There are people constantly dealing with scammers here at Anandtech due to the amount of sales and stuff going through the Sale and Trade section. So basically I figured this would be a good place to ask for advice.
Here's the situation:
My dad who is not very good with computers sometimes uses ebay to find items he wants. He has previously been scammed by sending money via western union. Lastnight I was over at his house, we were looking at a welder on ebay. In the auction it said "Contact me at _____@gmail.com prior to bidding". Red alert flag there, i know. Then we contacted the person selling it via email and through ebay. We got an immediate response out of both, but they weren't the same person! The guy shown as selling the item said "This is not an item I am selling - It was put on my account fraudulently".
However, the guy via email had enough guts to contact us and tell us how the welder was brand new and would ship it immediately after the payment is confirmed. We kept the guy going for a while...
Our first email after realizing he was a scammer asked: Can you bring it to Oklahoma for an extra $300.00?
He said No, but he would be willing to cover the shipping expense.
Second, we asked since it was such an expensive piece of equipment if we could actually go up there to pick it up. He said no, but he'll cover the expense of insurance.
Then our third email said, "Do you really have the welder? It seemsl ike it would be easier on you if we actually could just pick it up."
He returns with, "Hey, I have a way that would be secure for both of us. Send money to Western Union. You can put it in someone elses name so I can't retrieve the money. You can send me the reciept verifying and showing that you have the money in western union. Then I'll ship the item, once you recieve it you can change the name and I'll be able to access the money."
Obviously, i'm not dumb enough. This guy obviously has a way to retrieve any money using various aliases and addresses. Especially with a copy of the reciept it wouldn't be too difficult for him to retrieve the money.
He was contacting me via Gmail so I can't actually access his IP address I don't think. I have an address he gave me which would be used to send the money via Western Union. But thats it. How can I catch this guy? The address he gave me in in Montreal, Canada, so this may add to the problem of catching him.
Here's the situation:
My dad who is not very good with computers sometimes uses ebay to find items he wants. He has previously been scammed by sending money via western union. Lastnight I was over at his house, we were looking at a welder on ebay. In the auction it said "Contact me at _____@gmail.com prior to bidding". Red alert flag there, i know. Then we contacted the person selling it via email and through ebay. We got an immediate response out of both, but they weren't the same person! The guy shown as selling the item said "This is not an item I am selling - It was put on my account fraudulently".
However, the guy via email had enough guts to contact us and tell us how the welder was brand new and would ship it immediately after the payment is confirmed. We kept the guy going for a while...
Our first email after realizing he was a scammer asked: Can you bring it to Oklahoma for an extra $300.00?
He said No, but he would be willing to cover the shipping expense.
Second, we asked since it was such an expensive piece of equipment if we could actually go up there to pick it up. He said no, but he'll cover the expense of insurance.
Then our third email said, "Do you really have the welder? It seemsl ike it would be easier on you if we actually could just pick it up."
He returns with, "Hey, I have a way that would be secure for both of us. Send money to Western Union. You can put it in someone elses name so I can't retrieve the money. You can send me the reciept verifying and showing that you have the money in western union. Then I'll ship the item, once you recieve it you can change the name and I'll be able to access the money."
Obviously, i'm not dumb enough. This guy obviously has a way to retrieve any money using various aliases and addresses. Especially with a copy of the reciept it wouldn't be too difficult for him to retrieve the money.
He was contacting me via Gmail so I can't actually access his IP address I don't think. I have an address he gave me which would be used to send the money via Western Union. But thats it. How can I catch this guy? The address he gave me in in Montreal, Canada, so this may add to the problem of catching him.
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