eBay fraud detective

Interesting article in WSJ about ebay fraud and a detective, George Fawrup, in LA that chases them down. Kind of a good guy with great intentions, but the article doesn't have a happy ending.

Not sure I agree with this sentiment:

"This is no different than the offline world -- the bad guys come up with more creative ways of doing things," says Rob Chestnut, vice president of rules, trust and safety at eBay headquarters...

But this is kind of funny:

"This is no different than the offline world -- the bad guys come up with more creative ways of doing things," says Rob Chestnut, vice president of rules, trust and safety at eBay headquarters in San Jose.

Note to people that steal stuff and sell it on ebay - don't offer customer pick up, or use one of the many ebay drop off centers.

Scot

Comments

[Steven McManis]

Hello! I was recently scammed for a horse trialer I had found online by a man named George Florian Nedelcu who was in Romania on "business." Come to find out, he had stolen a sellers information (who was in good standing) posted this trailer, and I'm the sucker who wired the money "western union" because I didn't know that it was unsafe. He sent me an "ebay" invoice with a "refund/prevention loss" statement, which ebay said was fake. How was I to know? When I became suspesious I attempted to stop the payment, but was told by Western Union that I was 25 minutes too late. They gave the city he picked it up in and everything, but no action was taken. The FBI said that this is so common that they do not even follow up on them usually. If this is so common, then why aren't there more preventitive measure by ebay and other to stop this. These people are making bundles off of us and no one cares. I would be interested in knowing about any action that is being taken place to help get this problem solved and our money back. We are the only ones that are losing. Ebay washes there hands of any responsibilty and the thief gets away easy.

[Nate]

Hey ChrisB, same deal for me, been suspended twice whilst others still sell the same thing....and ebay sends me a canned message saying the ban will stick, after 6 days of waiting for the email!

[ChrisB]

Now its time for a seller's rant. I am a WW2 collector and have been collecting for 7 years now. Over the past 6, I've been using eBay and have always been generally happy. Now, I am trying to sell some of my collection and having the hardest time. Some of my auctions are getting shut down. After the 3rd removal today, I got a suspicion warning. I've been with eBay for 6 years and I don't want to lose my account. The funniest part of this is: WHAT I AM SELLING CAN BE FOUND ALL OVER EBAY!!! I use strong discrection when choosing my words, pictures, etc., etc. I am careful not to offend the 1 A-hole who can submit a complaint and get my auctions cancelled. Yet people who bluntly step all over eBay's policies breeze right on through their auctions. I'm at my end. Anyone have any idea's as what to do... or another BIG website to sell on is? Thanks!

[pjkoko2005]

BEWARE OF SECOND CHANCE OFFERS and NEVER PAY CASH BY WESTERN UNION.Beware of miriva051@yahoo.com or George Dan Stein, he has my son's $1000. and my son has nothing. DOWN ON EBAY! How does someone get answers from ebay that aren't just form emails from them about protecting myself from fradulent accounts? How did someone get our email address to send these phoney emails??? when we did not win the bid nor communicate with the seller??? Are they phoney or is the ebay seller involved in these Second Chance Offers scams that receive the money and don't send the item?

[twah1]

I recently have had two bad experiences with Ebay after using them for several years. The first instance involved the purchase of a 60GB IPOD. I was the winning bidder and sent a wire transfer per the request of the seller. I have never had a poor experience with any seller. I sent a wire transfer to the seller in China and then the next day Ebay sent me a notice saying that the person had somehow obtained another Ebayer's identity and was a fraud. Thank you very much for your timely information.

I reported it to Ebay and to date have received only form emails from them about protecting myself from fradulent accounts.

There is no protection if Ebay does not offer some. They said there is no protection for cash, wire transfer, checks. Well if this is the case why don't they simply not allow sellers to use these payment method? It would be a great revenue enhancer to Ebay to force everyone to use Paypal which Ebay owns.

The second instance just occurred to day. I received a notice that the item listed was not permitted by ebay to be sold. Again, thank you for your timely notice. I have already paid for the item. I cannot contact the seller since Ebay removed their account. This time I paid by Paypal so we will see if they refund my money.

I am greatly disappointed in Ebay and like everyone else says I find no protection with them from fraudulent operators.

[Mimi]

I do not agree with the post of finding a store and building a relationship. As I won an auction that is considered intangible as it was an auction for logo and website services. This person I had previously done business with on two occasions and they gave no indication that they would run off with my money on the last third go'round. I paid with Paypal, but sense this was an intangible, Paypal choose not to refund me, although it took them 2 MONTHS to tell me this. This person's account has been closed and the made their score private, right before, so you can't see the sellers that complained and what for. Something, definitely needs to be done about people that can sell intangible items and keep the money without fear of being punished. They have a website, so beware. It's http://DailySend.com and that is their eBay name, as well.

