happen at some point over a relatively small purchase. But, one has to weigh the risks against the convenience and rewards of an online auction system.
You could've hired me.
Up until he decided to keep the money, that was a pretty clever idea. I'm impressed.
---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
1) Use Opera browser.
2) Click "Author Mode" icon. Ugly, noisy, whatever $#@! background gone (as if by magic!).
3) Save eyes for important stuff.
4) Opera profits by this suggestion and deserves to.
Just in case anyone runs across this... there are lots of people that sell things like AOL CDs on eBay for $1. They get lots of buyers. Basically, people are buying feedback. You will see someone selling 10 or so plasma TVs for $5k a pop. Look thru their history, and they bought $30 in $1 items. $30 to walk away with $15k or so in stolen profits. Just a heads up.
A long time eBay user, I've definitly come out way ahead... but there are risks. Nothing is as bad as Yahoo auctions. I caught a fraudulent seller red handed, notified Yahoo as there was 6 other bidders on the same item... and Yahoo wouldn't / didn't seem to do a thing about it. They (Yahoo) should be held accountable if money was lost -- they knew. I contacted the police in LA but since I didn't fall for it, there was no case to be opened.
Southeastern Virginia REPRESENT!
It's in all italics. Or does it make me Italic?
John Kerry is a Joke!
Many many people on Ebay and at auctions pay way more then they need to. I was at an ISP liquidation and I saw someone buy a beat-to-heck sawzall for $165. We drove across town after the auction and got one new, in the box with warrenty and blades for $115.
Its buyers frenzy and "good" sellers know how to write thier copy to hook people in. One important thing I do is to watch a catagory a long while and set a limit of what I'm willing to spend.
Sometimes, while waiting, I have had people offer me the thing I want for free if I take it out of thier house. You just never know.
Sorry if I sound ignorant or anything. It would be because I never use eBay myself. How come he can't just call the police on this guy. He payed money for a item he didn't recieve. That is fraud in my book. Atleast he can take the guy to small claims court or something. Can some more experienced eBayer tell me what is tying this guy's hands??
I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of a ruling class. Especially since I rule. -Randal, Clerks
This guy go someone to agree to buy and Xbox for $325. What a beauty.
Main Page and E-mail Page
"'Yrch!' said Legolas, falling into his own tongue."
http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index.php?sho wtopic=11024&
/. them too. Yes, that's the same Sal! Spread the word - these folks are thieves.
Might as well
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
NO! Don't file your stuff against me!
Was it a P-P-P-P-P-Powerbook?
"My name is Justin Spence. You kiled my server. Prepare to die."
HTML emails should be banned.
Cringe. They might use Flash instead.
This is why you only buy SMALL TICKET items off of ebay.
:)
Im talking dvds, videogames, maybe hdds. If you get ripped off, the loss is minimal.
I thought everyone knew this already
no
Given the general lowlife spelling/grammar issues this guy has, I don't think he reads much.
Link to the bounty.
---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
I scanned Google for all of those URLs and came up with nothing. So much for the poor man's high-bandwidth cache.
Sustainability and energy independence essay
Nah, buyers just need to stop being so loose with their money and start using escrow. If a seller won't agree to escrow, even if you offer to pay all the fees, he's probably a low-life scam artist.
Many people wouldn't buy a laptop sight-unseen by mail from a classified ad, but sell it on eBay and they're tripping all over themselves trying to fork over the cash without a lick of common sense.
Big-ticket items? Escrow, escrow, escrow. And always use Escrow.com -- it's the only escrow service eBay recommends, and you won't get suckered into an escrow scam (barring any future potential for "HACKED BY CHINESE!!!11").
Has anyone ever seen Jason Bourne and sal Wise in the same room? Me thinks not.
"It is with great sadness that I must inform you that Sal Wise, who posted as bbsal on our forums, passed away on the 17th June 2004, as the result of a blood clot to his heart. Sal struggled medical adversities no man his age should have to deal with, and we are all shocked and saddened by his passing. Sal was a long time regular visitor to the forums, always happy to help fellow Lexus owners with their problems, or just to chat about their cars. Sal was also a club official, moderating the ES and GS forums, and making sure that those forums were a fun and pleasant place. Sal died aged only 26, and leaves behind him his high school sweetheart and wife Michelle and a three year old son, Sal. Michelle is also currently nine months pregnant with their second child. It would be appreciated if we could use this thread to pay our respects to Sal's memory. Clearly, this is a hard time for Michelle and her family, so I have therefore created the Paypal donation link. It would really be appreciated if you could make a donation to try and help Michelle in this very clear hour of need.
... when every significant action we take, good or bad, is available for the world to browse... forever. Transparency is coming. Are you ready? Si
FROM THE DESK OF ALHAJI BABA AHMED (60).
WEMA BANK BANK PLC.
NOTE WELL. REPLY ONLY TO THIS E-MAIL SAFE ADDRESS: alhajibaba_a@yahoo.com
DEAR BELOVED,
APPLICATION FOR ACCOUNT CLOSURE. A/C NO. 1417-4578-35. SORT CODE NO. BSB 6505 , BELONGING TO MR PACKER TORIES.
COMPLIMENT OF THE DAY. I CRAVE YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND TRUST IN THIS MEANINGFUL AND CONFIDENTIAL RELATIONSHIP. I AM ALHAJI BABA AHMED , THE DIRECTOR OF ACCOUNTS MONITORING AND SUPERVISION DEPARTMENT OF WEMA BANK PLC LAGOS.
I SEEK YOUR ASSISTANCE TO FRONT YOUR REPRESENTATION TO LATE PACKER TORIE
S, A FOREIGN BUSINESSMAN WHO HAD ACCOUNT OF US$15.500.00 DOLLAR EQUIVAL.
ENT WITH OUR BANK.
SINCE HIS UNTIMELY DEATH IN EGYPT FEW YEARS AGO ON HOLIDAYS WITH HIS FAMILY MEMBERS, ALL EFFORTS TO TRACE HIS NEXT OF KIN PROVED ABORTIVE HENCE MY DESIRE TO SEEK YOUR ASSISTANCE TO STAND IN AS HIS NEXT OF KIN TO CLAIM THIS FUND. INDEED,I DONT WANT THE MANAGEMENT TO TAKE OVER THIS MONEY AS UNCLAIMED FUND AS STIPULATED IN OUR BANKING LAWS AND REGULATION HENCE MY CONTACTING YOU. IT IS ONLY TO MY KNOWLEDGLE FOR NOW.
