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General And Slightly Off Topic Talk Forum for exchanging ideas and talking about general issues without straying too far off topic.

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Old 06-24-2003, 01:17 AM   #31
otlichnik
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In the world of Interpol (the international police liaison agency) these crimes are pretty small fry. However, that should not stop any member from attempting to do something about it. You can contact you local police force with the details and request that they forward the case through Interpol to the Latvian police.

You can also write to the Latvian Embassy in your country with the details seeking their help. Embassies hate to be embarassed, trust me

None of these ideas is guaranteed to work but there is no harm in trying. It will be important to keep to the facts and keep your presentation as professional as possibe. Also, maybe all the victims should band together. Write one joint letter of complaint and take it simultaneously to all of your local police forces and Latvian Embassies.

Shawn
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Old 07-12-2003, 05:49 PM   #32
Henry Sakaida
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Buying medals from overseas

I've only bought two medals off ebay when I was just starting out and very trusting. Luckily, both sellers were reputable! They were both US based. But I would never buy anything of $$$ value from someone overseas, ever. Here is why:
1. The guy is a stranger and you know nothing about him.
2. He could be running a scam.
3. If you are buying medals from Russia or the former republics,
you run the risk of getting it confiscated by their postal
authorities. I don't know how thorough they are about
outgoing packages. But in any event, your seller has already
been paid by you. If you get your stuff confiscated, you loose.
4. You may be getting a fake.
5. Unless you are an absolute expert, it will run you $85 or more
to get it authenticated.

My advice to you is to buy from the reputable dealers here, and let them worry about fakes. They are extremely careful about buying fakes themselves and they have their reputatiion to protect. If word ever gets out that one of them has sold someone a fake, believe me, we will all know about it! You may think you are saving $$$ by buying directly from the source...but you are taking a tremendous risk.
On the other hand, I once ordered a Hero Star from a dealer in Europe. I FAXed him, saying that I wanted the medal and instructed him to send me the medal upon receipt of my money order. Well, a few days after I mailed my money, it arriced by registered mail. And I didn't even sign for it. The postman simply stuck it in my mailbox! I know that my letter with payment had not reached him yet! I couldn't believe it!!! Go figure.
I hate seeing collectors screwed. As long as you buy from reputable dealers, you will be safe.
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Old 07-12-2003, 06:56 PM   #33
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I have been talking to a relative within the finnish police about this, she said she would check with "the guys who know more", but, since the value of my loss (150 EUR) is so low compared to other economical losses that occur, it is not likely that the case will be looked closer upon. I will get more info on this next week.

She also told me to contact the finnish embassy in Latvia. This is what they said:

- Be more careful when dealing with strangers. We can't do anything (sounded more like: "I dont have the time to talk to you, piss off").

When I asked the woman in the embassy to check if Savickis was in the phone book, she said there was no phone book in the embassy ( sure...) , and shortly after, they hang up. ... And still do I pay the taxes!!!

/Patrik
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Old 10-01-2003, 03:16 PM   #34
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Friends,

Yesterday I receive an e-mail which looked like it came from eBay, but when I started reading I became suspicious. I forwarded the e-mail to eBay "spoof" department and they confirmed that the e-mail is indeed an attempt to collect personal info.

Be careful!!!!

Here's the actual SPOOF e-mail. Note that it asks for personal info:


" Please Sign In...

We regret to inform you that your eBay account could be suspended if you don't resolve your problems. To resolve this problems please click here and login into your account in order to resolve your the problems. If your problems could not be resolved your account will be suspended for a period of 3-4 days, after that it will be again operational.

Per the User Agreement, Section 9, we may immediately issue a warning, temporarily suspend, indefinitely suspend or terminate your membership and refuse to provide our services to you if we believe that your actions may cause financial loss or legal liability for you, our users or us. We may also take these actions if we are unable to verify or authenticate any information you provide to us.