[Craig]

Auction Figure just got even better! Introducing gumshoo.com. Gumshoo not only filters out junk, it analyzes eBay listings for potential fraud and reports the result back to you in four alert categories.

Try it now! Search for Ipod Nano

[#paul]

#!hey guys
here is my strategy to avoid being a victim of sellers.i simply choose one or three stores on ebay depending on what they sell. build a good relationship with them and just order from them if they have what I want. i was able to do that with this store PJelectronic ; http://stores.ebay.com/pjelectronic
they are new and reliable i receive my items as describe and in short period of time. they even tell me when new product are available. THE BEST of All they are Cheeaaap!!!!!!

[paul]

hey guys
here is my strategy to avoid being a victim of sellers.i simply choose one or three stores on ebay depending on what they sell. build a good relationship with them and just order from them if they have what I want. i was able to do that with this store PJelectronic ; http://stores.ebay.com/pjelectronic
they are new and reliable i receive my items as describe and in short period of time. they even tell me when new product are available. THE BEST of All they are Cheeaaap!!!!!!

[tam]

yep.ive been hit with the same notice for trying to resell a top i bought on ebay a week before,that was too small.i had the listing removed then suspended.i emailed them and they eventually replied that they were in the right even though they did not actually look at infringing items themselves.basically their policy is even if the item is bought on ebay as genuine i cant relist it in case it is not.even though i only had £2.20 left in my paypal sending limit they managed to take £9.73 out of my paypal credit for fees.seems on ebay some laws are meant to be broken.also they do seem to be wanting a lot of personal imformation in the reinstatement form,why do they need a telephone number?ect.

[R. Edgerton]

I've only used ebay a few times several years ago. Today I received the following HATE MAIL FROM EBAY or a forger. I attemped to contact ebay to find out where they get the unmigated gaul, brass or lack of civil decency to send me the attached hit-and-run attack which cast dispertions on my integrity, but...I can't contact them...must be a member (catch 22). Is this SOP for ebay when you are not a heavy user??? Finally, I have no intention of clicking on the website referenced (which may give a forger access to my computer) since it's hard to beleive ebay would stoop to resort to this kind of leverage. Message follows: We regret to inform you that your eBay account has been suspended due to
the violation of our site policy below:
False or missing contact information - Falsifying or omitting your name,
address, and/or telephone number (including use of fax machines pager numbers,
modems or disconnected numbers).

Due to the suspension of this account, please be advised you are prohibited
from using eBay in any way.

Please note that any seller fees due to eBay will immediately become due and
payable. eBay will charge any amounts you have not previously disputed to the
billing method currently on file.

If you would like your account to be considered for reinstatement, please click
on the link below, and provide us additional information.

http://signin.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?SignIn&ssPageName=h:h:sin:US

Thank you for using eBay!
http://www.ebay.com/

Copyright © 1995-2005 eBay Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective
owners.

eBay and the eBay logo are trademarks of eBay Inc.
WHEN DID I EVER FALSIFY INFORMATION OR CONDUCT MYSELF WITH EVEN THE APPEARANCE OF IMPROPRIETY??? I"M DUE AN APOLOGY!!! which I shall probably never see.

[Mark Vut]

This story is about JOHN STIRLING an illegal tax
fraudster and EBAY USER called
COLLECTABLE.MERCHANDISE, ULTIMATE.MERCHANDISE and
ULTIMATE.COLLECTABLES.
Its all true, any authority such as ATO, Boroondara
Council or the Film Video Security office, will vouch
for this. This is the truth about JOHN STIRLING the
manager of
the website www.sarahjane.com.au that provides
publicity for Sarah Jane, the Year 2000 "Chiko Roll
Girl" and the man sells to people using EBAY seller
name as stunning.blonde., WOOPS! sorry another name
change he is now collectable.merchandise, he was
ultimate.collectables. A trustworthy guy you see. Was
running from the Australian TAX DEPT we have reported
this to them.
HIS REAL NAME is Enzo Folchini,
although he commonly calls himself "John Stirling" of
Stirling Entertainment, the "Official Agent for Sarah
Jane".