HOWEVER, YOU ARE REQUESTED NOW TO FORWARD AN APPLICATION FOR CLOSURE OF HIS ACCOUNT LIKE THIS TO THE DIRECTOR , INTERNATIONAL REMITTANCE DEPARTMENT, DR
YOU GIVE HIM YOUR OWN NOMINATED BANK ACCOUNT, PRIVATE TELEPHONE/ FAX AND E-MAIL FOR EASY WIRE AND COMMUNICATION.
I ONCE MORE CRAVE YOUR UNDERSTANDING IN THIS MEANINGFUL TRANSACTION. I WILL THEN INFLUENCE AND FACILITATE THE SWIFT WIRE INTO YOUR OWN SUBMITED BANK ACCOUNT AND LATER WE WILL DISBURSE THE FUND FOR OUR OWN BENEFIT AND YOU HAVE A FAIR SHARE.
IT IS A CONFIDENTIAL , MEANINFUL AND RISKFREE.
BE READY TO SEND ME LETTER OF INVITATION FOR MY VISITING YOU THERE FOR MY SHARE.
THAT YOU OBLIGED THIS YOUR APPLICATION IS GRANTED AND THANKING HIM IN ANTICIPATION.
PLEASE ENSURE URGENT RESPONSE FOR DETAILS. TO THIS MY CONFIDENTIAL AND SAFE E-MAIL ADDRESS. alhajibaba_a@yahoo.com.
YOURS TRULY.
ALHAJI BABA AHMED.
WEMA BANK PLC. ( DIRECTOR ACCOUNT/ SUPERVISION DEPT).
The problem is you don't buy the item with your credit card.
Lets look at paying via paypal with a credit card.
You ask paypal to send some money to someone, You pay for this service with your credit card.
Paypal sends the money to this person. There is no fraud with the credit card transaction itself, paypal did exactly what they said they would.
your value as a human being is depedent on your ability to spell and punctuate. Who was the lowlife again?
I had a friend in 1998 who was trying to buy one of a lot of IBM Thinkpads on eBay. We had just graduated from college and were getting ready to move out and start our jobs/graduate education. We were both pretty broke.
He was an early eBay user (I'd never heard of it), and he sent $1000+ (money order -- not a credit card that might have been protected) to a seller on eBay for one of the guy's ThinkPads. And he never got it. Months passed, and he never got it.
He realized he'd been scammed, so he started filing complaints with the FTC, FBI and other government agencies. And he garnered some degree of hope when said agencies responded and said that they were after this guy for fraud. And a few months passed.
Eventually, the scammer was arrested and sent to prison for thousands of dollars of eBay scams and other fraud. He was ordered, as part of a plea deal, to repay the people he'd scammed.
It was almost 5 years later (after the original attempted eBay purchase) that my friend called me after work one afternoon to say that he'd gotten some money back via the US government for this guy's plea bargain.
It was about a $15 check, if I remember correctly. Might have been $30. That was all the guy could afford to send out (or have sent out by the prison) from his wages at the prison.
5 years. Government investigations. And my buddy only got about $15 back of his $1000+. Now, he just asks me for my parts before I list them on eBay.
IronChefMorimoto
Can be found here. To be honest, this guy does seem pretty odd
I'VE been working on some animation ... I hate to mention it to anyone before it's complete, but it's going to be so funny ... everyone will love it ... it's going to be a baby ... get this ... DANCING!! It'll be so cool ... I'll e-mail it to everyone I know! Then they'll e-mail it to everyone they know ....
"We shall party like the Greeks of old! You know the ones I mean." - HedonismBot
Honestly, if you always use a credit card, striking back is usually not that hard. Most credit cards guarantee your purchases, whether or not the merchant does.
Last year I decided I wanted to buy a Pioneer Tivo/DVD recorder combo set. Retail price at the time was about $1500; I noticed on ebay I could pick one up for around $700. While thinking the decision over for a few days, a seller popped up suddenly with a "buy it now" price of $350. I foolishly decided this was an offer I couldn't pass up and bought immediately.
Well, this seller had made some legitimate sales before, but apparently he decided that the time between taking my money and sending me the product was a good time to close up shop and disappear. In retrospect, I could see from his feedback that several people had had problems with him. A couple had sent complaints, not received a prompt answer, and posted bad feedback, only to receive angry replies to their feedback denigrating them. Apparently, this seller believed he was a better person than the rest of us for not sending prompt responses, because that indicates that he "doesn't sit at a 'puter [sic] 24-7 like you!" I still fail to see how that makes one a paragon of virtue, but I digress.
So after a decent amount of time I contacted the seller and received no response. I had initially contacted him on purchase to verify what he said in the sale about shipping being free (yes, that should have been another tipoff), and did receive a response. But now he was nowhere to be seen. And ebay reported that his userid did not exist and/or was not active (although it was still in the system complete with previous bad feedback).
At this point I looked up the seller's phone number and tried to call it, only to get a message that it was out of service. That made sense, since the number had four or five consecutive digits in it. (The number was something like ###-4567, though the area code did match the seller's alleged area.)
Satisfied I'd done everything in my power to contact the seller and resolve the situation, I contacted paypal and informed them I had not received the product and expected to take advantage of their policy. They informed me they would launch an investigation and attempt to recover my money, and I would hear from them within a week. I was a little bit dissuaded by the claims on their policy page that they were only liable up to a certain dollar limit, but I was not terribly worried because I knew my credit card guaranteed me!
After a week, paypal cheerfully sent me a message telling me they had determined two things:
Apparently they thought this news was going to overjoy and satisfy me. Wonder of wonders; I had been vindicated! At last the whole world knew that the seller was at fault! I felt better already. (Yeah, right.) Turns out the only real promise paypal makes is that they will investigate.
So I immediately contacted my credit card company and let them know what had happened, and that I had no attention of paying the bill. The credit card representative expressed mild surprise that paypal/ebay were not cooperating with me. I was immediately given a provisional credit, pending followup investigation by my credit card company with paypal. I had done this about 6 months earlier, over a DVD bought from an Amazon.com associate seller; the policy is that once they take over, you don't have to worry about anything. The credit card company investigates and, unless you're found to be lying, you get your money back. You don't have to deal with the offending merchant at all going forward.
So, about a day later, I got another form email from paypal. This one stated that they were now involved in responding to an investigation from my credit card company. The form email mentioned that paypal had a very generous policy and would have been happy to have dealt with me directly and investigate
Secession is the right of all sentient beings.
