Mom defrauded online for $1550! Help!

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U

UThomas

Senior member
Apr 18, 2000
251
0
0
Ok, here is the story and I was wondering if you guys could help. My mom is a kindergarden teacher and not super internet savy (as I imagine a lot of our parents are). She went on eBay to purchase an embroidery machine for her friend and ended up getting taken for $1550. Here is the timeline:

1) Dec 4th Contacted seller who had a buy it now offer on a nice embroidery machine (nice add with pictures, etc)
2) Seller "Romell Armano" (rarmano@hotmail.com) responded to her question with the topic referring to "ITEM 8152034578"
3) He gave details on the item and requested a Western Union Wire transfer for the money to

Romell Armando
Via Arzoilor 10
Rome, Italy 00169

He assured her that he was a Squaretradeseal member and they would make sure it was a safe transaction on both sides.

4) Dec 7th She recieved an e-mail from support@mail-squaretrade.com telling her that the deal was confirmed, etc. Looked like a clever copy paste. IPWhois on that address is:

Domain Name.......... mail-squaretrade.com
Creation Date........ 2004-11-02
Registration Date.... 2004-11-02
Expiry Date.......... 2005-11-02
Organisation Name.... Patrick W. Trammell
Organisation Address. 7910 Grimsley Gibson Rd
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. Greenfield
Organisation Address. 53228
Organisation Address. WI
Organisation Address. UNITED STATES

Admin Name........... Patrick W. Trammell
Admin Address........ 7910 Grimsley Gibson Rd
Admin Address........
Admin Address........ Greenfield
Admin Address........ 53228
Admin Address........ WI
Admin Address........ UNITED STATES
Admin Email.......... **********@yahoo.com
Admin Phone.......... +1.8179170910
Admin Fax............

This does not appear to be from the "Real" Squaretrade address, which is registered in CA.

5) Dec 9th They continued trading a few e-mails (I can post those if they help) regarding payment (she tried to get him to do COD)

6) Dec 10th Mom wired the money through Western Union

7) Dec 22nd he picked it up

Nothing has shown up and he will not reply to e-mails. I told her that there is not much chance that she gets any of her money back, but I was wondering if you all could help at all. This is like a month of her salary :(

Thanks,

Thomas
 
FoBoT

FoBoT

No Lifer
Apr 30, 2001
63,084
15
81
fobot.com
if she sent money via western union, she is toast
there is no way to get the money back

she can file a report with somebody, but it won't get her money back
 
Colt45

Colt45

Lifer
Apr 18, 2001
19,720
1
0
she went outside of eBay for a $1500 item? and then wired the cash on top of it?

ouch
 
U

UThomas

Senior member
Apr 18, 2000
251
0
0
Right, I told her the money is toast. Any way we can track the guy down with the info I have?
 
U

UThomas

Senior member
Apr 18, 2000
251
0
0
Well would I have to? Is there any chance this was run out of the US? I'm not sure how Western Union works but I was surprised that you only need to provide a name and address.
 
L

lavagirl669

Diamond Member
Apr 21, 2004
3,325
1
0
yeah, fly to Italy and take Tony Soprano and Furio with you......

sorry, but your Mom got taken.....that sucks...
sorry to hear it.
 
shilala

shilala

Lifer
Oct 5, 2004
11,437
1
76
Hehehehehehehehe, wired money to some guy in Italy.
Sorry man, I just couldn't believe it.
I hope Mom can afford the lesson. That's gotta hurt.
 
FoBoT

FoBoT

No Lifer
Apr 30, 2001
63,084
15
81
fobot.com
Originally posted by: UThomas
Well would I have to? Is there any chance this was run out of the US? I'm not sure how Western Union works but I was surprised that you only need to provide a name and address.
Click to expand...

where do you think the money went ?

if it was wired to italy, then a person in italy has the money, that is my guess

western union is for sending money to people you know, not to people you are trying to buy stuff from

sorry dude, this is a hard lesson

check the FBI web site for any info on reporting it. maybe western union site too , i guess
 
her209

her209

No Lifer
Oct 11, 2000
56,336
11
0
Did you delete the email from "support@mail-squaretrade.com"? You can get the headers and see what IP address it came from. I assume the email was faked.
 
U

UThomas

Senior member
Apr 18, 2000
251
0
0
"where do you think the money went ? "

Yea, exactly, I don't know. Is Western Union something you can setup remotely? What do you guys make of the fake squaredeal e-mail and its registration?
 
F

farmercal

Golden Member
Mar 23, 2000
1,580
0
0
Your mom should have never attempted to purchase from someone outside the US! That has scam written all over it and the scam artist will make sure he/she cannot be traced after they get the money. Lesson Learned.
 
S

Siva

Diamond Member
Mar 8, 2001
5,472
0
71
That's absolutely terrible. If I ever go to Italy, I will be taking this guy's address and packing a can of whoopass.

Your mom learned an expensive and unfortunate lesson.
 
flexy

flexy

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2001
8,464
155
106

wire transfer/western union AND italy....

SIGH.... sorry for your mom but i hope she learned a lesson....

Seem to be a lot scammers especially in italy recently...avoid at any cost...
 
P

Philippine Mango

Diamond Member
Oct 29, 2004
5,594
0
0
If western union wire transfers are KNOWN for being scams, shouldn't western union do something about this? What happened to Wells fargo or bank of america? Do they not suffer from these issues?
 
J

jagec

Lifer
Apr 30, 2004
24,442
6
81
Originally posted by: Philippine Mango
If western union wire transfers are KNOWN for being scams, shouldn't western union do something about this? What happened to Wells fargo or bank of america? Do they not suffer from these issues?
Click to expand...

how do they "suffer"? They take a certain percentage off the top of any transfer, and they certainly don't refund any money.

I'm sure their official stance is "If you want to send money to a complete stranger, we'll let you, but don't blame us when they run away with it"
 
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