It finally happened....they caught me.

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by Travlntiques, Jun 18, 2015.

  1. Travlntiques

    Travlntiques Well-Known Member

    Yes indeed, after 10 years of buying and selling on eBay I was finally hit by a fairly major scam. Sure, I've had some minor hiccups over the years, but nothing to write about, until now. Let me set the mood...get comfortable, get something to drink, take your shoes off.

    Now, I was trolling the late night Buy-it-Now listings as I often do, hoping something interesting might pop-up. I go through piles of the usual junk, but then, poof, a complete 1995-W Gold & Silver Eagle Set comes along! It's priced fairly at $5,900.00 given that they usually trend between $6,400 & $7,000. The coins are all graded by NGC, PF-69 on the gold and PF-67 on the silver, the cert #'s check out on the NGC site and this set even comes with the OGP included. The seller is Top-Rated with over 500 feedbacks and has provided a bunch of photographs of the coins for sale, but has no other active listings. I feel that's OK...they might just be desperate for some quick cash, or since their usual modus operandi is more along the line of sports cards, they might not realize coins like these don't have to be underpriced for a quick sale. Having done my due diligence, it seems everything is a go! Within 10 minutes of paying, the seller has already printed a shipping label too, which is nice. The next day was Sunday however, so no movement. After about 4 days I get a message from the seller saying that they were sorry about the shipping label through the USPS, but UPS would be better, they included a new tracking number and thanked me for the purchase. I actually think that's a good idea....until I see it's being shipped UPS Ground!!!!! C'mon!!! Pony Express would have been quicker at this point! I'm getting ready for a trip to Florida next week, so obsessively checking the tracking number is not on my mind. After a few more days I see the package was finally shipped and is enroute to my town.....shall be delivered in another 5 days....the day before I'm scheduled to depart. So that's a spot of good-fortune!!! :)

    But before it can arrive, eBay sends me a generic email saying that the Message I received from that person is potentially dangerous and to not buy anything they may have offered to sell me outside of eBay because that account has been Hijacked!
    I then check my purchases to see that the listing has been pulled. Never a good sign. I check the sellers other completed listings only to spot 2 other 1995-W sets they sold with even lower BIN prices that hadn't disappeared yet....gee, even in a scam I still paid more than than the other 2 people! Extra disappointment.

    I give eBay a phone call and the rep. looks into the case and immediately notices the problem. He says to ignore the UPS tracking number and just file an "Item not received" case, when the package arrives, don't sign for it. The case is open, all we can do is wait. After what seemed like 2 days the "other party" (actual owner of that account presumably) responded to the case and I was released!!!

    The next day it was time to board my plane and oddly enough that UPS package was delivered, but not to me! Either that was part of their scam, to have it delivered to the wrong address and make me chase the package around until they had their money and could disappear....or perhaps eBay has some pull with the UPS and intercepted it? After all, these scammers would've made off with $17,000+ between the 3 sales I saw. Either way, I'm happy and was really pleased how well every cog in the massive machine known as eBay was working.

    Not much beyond that to say, no real moral to the story or anything about which to rant. Just my scam story :)
    Scam Scan.JPG
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2015
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  3. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    Yup. I bid on something similar, but watched the tracking on the package until it arrived in California -- close, but wrong coast. I pointed out to eBay that that was nowhere near my Verified Address, and they gave me my (large amount of) money back without any fuss.
     
    swamp yankee and Travlntiques like this.
  4. phankins11

    phankins11 Well-Known Member

  5. aubade21

    aubade21 Well-Known Member

    Man, what a pain. I'm sure you were under a fair amount of stress though this whole situation. Still, I'm glad to hear it was resolved. Hopefully, the person that hijacked the account will be apprehended (although that is wishful thinking).
     
    swamp yankee and Travlntiques like this.
  6. Maxim Hofstede

    Maxim Hofstede Active Member

    Holy cow! good thing you got that refund other wise you would have been screwed!
    GL&HH
     
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  7. coinzip

    coinzip Well-Known Member

    I can't tell you the last time I sold or bought something on ebay....
     
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  8. fretboard

    fretboard Defender of Old Coinage!

    Got that right. screwed.jpg
     
  9. Maxim Hofstede

    Maxim Hofstede Active Member

    hehehe that's great!
     
    swamp yankee likes this.
  10. Chiefbullsit

    Chiefbullsit CRAZY HORSE

    I hear ya big $$$$$

    Glad you survived the ordeal.

    How did you like our southern heat while in Florida?
     
    Travlntiques likes this.
  11. Treashunt

    Treashunt The Other Frank

    sorry to hear about your ordeal.
     
  12. Stephan77

    Stephan77 Well-Known Member

    "or perhaps eBay has some pull with the UPS and intercepted it?"

    To the best of my knowledge, and I deal with UPS a lot...that is not possible for eBay to do that.

    Great that you got your money back!
     
  13. Wow, so glad you got your money refunded. TC
     
  14. cpm9ball

    cpm9ball CANNOT RE-MEMBER

    Sometimes good fortune smiles upon the right people!

    Chris
     
    phankins11 likes this.
  15. Ed23

    Ed23 Active Member

    I've had my eBay account hijacked many years ago. I always sell coins and other collectables on eBay, so when eBay contacted me and asked if the 3 listings on my site for computers were mine, I did not have to check before telling them 'No!". These scammers are the lowest of the low kind of people ... they have a special place in Hell waiting on them.

    I am glad that everything worked out for you!
     
  16. Travlntiques

    Travlntiques Well-Known Member

    Thank you all for the kind words, I couldn't be any happier about not getting taken to the cleaners on this one. I even waited to post about it for a good while too, just to make sure no eBay surprises would jump up and bite me on the rear, but it looks like everything worked out better than I could have hoped. Everyone needs to be leary of scams, but it feels good knowing that eBay really does have your best interests in mind...err, for the most part.

    It usually does....but this time it smiled upon me! haha :p Thank you Chris!

    Sorry to hear it happend to you, but glad you caught it in time! I guess the scammers will buy things too. Years ago a person who had their account hijacked bought an item from me. No payments were sent, but the actual account holder had to send an email to every seller and try to cancel out. It sounded absolutely terrible, she said there were over 200 fraudulent purchases made and it seemed like a never ending ordeal to try to undo the tangled web. Yikes!
     
  17. green18

    green18 Unknown member Sweet on Commemorative Coins Supporter

    Close call Trav. Looks like you 'weathered' the storm.........:)
     
  18. Jglake

    Jglake YN

    Wow that was close.
     
  19. Burton Strauss III

    Burton Strauss III Brother can you spare a trime? Supporter

    If they used the hijacked account to 'pay' for the shipping, the legit account holder is the 'shipper of record'. eBay could coach them in what to request of UPS including providing the destination address and where to redirect it to.
     
  20. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    I'm not sure in what sense you mean this. It's not like the common "wow, I almost didn't recognize that this coin was fake" threads. The buyer couldn't help but notice that he received no package, and eBay's Buyer Protection is quite clear on what happens next.
     
  21. Jglake

    Jglake YN

    When I mean wow I mean crazy seriousness.
     
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