"but i can and will if nessisary shut your whole web site down.I have plenty of friends that just live for that shit and can easliy do it for me if i cant myself but im betting i could."
:)
Well, there ya go
-Tofu
I'm in the middle of mirroring the site here ... his server is responding very, very slowly, so if you would look at the mirror instead of his site, I might actually be able to finish downloading the images, etc. :)
I was told that I could listen to the radio at a reasonable volume from nine to eleven...
I know this is funky, but while he blacked out the licese plate in the ebay car photo, the bumper is still reflecting (a tiny) portion of it. Wonder if one could deduce a partial plate from the reflected bit?
www.voiceofthehive.com - Beekeeping and Honeybees for those who don't.
Rootbeer out of nose. ouch.
i swear my userid used to be lower.
The website requests a photo ... for what? The Philly police officer has an address and a documented crime. What are they waiting for?
Erm....yeah...uh...this is Sal, yeah, Sal!
Sehr geehrter Toilettenbenutzer!
It depends on how you shop. Really, anything one purchases online should be done with a credit card. Credit card=chargeback... so if you're scammed you have a way to get your money returned
Now in ebay, there's a seller rating system (similar to slashdot karma, except it's just good/bad/neutral). Don't buy from somebody with a low rating, and check the ratings. Hey if granny who has only got good comments selling knitting suddenly is selling an Athlon 3.2Ghz, it's a bit suspicious.
Oh, and always get insurance on your packages, because one thing that could definately cause you a problem (and it's the only time I had trouble) is if you have to deal with whether UPS/seller/postman stole it or broke it...
looks more like you pay someone $2000 and they'll find him for you. Not quite a bounty and in a bizarre irony it could also be a scam.
it's called payment upon receipt
Commenting on slashdot doesn't affect the linked site, asshat!
Too bad Justin left all of the routing numbers on the images of his check. Not very bright.
-DropIt!
What are you suggesting? That someone sends the guy a similar UPS package?
There must be a nicer way to prevent him from scamming people and stealing money than this. No?
If the Philly cops won't take action, why not contact a television news "gotcha!" reorter in the area. They're always looking for fresh blood.
As an EBay Scam victim myself all I can say after looking into it is that EBay supports scammers.
In my case I asked a seller about an existing auction (for a Sony Vaio Picturebook C1MZX). He answered the question and mentioned that he had a couple more for sale. His story checked out -- he had previously sold one with excellent feedback a couple of weeks earlier. And of course had good feedback. So foolishly I bought it (doing everything I caution others against - sending via WU, etc).. And "George Ward - 1703 Amherst St, Buffalo, NY 14214-2019 716-862-9606 jk_fan@earthlink.net ebayid 'jkfan' " delayed shipping, the phone was disconnected, the alternate number he gave me "866-537-7305" answers and says "goodbye". So in the end I'm screwed. As are other people who lost more than I did buying from the same "jkfan" scammer.
Now since I bought "outside" of EBay they refuse to help beyond politely saying "you're fscked." So I made all the rounds reporting it to the police, IFFCFBI, etc.. Great. But funny how none of the auctions are listed as "fraudulent". EBay's response is "We have to leave it up for evidence." Actually what it does is provide the scammer with a way of creating a great history for himself so that he can continue with his scams. While ebay says this is left up for evidence, as the scammer deletes his ebay accounts the auctions and such disappear. So much for the evidence. Asking EBay for any kind of help is of course a waste of time.
This set of scammers has a pretty easy auction page to identify for their auctions -- pointing this out to ebay is met with silence. And they seem allow the auctions to continue (and having contacted some of the buyers the scams just keep on rolling...)
Oh, if you're buying Sony Vaio equipment off of ebay -- don't buy from folks in New York -- it's absolutely amazing how many fraudulent auctions for that stuff are listed as originating in NY.
So while EBay keeps lots of records and seems willing to give them out at the drop of a hat to any law enforcement folks, if you're one of the "little people" who wants to try and investigate (because the cops do the "file and forget" routine) EBay doesn't want to hear from you.
Invalid Checksum. Retrying.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/escrow.html
:)
Step 1:
The buyer and seller agree to the terms and details of the transaction.
Step 2:
The buyer sends payment to Escrow.com. Payment is verified and deposited into a trust account.
Step 3:
The seller ships the merchandise to the buyer, knowing that the buyer's payment is secured.
Step 4:
The buyer accepts the merchandise after having the opportunity to inspect it.
Step 5:
Escrow.com pays the seller after all conditions of the transaction are met.
If escrow is not available, don't bid.
If you sell, use escrow.
Escrow = happy endings.
Stop whining. You did everything you were supposed to not do. Ebay has multiple warnings against this type of activity, yet you did it anyway.
Now you want Ebay to help you? My heart bleeds!
Don't get me wrong, I love eBay, and what's more I've never been burned as a customer. But the fact is it's still too easy to get scammed and not easy enough to get redress after having been scammed. Mostly, I'm amazed more people aren't getting ripped off on eBay. Buying things on eBay is like gambling--you're betting the seller isn't going to take your money and send you a box of rocks from his garden. So I operate under the same philosophy I use in Vegas: I never bet more than I can afford to lose.
-- Remember Christine Watkins
A Google search turned up this Christine Watkins, her best lifts are "65kg Snatch, 82.5kg Clean and Jerk".
Sounds like my kinda woman.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
congratulations!
you have just answered for me why paypal refuses to allow account-creation using a credit card (like they USED to in the olden days)
they now require a FULL and VALID bank account number to base your paypal transactions on...
too many pesky people like yourself were cutting into the Mob^H ^H ^H ^H, uh payPal's profit line.
According to this, Sal died of a blood clot...
s ho wtopic=11024&
http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index.php?
If it were me, I'd try this guy.
~Philly
Had to be done.
"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face, it's just a goddamned piece of paper!" - George W. Bush Nov. 2005
1. Mac users are dumber and more gullible
2. Mac users are more dishonest.
Take your pick!
Best Buy can have you arrested
... use LEGITIMATE Escrow.
Use eBay's recommended Escrow sites only.
Ah... that _does_ make sense now. Especially how they always ask me if I really really want to use a credit card instead of a bank balance transfer, and list a whole slew of reasons why a balance transfer is just as good.
It's not too difficult to set up a bank account. Just walk into WaMu with $60 like I did, and get one set up. Then you can use PayPal normally, but you have to remember to manually select a credit card for payment.
