Gregg, et al.:
This sounds like the classic case of identity theft where the buyer gets
into the real person's account by phishing then buys items until discovered.
You got lucky to have the machine returned and hopefully the horn will come
back too. At some point the payment will likely be rescinded also. How did
you
get the BidPay Money Order? It too may be bogus if it was an electronic
transfer and it may be pulled back by the issuer upon proof of fraud at the
sending end. If you had the Money Order in hand, did you put it into your
bank
account? I know of one eBay seller who had the money deducted from their
account later. So, I would think that you do the following steps, some you
already have started:
1) Follow the trace on the horn and if lost be sure to collect the
insurance. Should you never see it again you will only have half a machine.
2) You have contacted eBay but also contact BidPay to confirm payment
authenticity. They may inform you of identity theft and fraud investigations.
Give them the number from the payment and see what they say.
3) If you gave the sender any kind of bank information for depositing funds
in your account, go to your bank and alert them.
4) The guy is likely not French, that is why he cannot understand your
daughter's letter in French. I would bet he is middle eastern or african.
His
pigeon English is likely also a put on to confuse you. I have had one French
seller do this to me and did not go through with the deal because something
felt wrong. The seller was pulled from eBay with the cryptic "no longer a
valid eBay participant" or something like that.
When a phonograph came up early last year from France I emailed the seller
and got only garbled English back. When French was used garbled English again
came back. My trick was simply asking for the serial number and last patent
date of the machine, something that is good to know for bidding and dating a
machine. The seller could not supply these so I knew he did not have the
machine but was only in possession of pictures likely taken at a shop. That
same machine appeared for sale again later in the year from another French
seller using the same photos even though the first machine was listed as
having
been sold. eBay pulled the second seller as well just after the sale ended
and without explanation.
If the buyer of your machine was on the up and up, not using someone else's
accounts and money then selling the machine later in the local flea market, it
will all get sorted out with time. However, from all indications things
were not rotten in Denmark but in France.
With eBay even the sellers these days needs be wary. Only give your PayPal
password when you go into the site and a secure connection is made, same for
eBay. Report eBay and PayPal fake phishing messages to [email protected]_
(mailto:[email protected]) and [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) .
Never
go into an account where the message was sent to you because the links are
fake sites and all your information gets used for fraudulent activities.
With best wishes,
Al
PS: Now I can really start collecting full speed ahead, I just got an email
from South Africa telling me a distant relative has left me a gold mine.
All I have to do is pay the transfer taxes first! That is the third email
with
offers of millions in dollars this week. I am going to be very very rich.
;-)
