Possible Audiogon scam, advice needed please!

[krowmagnum]

I escalated my dispute thru paypal to a claim. It's been a few days and they haven't decided anything yet.

I also opened a dispute on Audiogon which I won (seller didn't responded), but that does not serve me too much as it only suspends the seller's account.

Does anyone know how I can use law enforcement in this case? Any advise will be appreciated. Thanks.

Contact the Attorney Generals office and/or the Postmaster General and file a claim for mail fraud. Since the item was to be shipped it is considered mail fraud and your best bet is the Postal Inspectors getting the guy.

 

[krowmagnum]

Contact eBay and tell your story. They may be willing to help. You at least may stop someone else from getting scammed if thats what it is. It's at least worth a shot.

On the right side of auction pages there is a "report item" link the OP should use.

 

[kaplang]

cchean,

Do you have any way of proving that the Fisher X-1000 on eBay is the same one you paid for? You will need too if you contact any authorities.

 

[Rotoplooker]

The seller replied "yes" to my email request to pick up and pay cash if I won.

As Similost posted earlier, local pickup claims can still be fraudulent. I see the guy did post the question about local pickup being o.k but he did NOT post my request for more info on the history of the amp and/or his relationship to it.

I wonder if any AK'ers are bidding on this. At this point of course, all this may still just be rampant speculation but it raises some serious concerns.

 

[Rotoplooker]

Fisher X-1000 tube amp sold!

Well, the sale has ended and it looks like it's sold for twice the amount($2400)that the op purchased it for.($1200?) It will be interesting to see if specblack's sterling 100% feedback gets tarnished from this transaction. (Yes, that's only based from 2 sales..)

Has the OP decided to go after this one? Now would be the time..

 

[GuyNoir]

I once bid on and won a Hallicrafters shortwave on eBay. Paid the money, but no radio after several weeks. All correspondence was ignored. Soon after, the same exact radio showed up on eBay under a different seller. I called the local police, who agreed to pay the gentleman a visit. When they entered his domicile, they actually saw the radio in question sitting in his living room. They strongly urged him to send the radio with all haste, which he did! Meanwhile, an eBay investigation yielded all sorts of delightful impropriety on the part of the seller, including family members across numerous states posing as shills, numerous aliases, etc.

In short, a quick call to the police yield great satisfaction.

 

[kaplang]

While the suspected Fisher X-1000 was up for auction on eBay I emailed the seller to see if I could pick up locally. I just wanted to see what his answer would be. He said yes. I live in Los Angeles not in Oakland. My reasoning was that if he was legit he would allow a local pickup. I am still not sure if the guy is OK but he sent me the following email today using eBay's email. It looks like he''s having problems with eBay and PayPal combine.


Below is what he wrote to me.

Hi,

This is about the Fisher X-1000.

After the winning buyer sent money to my Paypal account, the big amount caused Ebay and Paypal to place limit on my Paypal account and freeze my Ebay account. I didn't do anything wrong. They said this is for security reason. I already filed appeal to Ebay/Paypal but the process can a while.

Anyway, I am not a scammer. I simply refunded the money to the buyer from Vietnam.

Now, I still want to sell my Fisher X-1000 because I need money. You are local and I will be willing to sell at a lower price. If you are interested, please let me know as soon as possible. Again, this is not a fraud. I can show you the proof I refunded the money so that this amp is still my property. If you want to talk to me, my # is XXX--XXX-XXXX, and I am in Oakland.

Cal

 

[Brian]

I do not use Paypal so color me ignorant but I do not understand what he wrote. Would it have something to do with the OP's claim and that out of his total amount due, he only received $83 which I assume was all that the seller had available in his account to grab and send back.

If Paypal froze his account for security reasons, which I do not understand, how could he unfreeze it to send the payment back?

Oh, for the good old days.

 

[JonL]

My similar (but different) story of being partially ripped off follows.