Is Salvatore Wise, Jr. really dead?? Go to this page to read on, and I will quote some of it in case it gets ./ed:
.
juan01
" Anyone else get a "fradulent email" claim? "
SW03ES
" Yes and we're currently working to either prove or disprove the accusations made inside it.
We'll keep everyone posted as we find out anything. "
bdonkersgoed
" Can someone fill me in here? What is this about a fraudulent email? I did make a PayPal donation and want to know what is happening . .
Thanks,
Bryan "
Apparently, this community will soon be added to the "Scammed by Sal" list. They have paid Salvator's family through PayPal, because he "died", and being the good people that they are, they wanted to offer what they had. Please, prove me wrong. But until that point, I'm sticking by what I have just written.
As long as they get their listing fee
quote from admin:
[R]andom people on the accuser's side have been joining the site and posting nasty hate posts. Not only is that innapropriate but it makes our part in the investigation more difficult.
If anyone pertaining to this case has statements they wish to make, make them with the administration in private. Joining our club for the purpose of posting these statements is not appropriate and will not be allowed.
Well. There we go; at least they know now.
It only pays if you receive nothing. If the seller sends you a turd by mail, you're sunk.
Impulse buying. It's too damn easy, especially if you're shopping when you should be working.
Take a look at the case of Jay Nelson. This Sal gentleman may face more than 5 years depending what he is doing with Justin's money etc.
Here's a link to the story and background.
Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing. -- Albert Einstein
I paid 20$ USD for the pleasure of keeping the item I'd owned anyways, and was trying to sell because a bidder stalled and stalled, sent an incorrect money order (I can't cash non-international ones since 9/11 due to US stupidity), and then finally changed their phone # and disapeared. I still have the bonus item I bought and said I'd throw in if the bidding went over a certain amount, another side cost.
There is no obvious way to report this to the US authorities for investigation.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
I don't get these people. If you have thousands of dollars to blow on ebay why not walk into a real store and buy the damn laptop?
did you forget to take your meds?
http://netnet.net/~slashdot/
hey asshat, I believe he was referring to the length of time between when the story was posted and when the site was slashdotted
I got almost scammed on an expensive item and I was pissed.
So after being very civil about it I finally used my resources (I work for a Private Investigation Company) I looked up his house, street and city, and had a guy I knew who lived nearby drop by and take some pictures across the street at this guy leaving for work. (I am in California, and this guy was in Detroit)
I emailed him saying that I would really very much like to have my item shipped and attached the pictures of him along with an arial photo with his house circled in a bulls-eye. (just a photo taken from an airplane that most cities have done and you can buy them as postcards)
I got the item a day later and I never heard about it again. no emails, no responses. Just instant gratification and it only cost some gas money to my friend and beer money and about 15 minutes on a database looking the punk up.
I've purchased countless items from eBay. I've never been ripped off one single time.
..." Very slow communication is also a bad sign - although the seller is probably legit, if you have a problem, you don't want to wait a week for every e-mail response.
Just like renehollan said, you have to understand the risks and use common sense to decide whether or not to buy from/sell to someone. It's usually pretty damned easy to tell when someone's scamming.
Near-sure bets: Merchandise way too cheap. "FLAT PLASMA 100" TV ONLY $900! L@@K WOW!!!111" Bad communication. "Speak englsh not good plz send $2000 to PO BOX
You have every opportunity to contact someone before buying, and feel them out. And if you get scammed when you're selling something where you have *all* the power, you gotta be gullible.
Of course, I might not be buying things that people normally use to rip people off with, like TV's and DVD's. Especially with DVD's - these things seem to be a haven for scammers. My friend has had two bad experiences with DVD sets, although he did recieve both sets, one had two broken discs (yes, snapped in half) and the other one had a box that was all but destroyed.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
Try Dog the Bounty Hunter. Someone showed me this guy's site today. Apparently, he's the "greatest bounty hunter in the world." It's kind of a funny site, too: "Six men can carry you or 12 men can judge you. You decide!" -- a Dogism. Maybe Sal's under this guy's radar, but....
I have a hard time believing that anybody doesn't know this kinda stuff falls of lorries. Straight throught the locked doors.
If a deal sounds to good to be true. Then it is. Simple advice. If you absolutly must buy from ebay then only do face-to-face. You wouldn't buy a used car over the net would you?
On the other hand maybe I am just a suspicious bugger.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Bob Stimpson scammed over 80 people for $400,000 in computers. He is still at large, whereabouts unknown. He tried to file bankruptcy (his 3rd in 7 yrs), but the judge threw his case out because he couldn't show any records of what was done with the money he took from all of his eBay victims. $300,000 from ebay buyers, and another $100,000 from a supplier, within 90 days of filing for bankruptcy -- yet he didn't ship any computers during the 90 days! This was 2 yrs ago.
If you know of a Bob Stimpson in the Pittsburgh area, call the police or the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office.
This bit should have tipped him off right here:
i bought 3 of these along with 2 12inch and 1 17inch from a firm that upgraded to windows based laptops.
I bought some stuff to build a computer from sellers on pricewatch.com and had very bad service. I now know to go to sites like resellerratings.com first. Anyway, one of the companies screwed up my order, I got 404s from their order page,I was never sure if they got my order, if they gave me the pricewatch price, if I got the shipping discount, and I never even got a receipt. I emailed, no reply. I called, no answer and their mailbox was full. This went on for a week when eventually my $250 or so of hardware arrived but still no receipt or explaination of the discounts or pricewatch prices. I emailed them again, told them they had 24 hours to reply, or I was going to call my credit card company and reverse the charges. 48 hours later I called my CC company, reversed the charges, sent them copies of all my emails I sent and gave their phone number.
I guess they never got through either because I got all that stuff for free. Sucks to be a crooked seller.
Now to sue my movers...
How much do people check on feedback? I've never bought on ebay because I just don't trust it. I have a friend that has been selling stuff on ebay for a few years and he will sell stuff (for a cut of the sale) for other people.
Originally I was skeptical, but when I recently sold some stuff with him I found that his status as a powerseller, etc gets him more money that I'd get selling on my own (with no rating) so it makes up for his cut.
Anyone hear about people or even business doing this? I is an online pawn broker essentially. I think that the power of a very high rating seems to work as it is intended and give people enough security to feel more comfortable buying.
For those that will think I'm nuts for not selling on my own, he also takes care of the postings, pictures, etc. I just give him a box of stuff.
