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.

Comments

low ticket items

[bludstone]

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 :)

Re:Credit Cards

[kemapa]

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.

Yes, several credit card companies offer plans that "prevent" online fraud (and many other types of fraud) by refunding your money in the event that you are a victim of fraud. In this case, however, this would not have been possible because the seller mentioned in this slashdot article would not accept credit card payments / paypal. Furthermore, all the credit cards with fraud protection that I have seen have a limit to how much they will cover in a year's time or how much you can claim at once. Your fraud protection might have a $1000 a year limit and a maximum of $300 per fraud. Meaning, with expensive items you don't get great protection anyway.

What I really wish for is an offline protection plan that can crack skulls in case of an online purchase fraud.

Re:Big Nasty Guys With Guns

[avandesande]

Almost any crime associated with USPS is a federal crime...