What I've figured thus far: A scam! -- Possible Auction Seller Fraud

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Subject: What I've figured thus far: A scam!

Author:
KvB

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Date Posted: 20:19:43 02/12/02 Tue

1. SON (the seller) only takes AmEx direct. AmEx is the only major credit card not fully insured by ebay.

2. If a buyer uses paypal (preferred by seller) and the seller defaults, the seller has relatively no liability to the buyer. The buyer is left to try and make claim against paypal for lost funds. (paypal is notorious for being very difficult to solve such problems with)

3. The seller's "Me" site, (accessible via seller's auctions) advertises BBB certifications and Square Trade certifications. Seller has only been an active member of BBB since Jan 2002. (less than a month)
On the Square Trade website, all members "are committed to mediation if buyer requests." When asked, seller's response was "I've never heard of escrow. Ebay advised us against such companies"

4. Seller bought a Corvette over ebay Feb11, but told buyers that, "escrow is impossible for us because we need to pay our sellers first before we get the merchandise. Where will we get the money? You have to send us the money first before we can send your merchandise." (where'd you get the money for the Corvette?)

Conclusion: The seller is without a doubt, a scam artist. This is the case where a few people have rented out an apartment, connected a bunch of telephone lines, obtained a few 800 numbers, and began advertising "unbelievabley priced", highly demanded merchandise. They have obtained cheap, buyable "creditations" from equally as crooked companies. They have arranged it so that they only take American Express because it is the only card that ebay does not insure against fraud. They prefer paypal because it is a form of laundering the money. Once it is in their hands, it is clean money. They then spend the money quickly on ebay once again on very high priced items. I haven't the slightest shadow of a doubt in my mind that this is a poorly orchestrated scam. I have not sent them a penny yet and am not planning on it. But to those who have, I would do what I could to stop payments ASAP!

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