Mac stuff is so damn expensive that those seeking it are driven to desperate measures.
Well anyway, since Justin's T1 is being pummeled too, a bunch of slashdotters have come to the rescue and mirrored the site! Here are the ones I've had pointed out to me so far, and more are appearing as I type:
http://pio.longstair.com/misc/salwise.htm6 67.html
http://pio.longstair.com/misc/salwise2.htm
http://www.ibnads.com/sal/salwise.html
http://sd.wiretapped.us/07222004/
http://www.freelancesecurity.com/projects/1089824
I lost money on one auction and could not get PayPal to reverse it until they "had time to study it". Well PayPal decided the payment was fradulent but told me I had to take it up with E-Bay.
Well E-Bay told me the account of the fradulent trader had been closed and that I needed to take it up with PayPal.
Ebay OWNS PayPal.
Biggest damn circle jerk I have seen recently.
Fortunately STOP PAYMENT works wonders with a credit card.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
The Docket/a is dated Aug of 03? WTF?
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
An obvious candidate for that 3rd party role would be the national postal service. They got the network, the security, they already do this service in dutch it is called rembours, the items is shipped but instead of paying the shipping company you pay the postal clerk, the only extra is the checking of the goods. Shouldn't be too hard to add. And it might make up for the fact that less and less mail is send.
Maybe I should send them this idea, might put ebay out of business overnight. A trusted company with its own cops and deleviry used to dealing around the world. Mmmm, how exactly do you apply for a patent?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
He was saying he would shoot him if he came around, no diffrent then a sign that says "trespassers will be shot."
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Interesting. My paypal account is still active. And all I have is my credit card number.
Secession is the right of all sentient beings.
People with southern Italian names or domains, Russian, or Nigerian might have "friends" that will "visit" you if you cause too much ruckus.
Not to be taken lightly.
1.you need REAL ID and info to have property, don't you? granted, he could be renting, however, his landlord should have his REAL information .. or at least you can hope so .. in any case, he needs access to the mailbox.. if he does contracting..
2. all of those property dectriptions are the same and all have the same 'improvement' maybe another scam of his? or maybe he's a contractor in masonry?
3. if I remember correctly, radar detectors are illegal in PA.. his lexus profile says he has one
and if I type in italics, do you think he could accuse me of identity theft?
This guy's old blogspot mentions problems he had with this Sal Wise guy on December 28th, 2003. http://jcomeau.blogspot.com/
The email threads he has posted on his site are from June/July of this year (2004).
You fucked an innocent third party through a legal loophole. You paid them $350 for the service of giving almost $350 to some other guy. They performed the service.
Then, because this other guy didn't do something for you, you went and robbed PayPal. The other guy got his money. You got your money back. Everyone's happy but PayPal, and everyone else who uses PayPal, and has to pay the higher fees to cover stupid shit like this.
I was online browsing around and almost fell off the end of the Internet, really!
How To Buy Big-Ticket Items on EBay
Use the postal service!!! Don't send a check via FedEx, UPS, or any other method. If you get scammed, these people will not help you.
Local police, and even the FBI, will often ignore "petty" scams less than $3,000 or $5,000. I don't know about you, but five grand is a lot of money to me.
Go buy a USPS Money Order, and send it Express or Priority Mail, signature required. Note exactly what goods the Money Order is for. If you get scammed, contact the Postal Inspection service. These people do nothing except investigate mail fraud.
The minute a con-artist signs for his package, or cashes the Money Order, he is on the hook for a federal felony. Unlike the FBI or your Local PD, the USPS doesn't regard mail fraud as a "minor crime".
They will go to bat for you.
Also, Lance Armstrong kicks ass. Just one more reason.
One thing you might consider is calling the authorities, and filing a fraud report. The Philadelphia FBI office may be interested in this guy. IANAL, but I believe that interstate fraud is their juridiction.
One thing am though, is the son of a Postmaster. Postmasters are the people who are in charge of your local post-office. My father has worked with federal postal inspectors before, dealing with cases of mail theft, mail fraud, etc. These are people who take their jobs very seriously, and you might give them a ring and see if this guy's activites falls into their sphere of influence. Mail system related crimes don't cary light sentinces.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
The guy who posted this article, John Comeau, took "legal action" against Sal Wise sometime last year. You would think that he might mention that fact in his article, eh? It looks to me like he's out for more revenge. The following is taken from Comeau's blog (http://jcomeau.blogspot.com/)
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
The list of individuals and companies that have screwed me over, in one way or another, over the past 12 months is growing and growing. TGI Fridays, UPS, PayPal, Wachovia, Salvatore Wise Jr. of Philadelphia (or someone pretending to be him), and others I can't think of at the moment. Every entity that gets money from me without reciprocating in the form of goods and services loses. Either they lose by having me take my business to their competitors (TGI Friday's mistake has cost them at least $3000 since March) or they lose by having me initiate legal action against them (Sal Wise now has a record with the FBI and the US Postal Inspection Service). I am merciless to people who take my money, but so far I stay within the law. God help everyone if I decide to move beyond that limitation.
My favorite in the code is the following:
To be thrown into the river in a sack with a rooster and a dog, and to be torn apart by their struggles as you all drown.
I don't even remember what it was punishment for...I mean, they didn't even HAVE spammers or IP Lawyers back then.
The best one from the middle ages is to be stuffed into a barrel studded with nails, then kicked down a hill. Though a close second would have to be any of a number of things they used to make you do with your own intestines. Yuck.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
Always check both the feedback score and the positive feedback percentage. I look for 99% positive feedback, with a score of more than 100. If you're doing business with someone who has a score of 15 or 20, and you send that person a money order for $1,100, then you are begging to be ripped off.
I buy a lot of stuff on eBay. Only been scammed once, out of $75. But reading this dude's e-mail exchange kinda struck me as a little odd... and I think I figured out what it is.
The buyer overnighted (and paid for morning delivery of) a cashier's check to the guy so that the seller could get the laptop in the mail that day to him.
I don't think I've ever paid extra to speed up an ebay transaction. By that, I mean that I've never sent checks in anything more elaborate than a normal USPS envelope and I've never paid for any kind of shipping for the item other than the basic shipping.
The upshot of this is that it keeps me from getting too anxious about getting the deal going... something that might have saved this guy.
In cases where I gotta have the thing *soon*, I just go to the local computer retailer (BestBuy, Fry's, etc.) or buy.com and pay the extra premium to have it "now". The dude in this article ended up essentially paying a $1,000 premium to have his laptop quickly. Oh yeah, but he didn't get his laptop.