Folchini has been
accused and investigated on
fraud and deception allegations.
He has been involved in a long running dispute
with property owners at a block of flats in Kew
Melbourne Australia over
the way he ran of his business of selling DVD material
and other merchandise from the flats
- items sold over internet site eBay. He was also
selling illegally copied videos the
same way.
Channel 10 and Southern Cross
Broadcasting were notified of sales of tapes
using their name to sell product apparently without
their
permission. He has misused Warner Brothers name in the
same way. For proof of who he is
http://www.asic.gov.au and see Folchini listed as
company stunning blonde! And the ebay seller
stunning.blonde, was him as the business of STUNNING
BLONDE is legally registered to JOHN
STIRLING/FOLCHINI. It is registered with ASIC under
HIS NAME. The Australian Film and Video Security
Office have investigated him in 2001 for a similar
breach. He is still under their scrutiny. Folchini is
manager of the Sarah Jane website
http://www.sarahjane.com.au and ran it from the
apartment
at 83 Wills St Kew Victoria, from where he has since
been evicted from.
He was also in possession of up to 15 unregistered
NISSAN BLUEBIRD
vehicles which were frequently driven, renovated and
parked at
the apartments.

The Boroondara Council in Kew were investigating his
business activity and illegal (on the street) car
restoration business which includes two companies,
Stirling Entertainment and Stunning Blonde, (also run
under different assumed names).
Folchini was responsible for linking
Sarah Janes soft-porn website with the Salvation
Army's website without permission, later they
requested removal of the link.

In 2002 as a reaction to complaints by owners
about his activities, he stole residents mail, went
through their rubbish and gained enough personal
information about a resident to change their name with
the Victorian Electoral Office to an obscene surname
"Kunt".

In December 2002 these
actions led to Mr Folchini being served by Heidelberg
Magistrates Court Melbourne Australia with a 12
month Intervention Order for his stalking activities
and threats to property owners.
The recent Court summons he was issued with relates to
a case
where complimentary (that is free) packaging
items from a courier company were left blocking access
to other property owners, which Folchini then
accused a resident of removing from the common
property stairwell at the rented flats he lived at,
and then used a professional collection agent Freeman
Marshall (now bankrupt) to forcefully and
fraudulently recover almost $500 from a resident using
his company name of
Stirling Entertainment. THE MONEY IS STILL
OUTSTANDING!

FOLCHINI is GUILTY of
Fraud and Financial Gain by Deception. His defence of
this action was lodged at the Magistrates Court using
his Kew address even though he had already been moved
out of the address for over 2 weeks.

The point of this communication to you is to show that
what really sickening is that he promotes Sarah Jane
as a charity figure who helps those in need. And he
involves legitimate charities such as The
Salvation Army purely so he can get publicity for his
own gains.
However those who own property who are affected by
this man's actions are threatened and victimised when
they complain about him. Despite the positive self
generated publicity from Sarah Jane, the
management behind this person are nothing short of
contemptable criminals, and, judging by the press and
television media's reaction to this information now
that is being released to the public, being associated
with Sarah Janes corrupt publicity machine may not
prove to be to anyone's advantage.

[Mark Vut]

This story is about JOHN STIRLING an illegal tax
fraudster and EBAY USER called
COLLECTABLE.MERCHANDISE, ULTIMATE.MERCHANDISE and
ULTIMATE.COLLECTABLES.
Its all true, any authority such as ATO, Boroondara
Council or the Film Video Security office, will vouch
for this. This is the truth about JOHN STIRLING the
manager of
the website www.sarahjane.com.au that provides
publicity for Sarah Jane, the Year 2000 "Chiko Roll
Girl" and the man sells to people using EBAY seller
name as stunning.blonde., WOOPS! sorry another name
change he is now collectable.merchandise, he was
ultimate.collectables. A trustworthy guy you see. Was
running from the Australian TAX DEPT we have reported
this to them.
HIS REAL NAME is Enzo Folchini,
although he commonly calls himself "John Stirling" of
Stirling Entertainment, the "Official Agent for Sarah
Jane".

Folchini has been
accused and investigated on
fraud and deception allegations.
He has been involved in a long running dispute
with property owners at a block of flats in Kew
Melbourne Australia over
the way he ran of his business of selling DVD material
and other merchandise from the flats
- items sold over internet site eBay. He was also
selling illegally copied videos the
same way.
Channel 10 and Southern Cross
Broadcasting were notified of sales of tapes
using their name to sell product apparently without
their
permission. He has misused Warner Brothers name in the
same way. For proof of who he is
http://www.asic.gov.au and see Folchini listed as
company stunning blonde! And the ebay seller
stunning.blonde, was him as the business of STUNNING
BLONDE is legally registered to JOHN
STIRLING/FOLCHINI. It is registered with ASIC under
HIS NAME. The Australian Film and Video Security
Office have investigated him in 2001 for a similar
breach. He is still under their scrutiny. Folchini is
manager of the Sarah Jane website
http://www.sarahjane.com.au and ran it from the
apartment
at 83 Wills St Kew Victoria, from where he has since
been evicted from.
He was also in possession of up to 15 unregistered
NISSAN BLUEBIRD
vehicles which were frequently driven, renovated and
parked at
the apartments.

