This morning my girlfriend called to share her first experience with a true sale. She has never done the day after thanksgiving or really been drawn by an ad, but when she saw an item for half price she figured, hey, what a good deal. So she was advised to be there when the store open; which she thought was unnecessary but she went. And as she said, "She completely underestimated the power of a sale." She got the item and was glad she was there early. As we were talking we were discussing the gift card scam. Scammers writing down numbers off of gift cards, waiting a few days then calling the company to see what the remaining balance was on "their gift card." They then turn around and spend the balance of the card on the internet. So not right.
Well, awhile back my mom and dad bought a Lego Mindstorm NXT off of ebay. It was before Thanksgiving, my mom had been searching for one as a project for my dad to do with the grandkids. It was not a gift, so when it arrived my dad and one of my nephews went to work assembling and programming it. It is a robot that you can program from your computer and it does various tasks. Pretty cool. Apparently a hot item this holiday season. So the scam....stay tuned. When my mom made the bid, it stated money order only. Now normally ones preferred method of payment for internet purchases would be PayPal. This Mindstorm was a great deal so mom and dad decided to make the bid and send in the money order. The lady had apparently put the item in layaway before Wal-Mart did away with there layaway, she had bought it at full price and then put the item on ebay to sell for profit. Not a crime. Well, at the time my mom made the bid, it was expected to be a hot item but the buyers were not yet buying, so she won the bid, for $80 less than the going price. Mom was ecstatic, she sent the money order and a few days later the package arrived. Shipped directly from Wal-Mart layaway and fully intact. The packaging lasted but a few minutes. A month later my mom received a letter stating that the seller was sorry but the Mindstorm needed to be returned. The whole letter was a bit hokey stating that she had a partner and there was a misunderstanding and sorry but I need it back and a report has already been established with the FBI. The original money order was included in the letter. Apparently uncashed. My mom was irritated, it was already being used and it was not going to be returned. They had paid the asking price and followed all the stipulations of the contract. My dad was concerned, what was it all about. As mom looked online she quickly realized that Mindstorm NXT is A VERY HOT ITEM and that some were selling for four times the original price. So it appeared that the woman was trying to get it back so she could resell it for the profit she originally planned. Dirty. My mom got curious about the money order so she went to Western Union to look into it. AND HERE IS THE SCAM...apparently you can now scan in money orders and cash them from the digital form. Leaving the original fully intact and appearing uncashed. So my mom asked if this money order was cashed or not, and it HAD BEEN CASHED. Total scam. Totally irritating. My mom contacted Ebay about the seller and has yet to hear back from them. She also made a file documenting all that transpired. Should any FBI agent come knocking on the door, ha!
Use your head, scammers are getting more creative all the time.
6 comments:
That is just AWFUL! I am glad your mum was smart with checking this out before she got ripped off.
That is pitiful. I thought I was a victim about 2 weeks ago. The item I ordered was $7. I was taking a long time to receive. I went on Ebay and the seller was no longer listed. So I was going to file a complaint. But first I emailed the seller, and got a response back and the item in the mail.
Needless to say I don't think I'm going to buy anything else from ebay. That kind of shook my confidence.
I saw on the news the other day the gift card scam. I was surprised just because I hadn't thought about it.
Sometimes they will scratch off the pin on the back of the card, so you should always check before you buy.
Sometimes they will take it out of the packaging and replace it with a "dead" card, so when it is scanned by the packaging, the activated card is the one they stole. So, you should always have the cashier "test" the card at the register to make sure the proper amount is actually on there.
So sad people feel the need to do such things.
WOW. I am glad you shared that because I use ebay all the time. Although I never bid on anything that doesn't take paypal.
Ughhh how frustrating.
I just wanted to stop in and say hello...and to let you know that the names are now showing up in the comments...it was an easy switch to Beta...thankfully!!!! I used to buy off ebay alot, however, even though I didn't experience any problem in particular, I stopped. I do however, buy books and movies off of half.com..and just do alot of research on the seller first.
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