MOD PARENT UP!
This is why you don't buy big ticket items over the net with anything BUT a credit card. Credit cards are colossally tilted towards the purchaser. I've been involved in businesses fighting scams the OTHER way around (false buyers who claim they didn't order/receive/etc the merchandise). In a card-not-present transaction, all you have to do is say, "Mr. Credit Card Company, I didn't get what I bought. Please do a chargeback." and you will have your money back. The onus is on the seller to prove EVERYTHING and most cc companies will even refund any interest you paid.
I'd insist on a buyer who can ship within 10 days. You want a tracking number within 48 hours of your card being charged, or it's chargeback time. Then you want to inspect the goods when they arrive to make sure there's actually a LAPTOP in all that styrofoam... or it's chargeback time.
PayPal isn't BAD, but if you end up with someone who is connected via bank account and closes the account and empties the paypal account after taking your money, PayPal will not refund it. That's not the case with the credit card company - if they can't recover the funds, they will eat it.
and the guy who skammed justin is an ape nosed nigger, not me.
CmdrTaco, you're an asshole. Do you think that Justin Spence (or any other eBay fraud victim) thinks that "this is funny stuff"?
Anyone that purchases something for 1000. on ebay when the seller has only 2 or 3 feedback deserves to be ripped off. I rarely buy anything worth more then a few hundred dollars on ebay unless they have a few hundred positive feedbacks!
Stop trying to get people to link to your for sale site.
Cripes, you keep that up, and you'll find out that my pimp-hand is strong.
Steven Levi is an ebay seller of camera. Check out his profile DUTYPAID (i think), perhaps Duty_paid. He has well more than 700 negatives for his 14,000 positives (most of whice came from CDR's with music before it was illegal), but ebay keeps deleting the # of negatives to keep him above 97% positive. (they make a killing off his auctions and such!)
He has had articles written on him in the past for being a super ebay seller, but he method for being a scammer is simple.
He sells x# of high $$$ cameras on many different auctions. He takes the $$$ and purchases a ton of less $$$ cameras from a distribution center. Those get sent out in roughly 30 to 45 days. Then he gets pissy and will refund the high $$$ camera winners their money back. He's been getting away with it for nearly a year now... ebay doesn't want to do crap about it.
You can look up his home phone number with Yahoo if you need to talk to him in person, but he's a whiney WHINEY little guy who lives high on the hog off ebay buyers.
I know the first time I called him at home he almost sounded like he was crying from being freaked out that someone knew WHO he was. 1.5 months after buying a $500 camera... I had it in my hands. SOB is going to piss off a psyco one of these days and he's going to be sorry. I'm just glad I kept my cool long enough not to go apeshit and loose not only the camera and/or cash, but also my freedoms. This scammer (of sorts) almost made me go insane before I got him to find and send me a camera like I'd won.
BTW, he uses the old (IT WAS STOLEN) excuse on... damn near everyone who doesn't get their cameras.
Fsckd up huh? But to be expected none the less.
Did it ever occur to you that the guy might simply have lifted the dead guy's name or ebay account? If so, smooth move in harassing a grieving widow over some unverified (and currently inaccessible) website.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
I'm the first to recommend using the latest technology in anything, but after calling directory assistance, it seems that their current listing for Salvatore Wise is at 1103 Daly Street, but the number is unlisted. This is the original address used in the E-bay profile of the scammer that was changed early on in the course of the scam. That is the only listing they have for Salvatore Wise and no S Wises live on W. Passyunk, the address the scammer had Justin Spence send the money to.
Has anyone else noticed how hard it can be to read the neutral/negative feedback of a seller? They purposely make it this way. The feedbacks used to say Complaint: or Neutral: in front of each feedback, so you could for example view the maximum feedback per page and search the page for Complaints.
Now, you get a stupid icon, and scrolling down the screen with a lot of feedback, good luck spotting the grey Neutral against the green positive, and it's not easy to spot the complaints, either. It certainly was much easier before. There's no reason they couldn't have Complaint: and then the stupid icon. I've bitched about it to them, and got a non-response. I hope others complain as well.
I hope competitors clean ebay's clock, because they don't orient their business for the convenience or protection of buyers. In fact, there should be a way to click and view only complaints. They're afraid this will scare off a few sales, but look how many damn frauds it would prevent!!!
Posted by yintercept - "...science...[is] the study of the 'divine creation.' "
"Lets see how you sleep at night not knowing when someones coming for you.You got kids at home too dont you?Dame shame for that.Im not playing games or lieing to you so you better get in touch with me so you can get your info strait."
Thats from the e-mails. Dunno about you, but if someone threatened my kids-I'd be making a plane flight.
Was I the only person who was completely shocked to see Sal spell "doubt" correctly?
;)
Wonders will never cease
If you don't want to get swindled, don't buy from Ebay. Online auction sites are full of dishonest people.
I really enjoyed reading that, it's like a reality internet detective story.
hope you catch him.
Who does eBay serve better? Sellers. A curious coincidence, that.
Slashdot Story: Shell Accounts
Coincidence or Scam? My vote is SCAM
Request for donations to Michelle
I was about to ask what your sig might be from, but then I saw your name. Too pretty to die, BrownCoat.
Date Line: July 22, 2004. Today, slashdot.org served Justin Spence with a take down notice for his website exposing the alleged scammer Salvatore Wise, Jr... The take down notice was served by the superior court of /. Justin's web server was heard by witnesses choking and thowing up all over the place after being served. Details at 11:00.
http://www.ibnads.com/sal/salwise.html
Now, while I will admit I'm not an expert on this, I think there is some really weird stuff going on here. Especially re: the signatures on the different cheques.
(Michelle Heinlein) The signature on the back of the money order does match the signature on the back of the cheque for the bank. This is pretty obvious from the M, i, c, and h of the Michelle. It only looks like her natural signature is a bit more speedy once she reaches the elle of her name. To be honest, I think the last signature is probably a signature she uses commonly and she spent an inordinate amount of time on the money order signature for some odd reason. Specifically, perhaps to obsfucate her signature. I have read that it is common to spend extra effort to obfuscate a signature. (So you can claim that it is obviously not yours.) The problem is, the way she writes her M is exactly the same (if you take photoshop, you can place them on eachother. Same with the loop on the i, and the serif at the top of the c. Even the way the H is looped on the last name matches. She does a high-tight outside loop on the H naturally in her signature. Obviously she was doing something silly when she signed the money order, and is probably why the money order wasn't deposited at her bank since it was not her real signature. I'm betting that the account at the First Penn bank is her/their real account.
