Helpless: eBay Leica fraud (had been cheated $3300)

<p>Hire a private investigator who has the legal means to chase this person down through financial transactions. Find out where he lives. Go get your lens or your money. If you feel more secure, hire a armed body guard to go with you. All would cost you much less than than your loss and you will feel vindicated in righting a wrong. Also, it would be nice to see the thief have to change his undershorts when you show up. If you are able, please take some pictures.</p>

<p>Don't ever give up, Joseph, you'll win in the end.<br>

For delays in payment, the bank could be the culprit. It's interest-free funds to them, so some banks will tell you that your payment has not yet arrived while they divert your money to some urgent over-night (or short-term) funding requirements. This happens a lot when banks are short of funds, such as during the 2008 financial tsunami.</p>

<p>I join the sympathy of the group. Like some of the others here, I too frequently buy and sell camera equipment over eBay. I have not added all the numbers but over the years I have probably transacted over USD$50,000 on eBay. A couple of times I was in jeopardy of either being ripped off or been taken advantage by a dishonest seller/buy, but each time my situation was resolved in my favor. Here are the rules that I personally follow for eBay transactions:<br /><br />1) Buyer/Seller -- Never transact with anyone who has less than 98-99% positive feedback, depending on how many feedback he or she has.<br />2) Buyer/Seller -- Avoid transactions with ppl with low feedback numbers.<br />3) Buyer -- Confirm that the seller has sold similar items or items of similar values in the past. If not, contact the person for a telephone number to chat with them over the phone personally. When I do this, I ask lots of questions to assure myself that the seller knows his or her photography. If they don't know the difference between a range finder and a SLR, chances are they don't know whether the lens' aperture ring REALLY operates smoothly not to mention any knowledge about focus shifts.<br />4) Buyer -- Always use PayPal, and always use a credit card as the funding source for your PayPal. You get double protection in this manner. Keep in mind that PayPal gives you up to 60 days to report a problem, but some credit cards give you a longer grace period.<br />5) Seller -- Always use UPS or FedEx shipping with signature requirement and confirmation; and keep the confirmation for at least 6 months. Don't try to go cheap with anything less; it is not worth it.<br />6) Buyer/Seller -- Always get the phone number, for buyers I tell them I need it for UPS or FedEx. Call the number back to confirm it is a true number.<br />7) Use common sense.</p>

<p>Yes this is really a shame.<br>

I was caught up in a scam in the UK when I lived there, selling some items upwards of GBP500. Some people trying to buy goods from me at two or three times the price would send a Euro cheque, which would take 30 days or so to clear (or fail to clear). Of course I didn't go for it, but did co-operate with the police to try and get as much info as possible before they disappeared. As my rating was not very high at that time, I was a prime target.<br>

Apparently the cheques would not clear and the <em>so called</em> buyer would use all kinds of pressure tactics to get you to transfer the remaining cash (via those untraceable cash handling services).<br>

Basically I won't spend more than about 25 pounds on Ebay, even my wife is having problems now with a DVD she ordered for our daughter. As this is such a large amount, it may be worth contacting some different police departments to see if there are any ongoing investigations.</p>

 

<p>Follow through on contacting the FBI. While the dollar amount may not be high by whatever standards, they may have a file on him or at least will start one.</p>

<p>Joseph,<br>

I am so sorry to hear that your hard earned savings for what shgould have been a lovely Leica kit have just been stolen from you.<br>

Clearly you've had many many suggestion of help as well as much discussion about how to avoid this.<br>

I would like to suggest 2 things - one to help you and the other to allert the Photo.net community.<br>

1. There is a spot on this site to list vendors' names and post comments on your dealings with them. I suggest you add to the list the name of his company (regardless of what it actually does) and put a copy of all the information you posted here. Like many others if i am deaaling direct or via eBay with any organisation I don't know I first go to this area of Photo.net to look at members' experiences. On 1 occasion it saved me $1000.00 - the dealer engaged in deceptive practices with a bad history about 5 years long.<br>

2. Although I am an Australian, I recall a wonderful Texan saying: "Don't bring knives to a gun fight!"<br>

I suggest you go to his place of work ( do some investigating to locate that through his bank account name) and "politely" make a horrible nuisance of yourself where others will hear you - embarass they guy. Of course you don't do anything that could cause you even more trouble. But When I deal with ar..h.l.s, I do similar in a very strong but polite synical voice - "just tell Mr so and so I am here to collect the $3300 he stole from me!! Anyway uyou'll get my point.<br>

If he has a bank account you may know the branch he banks at - now I have no idea of the relative distances involved, but maybe with enough telephone calls to his bank branch and even a visit using similar words: I am here to get the $3300 he stole from me....<br>

If nothing else you'll humiliate him and maybe others he knows will hear about his fraudulent ways.<br>

Anyway, my suggestions simply illustrate the ideas and may not be practical in the circumstances, but illustrate some ways of making him know you are niot taking his theft (and that is what he did - stole yoiur money!) lying down.<br>