The Boroondara Council in Kew were investigating his
business activity and illegal (on the street) car
restoration business which includes two companies,
Stirling Entertainment and Stunning Blonde, (also run
under different assumed names).
Folchini was responsible for linking
Sarah Janes soft-porn website with the Salvation
Army's website without permission, later they
requested removal of the link.

In 2002 as a reaction to complaints by owners
about his activities, he stole residents mail, went
through their rubbish and gained enough personal
information about a resident to change their name with
the Victorian Electoral Office to an obscene surname
"Kunt".

In December 2002 these
actions led to Mr Folchini being served by Heidelberg
Magistrates Court Melbourne Australia with a 12
month Intervention Order for his stalking activities
and threats to property owners.
The recent Court summons he was issued with relates to
a case
where complimentary (that is free) packaging
items from a courier company were left blocking access
to other property owners, which Folchini then
accused a resident of removing from the common
property stairwell at the rented flats he lived at,
and then used a professional collection agent Freeman
Marshall (now bankrupt) to forcefully and
fraudulently recover almost $500 from a resident using
his company name of
Stirling Entertainment. THE MONEY IS STILL
OUTSTANDING!

FOLCHINI is GUILTY of
Fraud and Financial Gain by Deception. His defence of
this action was lodged at the Magistrates Court using
his Kew address even though he had already been moved
out of the address for over 2 weeks.

The point of this communication to you is to show that
what really sickening is that he promotes Sarah Jane
as a charity figure who helps those in need. And he
involves legitimate charities such as The
Salvation Army purely so he can get publicity for his
own gains.
However those who own property who are affected by
this man's actions are threatened and victimised when
they complain about him. Despite the positive self
generated publicity from Sarah Jane, the
management behind this person are nothing short of
contemptable criminals, and, judging by the press and
television media's reaction to this information now
that is being released to the public, being associated
with Sarah Janes corrupt publicity machine may not
prove to be to anyone's advantage.

[David McDermott, II]

Dear David McDermott
I am David McDermott, II and you seem to be causing me problems on Ebay? Yes or No?

[Todd]

I got taken for over $1,500 on a 2nd Chance Auction through ebay. Ebay denies any responsibility and gave me the standard form letter url's for other sites to contact for help.
I believe that the gaping weakenesses in the design of the ebay operating system facilitates perpetrators to successfully commit fraud on ebays own users. For example your emails are forwarded outside ebay which they then view as not their responsibility. The formulation of the fraud itself is based on information gained directly from their site by complete strangers. These same strangers are then allowed to concoct, impersonate, formulate an offer etc and then to send you that offer directly from ebay.
I would be interested in joining a Class Action Lawsuit against ebay for facilitating perpetration of fraud and force them to fix their operating system.

[Marcy]

I too am involved in yet another Ebay mess. I bought my daughter a belt for the holidays--Power Seller's auction read "Brand New Authentic Gucci Belt". I wanted to send it to her at school so he wouldn't take PayPal - only a money order. The belt turned out to be all scratched up and when I asked if I could return it (@10% restocking fee + I pay shipping) he says sure. I returned the belt on 12/8/04 and I still haven't gotten my $ back. When I called there I was told the belt was there but Erik (owner) was on vacation. I rec'd 2 email promising my refund and then the next email said they didn't have the belt and never rec'd payment! I wrote back with money order info. and said they would never have sent me the belt in the first place had I not paid, right? I reported it to everyone knowing it doesn't really help. I'm too far away for small claims court but it is infuriating! He is one of the power sellers that doesn't leave feedback until after the buyer does so most people don't want to leave neg. feedback. I think this is one of the things that has to change - sellers must leave feedback first not after buyer. This is FashionExchange-if you're going to do business with him use PayPal.

[dave]

Hi my name is David McDermott
And we all need to set up a class action law suit against ebay.