(Sal Wise) Now, Sal Wise possibly obfuscated his signature on his personal cheque that he signed, or someone other than him signed the personal cheque. Now, obviously the FedEx and the Cashier's Cheque are the same cheque, but I've stared for a long time at the Sal Wise on the Personal Cheque, and the Sal Wise on the Fed Ex, and they really don't match at all. He has longer endings on letters, and longer openings on letters on the personal cheque than he does on the cashier's cheque. Almost everything does not match. If he signed with his left hand, that would explain the strangeness, the childlike signature, and the fact that signature is pretty upright.
I think seeing more signatures from these people would be very interesting. It seems that there is obviously at least 2 people involved.
Just some random stuff I noticed,
*Some Anonymous Geek*
Without wanting to detract from your possibly quite valid point, I must say that the above phrase joins the ranks of ads like "Never be unhappy again - use thalidomide", "never lose money again - invest in Enron", et al.
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
Somewhere in Nigeria
"Ha, Ha. Look, more money from those stupid Americans. I can't believe anyone would send a stranger money."
"Hey Aba, open the envelope and see how much we got this time."
"Son of a bitch!!! It's Monopoly money. Damn. Wait a second, what is this white powder?"
"Is it sugar?"
"I don't know, I'll taste it to see."
I think if this plan were implemented, scams from Nigeria would decline drastically.
Are you a pitcher or a catcher? Just itching to commit a felony and get pinched, are you?
--
Consciously avoiding sex with anyone but myself
"(TGI Friday's mistake has cost them at least $3000 since March)"
Jesus Christ. Who the hell eats out that much, and from TGIF no less.
First, I only read 80% of the correspondence, so perhaps I'm missing something.
:(.
But I'm wondering why this Justin let this thing go on for so long? Was he just bored, and thought it would be hilarious? I'd want my cash back right away...
That, and it's just creepy to correspond with a criminal for that amount of time. The guy could show up one day and stab you in the cheek
This little prick ripped off a very close friend of mine and then either the idiot or his stupid girlfriend actually said I was harrassing them.
Then they left negative feedback - ah, but this little punk ass bitch forgot you can leave a URL as eBay feedback. Heh. own3d.
here is the story
Apologies for replying in the article, wasn't sure how else to contact you.
;)
Is this free iPod thing for real? Unfortunately I'm not in the states so cant progress through the second stage of the site. Although I'd be interested in some more details, please shoot me an email
Glenn
The Smrt way to trade CFDs on the ASX
This is the most pathetic thing I've seen on /. in ages. A bunch of friggin nerds posting this guy's name and contact info, even arial photos of his house! LOL As if that's gonna hurt this con man in any way, or help his victim recover his money.
Just accept the fact that this Sal guy is a crook, like most of the Italian greaseballs in the Philly area, and move on with your lives.
their passwords, SS#, DOB, and bank account numbers to verify who they are.
10 MD
well, it's a toss up between the parent post and me. But I suspect the parent will get a Dem convention bump.
LOL!!!
I would never trust anyone who writes HTML email, especially in all italics.
Luckily, I assumed from the beginning that I was either being had, or the powerbooks had "fallen off of a truck". When I asked the question of how this person came to possess 5 unused 15" pbooks, they got all defensive and really started pushing me to buy. However, if I were Justin, I would have dropped the whole thing as soon as 'Sal' wrote, "i bought 3 of these along with 2 12inch and 1 17inch from a firm that upgraded to windows based laptops"...
Upgraded?
Has this person ever seen a powerbook?
Us Mac owners aren't zealots for nothin', man!
"You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake."...Tyler Durden
Certainly not Jesus Christ. He only ate bread and drank wine, right? :)
I'll send you a laptop tommorrow for your credit card number! Honest!
All you guys need to look at something.I am sal wise but not the one who sold anything on ebay.I got plenty of documents to back up it wasnt me but my father but everywere i look i am seeing my name being jr but it is wrong.Yous are all playing follow the leader and saying guilty before reading facts.I tried to help out with this when i was out of the hospital but justin just toke it as it was me and that was that.I even went as far as asked him to call my hospital so he can see it was impossible for it to be me but he didnt do that right either. Now enough is enough and i dont have a problem with any of you's but at least accuse the right person.I mean if my father acually comes thru with them auctions then all this is over anyway but all the info on justins web page that is now down like i said it would be is mostly of my father.The civil dockets,The emails etc.. etc.. All i want is my wifes name off the web pages being hosted by other people now.Of course if they fail to do so then i guess they will have to get shut down also.I usally dont threaten anyone and for all that want proof it really wasnt me and was indeed my father call the hospital that justin should of provided and ask how long i been in and out of it.That should be enough proof to show you people it was sr not jr and not my wife. Now why would a scammer come on here and even type to you people?Because i did nothing wrong and im tired of seeing people putting my name out there like it was me and like im a crook.Anyone in philly who wants to see me come on down to 19th and passyunk ave right on the corner i have a scooter shop im in partners with and yes its a bunch of mostly old time mafia but so what we do nothing wrong and have a legit buisness and i dont hide from no one. Put yourself in my shoes.Im in the hospital not knowing whats going on and get out and find all this crap floating around and then find out it was my father.I want to hang him more then anyone. Acually he should be fixing this mess but he dont know i know whats going on yet but i have to tell him soon because this is getting out of hand and he must fix this and i dont care what the hell he does after that but im done with him. So people whoever wants real facts i will prove it and end it at that.
I have a simple strategy on eBay:
If someone has an obvious problem with the key, I don't bid.
After scrolling though those e-mails...damn. Take a typing class.
I second that! My nephew bought a bunch of used CD's at Amazon. The sellers sent him something else. He reported it to Amazon. Amazon fixed it and the sellers sent the right stuff. And i'm pretty sure Amazon would have given back his money if he lost it with him and Amazon knowing he paid by CC so is disputable with his CC company. You can NEVER do that with ebay. ebay looks the other way "we're just a venue."
And i don't see how buying at ebay is safer than buying at a flea market. At a flea market, you SEE and CAN TOUCH for youself the item. You can't do that on ebay where you have to rely on the honesty of the seller. I've seen 100% positive sellers with lots of feedback DELIBERATELY LIE on ebay, lying even when you email them questions. So that once you pay for the item, it's too late and you've lost your money!! Many sellers on ebay don't use CC's or paypal or escrow.com. So who the hell's gonna protect the buyer if ebay doesn't????
for anybody wanting to see the gruesome insides of ebay.