User ID


Password


Account type Seller Buyer



Mail from eBay
Password mail
City
State Select State
Postal Code (Zip)
Select Country
Primary phone #
Secondary phone #(optional)
Fax #(optional)
Gender (optional)

Regards,

Safeharbor Department
eBay, Inc.

--
eBay"

Here's what eBay/PayPal security department said about the e-mail:

"Dear XXXXXX,

Thank you for contacting PayPal.

Thank you for bringing this suspicious email to our attention. We can
confirm that the email you received; was not sent to you by PayPal. The
website linked to this email is not a registered URL authorized or used by
PayPal. We are currently investigating this incident fully. Please do not
enter any personal or financial information into this website.

If you have surrendered any personal or financial information to this
fraudulent website, you should immediately log into your PayPal Account and
change your password and secret question and answer information. Any
compromised financial information should be reported to the appropriate
parties.

If you notice any unauthorized activity associated with your PayPal
transaction history, please immediately report this to PayPal by following
the instructions below:

1. Go to https://www.paypal.com/
2. Click on the Security Center at the bottom of the page
3. Click on "Report a Problem"
4. Select the Topic: Report Fraud
5: Select the Subtopic: Unauthorized use of my PayPal Account, and click
Continue.
6. Follow the instructions to access the appropriate form

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us again.

Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department
PayPal, an eBay Company"

Last edited by CtahhR; 04-15-2014 at 05:54 AM.
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Old 10-01-2003, 07:02 PM   #35
Nota Bene
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New World,

Thanks for the warning. I have just received one like it.

Alexei
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Old 10-03-2003, 04:24 AM   #36
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Me too. And as I was doing something else at the time too I actually started to answer. I entered my user name and then remembered what it was and kiled it.

Be careful.

Shawn
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Old 10-03-2003, 02:01 PM   #37
Tretov
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I got this one some time ago:
-------------------------------------

SafeHarbor Pre-Suspension

Dear customer,

We regret to inform you that your eBay account will be suspended due to the violation of our site policy below:

* Misrepresentation of Identity (User) - Representing yourself as another eBay user or registering using the identity of another.

Due to the suspension of this account, please be advised you are prohibited from using eBay in any way. This includes the registering of a new account.

Please note that this suspension does not relieve you of your agreed-upon obligation to pay any fees you may owe to eBay.

According to our site policy you will have to confirm that you are the real owner of the eBay account by completing the following form or else your account will be deleted.


http://cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/ebayISAP...ation&bpuser=1


Our apologies for this unconvenience.

Thank you for usi! ng eBay!

http://www.ebay.com

------------------------

Well, they almost got me. The day I got this mail, I was heading for my summer house and checked my mail through the cell phone. The browser in the phone ain't that advanced, so it displays all font types the same way. And, it did not show that the link led to a site called "check-account.com". But, to my luck, the phones browsing abilities (in combination with a slow server) the page never loaded. If the phone had had a faster internet speed, well then anything could have happen

However, note the spelling errors... Those made me curious, so I phoned a friend who checked my auctions, they were all up and running.

/Patrick
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Old 10-09-2003, 04:56 PM   #38
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This true story was forwarded to me by a friend. This example of eBay fraud is certainly scary:

"Not too long ago - I'd say a month, I got an email from Ebay that said something to the effect of “we are canceling your account because your userID is also your email – protect yourself”

This was annoying … but since I figured I had no choice, I clicked on the link & changed my username from “"x" to "y". A couple days later, my hotmail account stopped working. My password was changed by someone ... someone NOT me.

Annoyed, but still not suspecting, I gave it a day or two before I wrote hotmail & went thru the process of retrieveing my password. It took me about 3 days in contacting MSN to get my password back. When I got back into my Hotmail account, I saw that my inbox had been cleared out, and there were like 40 emails … all ebay related.

After some looking, I discovered that someone had also gotten onto my ebay account and posted a listing for a 4-wheeler, under MY name. Something called a "Raptor." And listed it for like $3 grand, which is evidently cheap as Hell.