I believe I was defrauded by one of ebays sellers. On November 26th at 13:50:36PST the bidding The bidding ended on December 1st at 13:50:36 PST. My winning bid was $2,225.00. On December 3rd, I sent the seller a wire transfer in that amount but I never received the merchandise and the seller did not answer by subsequent emails. The wire transfer was to ---- The bank was Bank of America, ----HIghway in Buford, GA. It said -----lives at--- -- Ct in ----, GA. I could not find a listing for her in the white pages. When I emailed ebay's live chat for help I was given a web address to find the seller's phone number. I was just emailed a phone number 561/230-8506 and address (WEst Plam Beach, FL) and when I called the phone number it said it was no longer in service. I have obviously been scammed. What can I do about it? Since then I have telephoned police in Georgia
and they got in contact with --------.
They told me that she had been set up be one of these
Fictitious companies were you work from home for money and get great pay.
He said it’s the Russian mafia and it’s a multi million dollar scam. If eBay knows that this is taken place.
And they refuse to do anything about it then they
Are just as responsible as the people who are steeling from
you. I’m at my wits end. It had taken me about a year
To save up the money to try and get a descent computer for my daughter can you Help
Thank you so much David McDermott.

[jean]

STOP this seller now. 123yipintang is selling jewelry that is copied from another ebay seller Shenoa and Co. in NYC.
Sample items
14K GOLD MULTI-CUT .81 CT VS DIAMOND WEDDING RING SET
$100.00 - 5h 49m
5.9ct cz Citrine Wedding / Engagement Ring SZ 5
$95.00 - 5h 57m

5.9ct CZ Amethyst Wedding Engagement Ring SZ 5
$90.00 - 6h 02m
.55 CT BAGUETTE DIAMOND F / VS-2 SETTING PLATINUM
$95.00 1 7h 17m
.81Ct Diamond Wedding Set, Engagement Ring & Band
$95.00 - 7h 21m
FANCY 14K GOLD 1 CT VS DIAMOND BRIDAL WEDDING RING* SET
Can you contact ebay with information.
The fraud response center is a joke. This seller needs to be shut down.

[jeanie]

Ebay needs an immediate response process to shut down fraudulent sellers. This link should be a more thorough dialog than the contact window, which ebay now provides. It should include several boxes such as seller id, auction date item number(s) and
text info.

[Allison]

Ebay offers no protection at all. I bought a ring from a so called power seller, and promptly sent the mo payment requested. The seller still claims after 2 months not to have received payment, even though the Post office has provided proof he cashed the mo. Luckily, there wasn't much money involved but I do feel ripped off by ebay. The funny thing about this is that the guy filed a non payment strike against me after he cashed the mo, so he kept my money and didn't have to pay ebay for the sale.

[Melissa Spaulding]

Ebay is often an excellent source for products that I would not otherwise have been able to locate, and some of my purchases have saved me a few bucks. However, Ebay allows people to leave false feedback and offers no support whatsoever...barring a court order, and how expensive is that? I've been cheated on a car, and the seller has left feedback stating I didn't pay. First of all, I overnighted a certified check the following day of the auction. Second, why would the guy send me the car if he hadn't received my check. The dealer also held the title in excess of 20 days so that I would not know that I was buying a repo...the ad said it was a 2nd owner trade in for a new car. Where is Ebay when I need them??? They offer no support for the customers that are making them profitable. Ebay complaint forms do no good at all. Ebay, you should take some responsibility for your members. If good, U.S. citizens can prove that someone is lying, you should at least remove the false, negative feedback.

[Paul]

There is a new power search for eBay at auctionfigure.com that includes a "junk filter" to weed out some of the more obvious scams.

[PATRICK J. FRIEL]

We transferred a Metallic Gray 2003 Honda Pilot to our son in Tampa, Fl in late November. In the second week of December, it was stolen in the early evening from a restaurant in Tampa while he was at dinner. The VIN Number is:
2HKYF18533H23043. The Florida license plate is "MOES". Our local Police found stolen jewelry from a local gang of burglars for sale on E-bay. It may be that our thief may be nutty enough to try to sell the Honda on E-Bay. We would appreciate you being on the look-out for this vehicle. Thank you, Pat Friel

[steve]

I got taken on a second chance auction through the ebay website. Since this happened I have done research and have discovered that fraud is being perpetrated on ebay users from ebay allowing criminals use published ebay procedures to bilk money. I have contacted ebay several times by email and receive the same cheery email in return with the links to ebay pages. There are no phone numbers or any other way to get to talk to a real person. I understand the buyer beware mentality but ebay should not be complicit in these crimes by passive supervision. They say that there is a very minor amount of fraud (see numerous news articles and reports) then they should be able to support the monitering and technology to stop the problem

[PATRICIA JONES]

I having been trying to contact ebay, A man that sold me a laptop from a so called police auction, has taken my paymen which the item was buy now, he sent me a leaflet telling me about police autions whish was only available after the pay it seaction tha email address is justin.alcock@tesco.com the trading name is thomas 13 beer one