Scammed
Here's the item description from the Ebay
page:
"Santa Cruz Superlight, deep bronze
anodized frame, size Medium, with Full XTR drivetrain and brakes, Fox
vanilla float rear, Rock Shox SID 100 mm travel front,
Chris King black hubs, Chris King headset, LP carbon seatpost,
Specialized seat. Syncros wheels with Weinmann rims.. This bike
WORKS!!
Used only lightly by a roadie who owns
too many bikes, and needs more room. Has never been out in the rain (our
local trails close when wet), and has been stored inside most of its life.
The bike is bored and is begging to be RIDDEN!!
Condition is very good. Only minor
scratches here and there, and one dime-sized rock scrape near the rear dropout.
The bike has never been crashed hard, and is straight as can be.
Everything works great; the front suspension was overhauled last winter and is
leak-free."
Sounds legit doesn't it? Well I let the price and my desire for a bike fool me into believing that this was a real ad. In retrospect, there were the signs. But first let's talk about this bike and the ad. I can only think that it was a legitimate ad that was hijacked. In other words, the scammer saved the pics and description from a legitimate Ebay ad from several months or years ago. The description and the tone of voice in the ad is just too good. There were other close-up pics as well, the kind that a dedicated biker would want to show. Just reading the ad again makes me hurt....I mean, this bike is really cherry!
Ok, the scam.
This seller wanted to use a bank to bank wire transfer. I hesitated and asked to use paypal instead. The seller answered that their account was compromised by paypal and therefore, they refused to use them. The seller provided me with a name (I'll call this person GB), account number, and bank name that my bank confirmed to be legitimate.
There were 2 warning signs at this point:
1) The seller no longer had the tone of voice of the posting. Their english was broken. Their emails read like it was written by a non-native speaker. But, I was told that the bike was her husband's, and she was selling it for him while he was away on business.
2) GB's refusal to use paypal. NEVER buy anything on Ebay unless it is with PayPal and a credit card. This is the only way your money is protected. All other forms of payment are virtually untraceable and unrecoverable. I foolishly thought that by having GB's bank account information, I would have leverage if something were to go wrong.
I wired the money, and my email conversations with GB ceased. The seller did not answer any of my emails once the money was transferred. It was at this point that I became really worried that I was being scammed. Several more days of agony and silence, and the worry was confirmed.
How did this happen? Who was this person, GB, with the bank account? Where had my money gone? I filed reports with the FBI, police, and Ebay. Two months later, and I still have not heard from them.
All attempts to contact GB failed (through Ebay, email, phone number look-up tools, etc) except for one: GB had a myspace account.
Looking at her myspace page, reading her bio, and reading the comments of her friends, i could not believe that this person was a scammer. I kept going back to her account to see if any incriminating evidence would pop up, but my initial observations were only confirmed. I contacted her.
Turns out GB was not GB. This is where the scam get elaborate.
The real GB is a sweet lady that lives in Massachusetts. She needs to work from home because of a disability. She found a great "job" from T and T corporation . Check out their website. Its a front. She got a "job" as a funds transfer coordinator. It was her responsibility to take money that was deposited to her account and transfer it to a Western Union. FYI, money that gets sent to a Moneygram or Western Union becomes completely untraceable.
So. This is where I come in. I transferred money into the real GB's account, while I was conducting business with the scammer. GB then sends the money off to whatever other account she's instructed to send it to (because this is her job). The money goes into the Western Union system, and the scammer picks up the money somewhere in the world and disappears.
These crooks fooled 3 other ebayers that day for a total of $1,953. In addition, they stole GB's identity and diverted her social security benefits to a fake account. On top of this, her niece, who also applied and got a job with T and T corporation, had her bank account drained.
Who are these crooks? Where are they from? How is it that the T and T corporation website still exists?
Sounds legit doesn't it? Well I let the price and my desire for a bike fool me into believing that this was a real ad. In retrospect, there were the signs. But first let's talk about this bike and the ad. I can only think that it was a legitimate ad that was hijacked. In other words, the scammer saved the pics and description from a legitimate Ebay ad from several months or years ago. The description and the tone of voice in the ad is just too good. There were other close-up pics as well, the kind that a dedicated biker would want to show. Just reading the ad again makes me hurt....I mean, this bike is really cherry!
Ok, the scam.
This seller wanted to use a bank to bank wire transfer. I hesitated and asked to use paypal instead. The seller answered that their account was compromised by paypal and therefore, they refused to use them. The seller provided me with a name (I'll call this person GB), account number, and bank name that my bank confirmed to be legitimate.
There were 2 warning signs at this point:
1) The seller no longer had the tone of voice of the posting. Their english was broken. Their emails read like it was written by a non-native speaker. But, I was told that the bike was her husband's, and she was selling it for him while he was away on business.
2) GB's refusal to use paypal. NEVER buy anything on Ebay unless it is with PayPal and a credit card. This is the only way your money is protected. All other forms of payment are virtually untraceable and unrecoverable. I foolishly thought that by having GB's bank account information, I would have leverage if something were to go wrong.
I wired the money, and my email conversations with GB ceased. The seller did not answer any of my emails once the money was transferred. It was at this point that I became really worried that I was being scammed. Several more days of agony and silence, and the worry was confirmed.
How did this happen? Who was this person, GB, with the bank account? Where had my money gone? I filed reports with the FBI, police, and Ebay. Two months later, and I still have not heard from them.
All attempts to contact GB failed (through Ebay, email, phone number look-up tools, etc) except for one: GB had a myspace account.
Looking at her myspace page, reading her bio, and reading the comments of her friends, i could not believe that this person was a scammer. I kept going back to her account to see if any incriminating evidence would pop up, but my initial observations were only confirmed. I contacted her.
Turns out GB was not GB. This is where the scam get elaborate.
The real GB is a sweet lady that lives in Massachusetts. She needs to work from home because of a disability. She found a great "job" from T and T corporation . Check out their website. Its a front. She got a "job" as a funds transfer coordinator. It was her responsibility to take money that was deposited to her account and transfer it to a Western Union. FYI, money that gets sent to a Moneygram or Western Union becomes completely untraceable.
So. This is where I come in. I transferred money into the real GB's account, while I was conducting business with the scammer. GB then sends the money off to whatever other account she's instructed to send it to (because this is her job). The money goes into the Western Union system, and the scammer picks up the money somewhere in the world and disappears.
These crooks fooled 3 other ebayers that day for a total of $1,953. In addition, they stole GB's identity and diverted her social security benefits to a fake account. On top of this, her niece, who also applied and got a job with T and T corporation, had her bank account drained.
Who are these crooks? Where are they from? How is it that the T and T corporation website still exists?
Posted: Sat - July 14, 2007 at 12:08 AM
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Published On: Jul 15, 2007 11:24 PM
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Published On: Jul 15, 2007 11:24 PM