This person sold the raptor off-the-system to at LEAST 4 people and was almost successful in getting them to send $$$ ($2200 to $2800) via Western Union. Fortunately, when I realized what was happening, I emailed everyone right away and made sure they knew what was happening ... I contacted everyone on the list I could find & informed them of the scam. I also called & personally talked with 3 of them letting them know what was up. I think I was able to warn 3 or 4 of them in time to cancel their Western Union transactions.

I got the real-time IM ebay help to assist me in straightening everything out. They were good at it, but not prepared."

"Basically, they make an email that looks like it comes from Ebay, telling you to 'click here to update your account." Mine had the extra benefit of saying "your account will be deactivated if you do not." I had already received a few notices like this, and my username was the same as my email address, and the emails I had been getting said "We are doing this BECAUSE your username is the same, and this is very unsafe ... watch out for hackers" Hyuh! Anyway, I eventually followed the link (not looking where it took me) and changed my Username, as instructed. In filling out what looked like an Ebay form, the chump got all the info he needed to zap me.

A couple of the people who were NOT scammed used an escrow company. If you're making large purchases, that's the way to go. You send money to a disinterested 3rd party while you wait for your item. If it is what they say it is when you get it, then you authorize the escrow company to release the funds.

BTW - get this: My ebay account is linked to my Paypal account. my Paypal account is linked to my Checking account. And my Checking account is linked to my AMERITRADE account. This guy could have done some SERIOUS damage. I mean ... this guy could have potentially cleaned my liquidity out. It was NOT a good day for me.

Ever slam on the brakes as hard as you can and stop inches before you plow thru a barrier and over the edge of a cliff? That's how it feels.

Be VERY careful!"

Last edited by CtahhR; 04-15-2014 at 05:56 AM.
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Old 10-09-2003, 07:11 PM   #39
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I likewise had a recent e-mail from "eBay", which said that my account was to be terminated because of lack of verification. I was immediately suspicious, and went and placed a bid, just to make sure everything worked! I was especially suspicious since in the e-mail, "eBay" wanted me to enter my user ID and password. After having seen a very similar e-mail from "PayPal", I was quite suspicious, and contacted eBay, who confirmed that the e-mail was a hoax.

The e-mail looked REALLY good, just like the one from "PayPal"... They looked just like something that the company would send, and, in fact, the eBay one came from a reasonably legitimate sounding address: aw-confirm@eBay.com. Here's the actual text of the e-mail:

"Dear eBay User,

"During our regular update and verification of the accounts, we could not verify your current information. Either your information has changed or it is incomplete.

"As a result, your access to bid or buy on eBay has been restricted.

"According to our site policy you will have to confirm that you are the real owner of the eBay account by log in and complete the form that will pop up or else your account will be suspended without the right to register again with eBay.

"After you will login please verify your information in order to complete this verification.

"Thank you

"eBay Customer Support"

Now, what's interesting is that New World notes in his posting that eBay was wanting his friend to change his User ID because it was his e-mail address. I actually got that same notice on the same page as a bid confirmation! (Not an e-mail!) It warned me to change my User ID before January 2004. I disregarded it because my User ID isn't even remotely my e-mail address, but now that spoofs are using the same approach, it's quite interesting!

--Dave
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Old 12-01-2003, 11:44 AM   #40
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Dealing with dishonest sellers in the USA

Colleagues,

Just to continue the discussion on the topic of fraudelent sales - let's move the focus from Baltics to the USA.

My question is - if someone had commited similar fraud (ie. sold fakes, pocketed $$$ without delivering the medals, refuses refund, etc.) in the US - what would be the ways for us the collectors to deal with such dishonest sellers?

Where would we go to get help in such matters?

What kind of authorities should be contacted?

What are our rights as the buyers?

I think this is the topic of interest to all of us and if anyone has experience dealing with the matters like this one - please share with the rest of us.

Best regards,
William
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