carlo_chung1

<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>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>