Reporting someone to the police/secret service for selling counterfeits?

Well, the deep pocketed Tiffany and Company tried to go after that Internet Auction Community in 2004:

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y04/m06/i22/s01

Tiffany sued eBay "alleging that the Internet auction site should be held accountable for the sale of counterfeit Tiffany jewelry through eBay."

There's an interesting "shill bidding" angle on this in a blog as well:
http://www.sherlockinvestigations.com/blog/2006/01/tiffany-sues-ebay.html

(And boy, will there be a lot of "bidder 1" "bidder 2" shenanigans coming...)

I have not heard anything about this since it happened, and I wonder whether it ever got anywhere. Searching on "Tiffany" reveals more than 600 jewelry listings. All "authentic" of course :goofer:.

I guess my point is that as long as "caveat emptor" is hung outside the "door" the company is safe within it.

 

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I just don't get it Roy. Isn't it a federal offense to intentionally pass counterfeit coins and currency? This guy/gal is doing it in clear view on a public auction site. Wouldn't this be justification for at least a federal investigation on him/her and their inventories?

 

"All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing." - Edmund Burke.

 

Hi Zaneman, I'm sure your a nice person, and you mean well. This Estatedoctor has 99.7 positive feedback. He or she has almost 7000 transactions..I know they have had several negitives, but ebay won't usually take you off unless your feedback is below 98.5..Anyway good luck with it.

 

Zane
I'm not sure about all of the laws where you are so I can't be sure---but IF I were you I would call first the Sheriff's dept. in the town where the owner is....then call the DA's office in that town---you don't need to press charges or anything just give them a heads up and give them the details on where they can find her itmes---also make sure you let them know that you work at PCGS...and suggest that they have some experts look at coins of hers that she has sold...that IMHO will do alot of good.

Speedy

 

I believe so.

Perhaps, if in the judgment of a US Attorney there was sufficient evidence to obtain conviction beyond a reasonable doubt, and it was a sufficiently wide-spread activity to justify the devotion of resources otherwise available for Enron-type frauds, etc.

That's not what I questioned. The statement was made that the FBI could somehow compel retraction of an EBay feedback, and I am not aware of any federal law conferring that power on the FBI. Therefore, I asked "by what authority"?

 

Shoot, I will say the same thing I mentioned earlier, in a different foroum regarding Aboncom. IT takes a United front of individuals to go after a self made corporation such as this to make a difference. Despite teh nobility of it, what has happened here was one person. Now think if we all do the same thing, and we all leave the negative feedback adn we all take the minor hit. 200+ people here equates to 200+ negative feedbacks causing a drastic loss, forcing ebay to abide by their policies of investigating. Personally I have no problem using 2 or 3 family accounts to do something along these lines, but it requires everyone's help.:loud:

 

Found This:

http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0404/halstead.html


The FBI link for internet fraud:

http://www.ic3.gov/

and this:

http://tampa.fbi.gov/investprograms/internetfraud/internetfraud.htm

Internet Fraud is a scheme to defraud in which the Internet is the primary means of communication. This might entail the World Wide Web, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), e-mail, or instant messaging. While there are no federal laws specifically targeting Internet Fraud, the federal statutes regarding Wire Fraud and Mail Fraud are employed to prosecute individuals and/or companies using the Internet to perpetuate their schemes. These two statutes are almost always implicated by any Internet Fraud.
The Wire Fraud statute--Title 18, United States Code (USC), Section 1343--makes it illegal to cause any electrical signal to cross state lines (including the borders of the United States as a whole) in the course of a scheme to defraud. By the very nature of the Internet, it is highly unlikely that any communication would not cross a state line. Wire transfers--either through a bank or through a money transfer agent such as Western Union--will in most circumstances be sufficient to trigger 18 USC 1343 when such transfers are part of a scheme to defraud.

*****The Mail Fraud statute--18 USC 1341--makes it illegal to cause anything to be sent through the U.S. mails in furtherance of a scheme to defraud. For the purposes of this statute, items sent via commercial carriers such as FedEx, United Parcel Service (UPS), DHL, and others also implicate the Mail Fraud statute.

Implicit in both statutes is the making of a false statement. It is not necessary that the person executing the scheme be the one who initiates the mailing or use of interstate wires--causing others to take such action is sufficient to violate the statute. There is no dollar-value minimum in either of these statutes. Both are felony-level crimes, punishable by up to five years imprisonment, plus fines of up to $250,000.

Looks like it is a place to start.

 

Well you could always get the coin, have it authenticated as a fake , then sue his butt off and send him to jail. While we are not on the Subject, would it be that hard for EBay to require items over a certain amount to be authenticated. I mean what does it cost about 30 bucks. I know some do not like the TPG but I think some of the better one should be able to tell a fake.

 

I concur that it was a noble deed. Alas and alack, tilting at windmills can be hazardous.

Without the coin as evidence, it'll be hard for any police agency to proceed. Indeed, unless you bought the coin and paid for it and it was later judged to be counterfit, you have not suffered any loss. Without suffering a loss, it's nigh impossible to sue.

I guess more to the point is what do we do about Ebay? Granted, they might not respond to one individual, but how about many? I would think that if enough people complain it'll bring about some change.

Yeah, Ebay's in business to make money, but they also have had enough bad press about counterfits and fraud that they need to protect their reputation - as any business would do. Hell, even if they had a fraud/counterfit alert link - where someone could notify them of an item that's being offered that's obviously fake.

I'm perplexed and saddened,

rono

 

We have to present a united front to eBay.
Perhaps a letter writing campaign would help out Zane.
Come on, we have to do something!

Roy: I was presenting the arguement that if they (the seller) was under investigation that eBay would have to do something.

 

Several weeks ago there were news stories about Los Angeles street bums selling counterfeit and fake
old US coins.

None were prosecuted by the FBI or local police.

The police agencies aren't interested in this kind of stuff.

 

Well, it looks like I've been perma banned from ebay.

 

That is just not right---have you called ebay?

Speedy

 

Not yet. I am going to call them after work, and pardon my language, but I plan to raise hell.

 

I feel like this is so wrong on ebay's part. I couldn't believe it.

 

Zane:
Give 'em heck!
And Good Luck!!!

 

Can't be to hard to get back on. The "bad" guys always seem to be able too.

 

Zane. Did they remove the feedback you left this crook? I looked and it seems to have vanished. Is ebay actually protecting this scoundrel?

 

This is just proprosperous and outrageous!