I bid on a laptop (the very one I am using now) that was to include all kinds of legal software that I wanted. I paid a premium for the computer because of the software. The buyer had all positive feedback, though not that much of it. He accepted local pickup, though he was in the Seattle area IIRC - far away from me. His story was that he worked for an architecture firm and they were changing computers or something so they had this one nearly new, etc. His other ads were for either computers or furniture that had been used in showcases. Some of his feedback was from people who had happily picked up furniture from the guy. All seemed OK... EXCEPT the big red flag I should have noted was that he wouldn't take Paypal... they gave him too hard a time, or he'd been scammed or whatever. So I sent a USPS Money Order. The next day his account was frozen by eBay. I freaked. I came on VERY strong with him about my concerns, he was nonchalant, was kind of pissed that I was so badly panicked. Anyway, I got the computer with a note saying the software would be coming from the software manufacturers directly because he had to send in some kind of licensing transfer BS. He reappeared on eBay with a new name, same ad as I answered. At that time you could see who the bidders were and I sent them notes warning of the possible problem with the software (since he hadn't disclosed it in the ad). He caught wind of this and was pissed at me again, and I never got the software. I don't know if he was legit and just cancelled the license transfer out of spite, or if he had figured out a way to boost the price of the computer by several hundred bucks figuring (rightly) that he was unlikely to get caught and punished. I'm just thankful I got my computer even though I could have gotten it new for slightly less (though it was essentially new and had no problems itself).

 

[JonL]

Anyway, I am not a scammer.

I like that line. I'll have to remember it if I ever become a crook.

 

[badbadbad]

I do not use Paypal so color me ignorant but I do not understand what he wrote. Would it have something to do with the OP's claim and that out of his total amount due, he only received $83 which I assume was all that the seller had available in his account to grab and send back.

If Paypal froze his account for security reasons, which I do not understand, how could he unfreeze it to send the payment back?

Oh, for the good old days.

YES! Im betting it was the original scammer.....once our OP filed the claim against his paypal account, he is no longer allowed to withdrawal or accept money or list his ebay account while under paypal suspension. The 83 dollars was what he had "hanging" in his account at the time of claim...he still owes the rest.



Seems a bit too coincidental to me

 

[cchean]

I contacted ebay and they told me I should send another email to their security center. I had previously filed a claim with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and I recently updated my claim including an email address and the name of the seller. Nothing happened. What else they need? A picture of the crook???

His name is Ceng Tseng and he is located in Oakland, CA. The last email he used was specblake@yahoo.com and he also identify himself as "CAL".

I got this info because I asked a question on ebay regarding the amp's cosmetics. But when I told him who I really was, he never replied to my messages again, as expected.

I sent another question to paypal as why I was refunded only $83 and they replied stating that was what they could withdraw from his account.

 

[cchean]

cchean,

Do you have any way of proving that the Fisher X-1000 on eBay is the same one you paid for? You will need too if you contact any authorities.

I don't have any way to prove except for the coincidences. However, I still have the older e-mail address he was using and I believe that a search could reveal his name, address, etc.

The last time he replied he did not know it was me who was asking the question and thru the ebay messaging system I could read his name, or at least the name he is registered with ebay, which is CENG TSENG.

How many CENG TSENGS are there in Oakland selling a Fisher X-1000? Not many I suppose. And since I read in this thread that he identified himself as "CAL", I would change my name ih he's not the same person.

I already contacted ebay security department. If nothing new happen in the next few days, I am contacting law enforcement.

 

[cchean]

Here's what ebay has to say...

Just got a reply from ebay:

If you are not a law enforcement agent, we will not respond to your inquiry and will not forward your email to our customer support teams. You should direct your inquiry to our excellent customer support teams

WTF????

 

[kaplang]

I don't have any way to prove except for the coincidences. However, I still have the older e-mail address he was using and I believe that a search could reveal his name, address, etc.

The last time he replied he did not know it was me who was asking the question and thru the ebay messaging system I could read his name, or at least the name he is registered with ebay, which is CENG TSENG.

How many CENG TSENGS are there in Oakland selling a Fisher X-1000? Not many I suppose. And since I read in this thread that he identified himself as "CAL", I would change my name ih he's not the same person.

I already contacted ebay security department. If nothing new happen in the next few days, I am contacting law enforcement.

If I were in your shoes I would call Paypal security department directly
(1-402-935-2050) and explain what happened. I don't think paypal will care that you were scammed using Audiogon but they may care that you did not receive what you paid for. Ebay owns Paypal and they have different rules if you were scammed using Ebay but If you call them and explain it may be worth a shot.

Hope this helps.

 

[fotno]

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