I hope somehow you get your money back.<br>

PS: I understand it is not worth suing him for $3300. God knows the costs will eat all the money returned (if that even happens). BUT, I suggest you look into the process because maybe for a relatively small amount of money (you may feel that is a worthwhile "pay-bacK") you can get his name listed as a defendant in a suit for theft/fraud. Now that will not look good when anyone does a background check on him later on!<br>

Good luck.</p>

<p>Thanks for all responses here, really. *Bow*<br>

Sometimes I do think that I will forget this fraud after awhile (excuses like too busy to work, no time to take further action, or not worth to do anymore etc). <br>

Then, the same guy will cheat people again and again as he knows well he will not get caught. He is such an expert to know how to hide (using proxy server to hide his IP addresses), how to make his fake personal info look authentic, and how to get money and run away. Even his bank a/c's personal info is authentic, so what?<br>

He knows well, no one cares such fraud, no one. Do you think the police, eBay, or bank will do something to help you for such amount? He is not Mr. Bernard Madoff, you are not Mr. Warren Buffet. Yeah they will make a record after you report to them. Then? <br>

Should I believe that I can find that scum by my own effort and drag him to jail? I don't think so.<br>

But I will keep posting here and let you guys know what is happening. I hope you do it too, especially if you were the victim of an internet fraud...</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I would hire a private investigator to track him down. Probably not too difficult these days. I doubt this person is as sophisticated as you think.</p>

<p>When you find the individual, take your time to think of what action you might want to take. There are lots of ways to deal with people like this. The Internet is is a good source for ideas. Your PI may even have some suggestions.<br>

.</p>

Hi Robert can you introduce a good PI to me?

A gentleman suggested me to share my story at another forum, I will do so soon.

 

If anyone want to get the info of the seller to help me plz kindly let me know...

<p>Joseph,</p>

<p>I live in Honolulu and don't know any private investigators. I would suggest consulting your family attorney, if you have one. In my case, that would be my wife. Otherwise, do a Google search, "Hiring a Private Investigator". Advice from my wife is to hire someone near the area in which you believe this person lives. Good luck.</p>

<p>Thanks Robert. <br>

The seller claimed that he lives in Miami, and it is the Miami branch of BOA for money transfer. What is so weird is the Bank manager said that his account is from Maryland and can't be find in Miami...</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Well, call up a few large Private Investigative agencies in your area and ask if you can get a free consultation. Bring all the information you have with you. It's a start.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I had a similar situation a few years back. I sent the payment to the seller via a bank check from Hong Kong. It's very tough to get the money back. By that time there was an organization called something like Internet Police, which is a legitimate police organization around the world for fighting internet frauds. I did a search on google tonight but nothing came up. During those days, I have contacted several lawyers and collection agencies in the area where the seller lived in. A couple of lawyers did call up the seller and confirmed the case and contacted the police for me. However, it's also difficult to open a legitimate case on the police side as it's considered a kind of "consumer complaint". The amount involved was small, $1200, so I was told that I can put the seller into a small claim court. The max claimed amount varies in different cities, in Brooklyn, NY it's around $3000. So I sent an email to the seller that I will fly to NY and file a small claim court against him. Since I have an evidence that he got my money, he will definitely lose the case. When he loses the case, all of my travel expenses that are involved will be added to the claimed amount. That said, he will need to give me more money than what I have paid to him. He was scared off and sent me a check of the original amount minus S/H.<br /> My suggestion is to first contact the local police in the area where the seller lives in (not the police in Hong Kong though as it's a different jurisdication). Then warn the seller about the small claim court. The last resort is to hire a collection agency to track him down. If they can get your money back, they will keep half of it. It is a better-than-nothing solution though.</p>

<p>Hi Carlo, thanks for your suggestion, I am planning to do so.<br>

For my case, I created an facebook account: <br>

<a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001013672499">http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001013672499</a><br>

and a facebook group: eBay Leica fraud:<br>

<a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=113271708690532">http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=113271708690532</a></p>

<p>I sent some messages to the seller's friends and siblings, one of his siblings replied:<br>

"I think u have the wrong person! he has not sold anything on ebay, this is a fraud using his name!! he dosent have an ebay account for one and 2 i he wouldnt use mrlee73, u have the wrong person my friend"<br>

Then I tried to reply his message, but I can't do so as he blocked me in facebook.<br>

If what he said is true and Mr. Kyle S Khadar is just a scapegoat, please inform Mr. Kyle S Khadar that his personal information had been used for internet crime, and please report to Miami police and the bank asap. I can provide any necessary documents. </p>

<p>I also post my story to another forum:<br>

<a href="http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88456">http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88456</a></p>

<p>Never use bank transfer with someone whom you don't know (even in Hong Kong). Credit card is 1000x times safer. If anything goes wrong, then it is an ordeal between banks and card companies not you in between.<br>

If you can't use credit card / paypal, then just don't buy it. If I an item is a piece of Leica equipment, I definitely need to pay through paypal. No doubt.</p>

<p>Thanks Carlo. I reported to Miami FBI and Attorney General of Florida. Now I am waiting for their responses. </p>