* weedshare.com 50% to artists, webjay.org iuma.com CDBaby.com Epitonic.com ampcast.com
Hate to say this, but it happens all the time. I was duped, (along with 80-100 other people), out of a total of around $90,000. Being so frustrated with eBay's attitude, I started up a maillist to unite everyone to catch the guy. We even hired a PI to check things out.
In the end we did catch him... and the results speak for themselves.
Apparently he's part of a gang of 5 guys who are involved in all sorts of crime. Needless to say he's where he belongs for some time to come.
-- main(s){printf(s="main(s){printf(s=%c%s%c,34,s,34
I like that Justin guy. He's very persistence and know to play with Sal's head. LOL Sal you deserved this...the tide has turned. Justin put a paypal link below your page and I'll pay $1.00 for that story. You deserved that dollar. Peace out, your fellow ebayer.
Precisely because of this scamming, phishing and high cost of shipping goods, a friend of mine has launched http://www.traderat.com/.
You can buy and sell within your community, your apartment block or your city or county.
...like anyone usng a screen reader program for the blind or visually impaired, perhaps?
Your graphics files equate to *NOTHING* coming out of the speaker except for the file name. Fat f'n lot o' good THAT does us.
Oh, you mean like anyone using a screen reader program for the Blind or Visually Impaired?
PDF's and any other purely graphic file, have nothing in them for the SR's to vocalize, thus they're worthless for anyone who can't interact with your purely visual medium.
And while Adobe CLAIMS they're newest versions are compatible with SOME SR's, *they lie*.
I own the latest copy of JAWS, which is THE standard that the others are based upon, and it throws up every time you try to read a PDF.
So thanks for insulting millions of people in the US, and billions of people World-wide...
*Asshole*
I've got insomnia, so I read the email thread. So, the same buyer had been scammed out of $800 earlier on eBay. Then he saw this auction with a price, almost too-good-to-be-true, with an incorrect contact name, the wrong address, and payment demanded by cashier's check only. And he sent the money? So much for the once-burned, twice-shy theory.
Then, he goes on to antagonize him the email, responds to Sal's threats with threats of his own, and so on. C'mon! File the complaint, renew with vigor once he commits mail fraud, and that's it. The website is a nice public service, but what use did it do to let Sal know of it's existence? These actions are silly, unproductive and sorta dumb.
Finally, what's with all the depp threats about negative feedback-- why be so afriad of it, let yourself refrain from leaving rightly deserved feedback early on. That might have helped people sooner. And if I was Sal, I would view threats to leave negative feedback as helpful, as it meant that I had more time to run my scam, move money around etc. I'm sure Sal is more than happy to have $1100 & the negative feedback than he would be to have neither.
Sal is clearly the bad guy in this, and Justin clearly is the good guy. But Justin and others should pay more heed to warrning signs of fraud, avoid antogonizing obvious criminals, and trust their gut when it's yelling "no."
Now if only they could fix the problem with a certain local PO in a city I used to live in. I swear they could mis-deliver/lose more mail in a year than I ever had anywhere else in my life to date.
Let me guess - CHICAGO.
I once lived Chicago - at the time the city with the worst mail delivery rate in the country. I also had the misfortune to live in the zip code (60604) with the worst mail delivery in the city itself. I had to tell people not to mail me anything they really needed me to receive. I bet 1/3 of my mail was never delivered. I once mailed a post card from a letter box and it took two months to get five blocks, but I suppose I should be happy it was delivered at all since that lousy PO was in charge of both pick-up AND delivery.
It's like the old joke - the postal rate increase was to cover the cost of storage, but in Chicago it was to cover the cost of landfill fees.
You were the one who brought up prison anal rape, not the grandparent poster. Perhaps you are the one with prison anal rape fantasies?
"Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them." -- David Brent
The guy is clearly engaging in fraud, both in state and across state lines. Where are the feds and local cops? Very bizarre situation.
and stfu
I am unsure on how it may work in the USA, but in the UK, you have your primary income, any secondary income must also be stated in your tax returns. Either way if this is a method he is using to gain repeated sums of money surely he should have declared the thousands he has earned to the tax office ? yours s.m.
Actually, that should be:
DAAA-DA-DUM-DUM! (If you were meaning it like the first part of the old Dragnet TV show "catch tune." Add in DAAA-DA-DUM-DUM-DUMMMMM to complete the musical phrase.
Would Every Sperm Is Sacred from Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life" tie in to that thought?
Sal wiase is on TV now. Slashdot works!!!!!
I was just shooting for a dramatic musical sting. Your suggestion of using the Dragnet theme is an excellent one, however.
Since we are being picky about the proper nuiances of humming old musical phrases, I feel obligated to point out that "DAAA-DA-DUM-DUM-DUMMMMM!" only has 2 As, but 5 Ms.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
I think his wife's notification to the Lexus Owner's Club may have been more prophetic than pathetic.
Fgenatr, EBG-13 zhfg or n tencuvp svyr nf jryy.
g dG VjaG5vbG9neS4NCg==
I can't seem to search the above in notepad, it must be a graphic file.
QmFzZSA2NCwgdGhlIGxhdGVzdCBpbiBncmFwaGljIGZpbGU
Whoops, that must be a graphic file too.
You, sir, are a complete fucking moron.
Cheers,
GRAMMERSoft
That said, I think it's time I changed my
ROT-13 and Base64 actually.
ROT-13 could be called encryption, Base64 isn't.
Yes, both are worthless to a screen reader. That's a fault of the screen reader. A good reader will interface with what is sent to the screen, not what's on the disk.
Remember, all text formats are not ASCII based. To think that anything not based on your narrow definition of 'text' is 'executable, encrypted, corrupt, or [a] graphics file data block' is naive.
Here some text in EBCDIC:
ã@@-£@...(TM)--£...@-(TM)@ 3;K
I think it's time to stop having your childish little tantrum now.
You know, the people who imprison people with the DMCA? Ever read the EULA that goes along with Acrobat? Not too good. If he would post a PostScript version that would be cool.
*Some* PDFs have a text stream in them that some applications know how to read. This allows cut-and-paste and other manipulation. I can't speak to sofware for the visually impared but there are pdftotext programs. Now that doesn't mean it works with all PDFs. In fact many which are entirely text still don't have this text data.