Ebay Fraudulent seller warning - EBAY SCAM!

[adamfilip]

This seller named q3fusion
q3fusion on ebay profile (http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=q3fusion&iid=5741703598&frm=284)

is trying to sell 17" powerbooks and 20" cinema displays
the auctions seem real but he is infact only selling artwork/photos of the items but people are bidding huge amounts. thinking these auctions are real.

ITS ALL A COMPLETE SCAM!

I know I won an auction
This auction (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5741703598&ssPageName=ADME:B:BN:US:1)

I stupidly sent payment but finally after hours of arguing and managing to lock out his paypal account i got my money refunded.

DO not bid on any of his auctions.
RETRACT your bid if you have placed it

if you won an auction. DO NOT PAY
Leave negative feedback

Send a complaint to ebay at this link complaint site on ebay (http://cgi3.ebay.ca/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll)

here is a quote from any email i exchanged with the selOk, it sounds good to me. Do as you need to. I appreciate your
business. Also, I do understand how much of a big deal this is to you.
And as you may or may not know this is a lesson to people who waste
money everyday. I believe you have learned your lesson. People die
everyday. Instead of spending the money on some auction for a computer
that is really useless, why don't you donate it to the cause of dieing
and starving children? I hope that your sense of greed does not bring
you to this extent in further time. I have no need for your money,
however you do need to contact ebay and get my neg feed back off. Know
that paypal will not refund your money. Children every day die, and
what are you doing for the cause. Life is not something to just let
slip by. Only if you knew what they went through. Good luck in what
you do.

Kai."

its all a complete SCAM

[Sun Baked]

Yep, there is no mention of it being artwork or photographs.

I am selling packages featuring this...

Photos, poster, pictures, etc. are usually quite a different description.

This package is as complete as we can offer it. You may not complain simply because it is not as complete as you want it to be. Everybody has their own view of complete, this auction complies to our view of complete. Which is the same as it was recieved from the warehouse.If they were selling picture they make, it would be nice to know how they receive it from a warehouse.

[adamfilip]

I cant believe i was so stupid.. :(

[Sun Baked]

I cant believe i was so stupid.. :(Don't be, it was being sold where you would expect to find hardware -- without any description saying it wasn't.

If they want to sell art, photos, etc. -- there's a place for that.

http://buy.ebay.com/art

What they were doing is running a fraud, con, etc. -- with a description that would mislead everyone reading it.

[GFLPraxis]

Rofl. That guy should burn and die, but it is an ingenius scam.

[Jsmit]

I was fooled too. I said wow that would be a great deal for that computer. Then I started looking closely at the pictures. Those are Ti-Books!!! His new auctions show AlBooks though. The only reason I noticed was because I knew it was a scam already.

Glad to hear you got your money back, there is justice in this world. Well at least sometimes there is.

[Counterfit]

I love how he tried to get all high and mighty on you. :D


What a maroon :rolleyes:

[Chip NoVaMac]

Surely the authorities can help you out in some way.

Misrepresentation is the key here.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[geese]

There was a case in the UK some time ago where some boy was arrested and charged for selling "Playstation 2, Box'. basically fooling people into thinking they were bidding for PS2's but they were only receiving PS2 boxes.

The scammers defence was that people were mis-interpreting his description, although when asked why he was selling under the 'games and consoles' categegory rather then a more appropriate one, he couldnt think of an answer.

[Zeke]

Notify ebay so they pull the other auctions. Otherwise lots of other people are going to be scammed. I hate people like this.

There was a case in the UK some time ago where some boy was arrested and charged for selling "Playstation 2, Box'. basically fooling people into thinking they were bidding for PS2's but they were only receiving PS2 boxes.

The scammers defence was that people were mis-interpreting his description, although when asked why he was selling under the 'games and consoles' categegory rather then a more appropriate one, he couldnt think of an answer.

[AppleMatt]

Post his email address so that SPAM bots can pick it up. If he's harping on about children dying every day (which somehow gives him a reason to steal) you might as well waste as much of his time as you can.

I wonder why the others gave him positive feedbacks.
edit: "I believe you have learned your lesson" :mad: what??? that if someone has positive feedback for selling macs and advertises a mac by misrepresentation you should somehow know? That there's low-lifes in this world, and he's one of them? It's a shame he wasn't in-front of you, you could have smashed him in the face then said something witty...

...like "I believe you have learned your lesson".

To be completely honest, and it's probably going to get me flamed, I wouldn't have bought from the auction not only because he only has a few feedbacks but mainly because his english is so poor.

AppleMatt (don't criticise my english in this post :) )

[Chip NoVaMac]

To be completely honest, and it's probably going to get me flamed, I wouldn't have bought from the auction not only because he only has a few feedbacks but mainly because his english is so poor.

AppleMatt (don't criticise my english in this post :) )

I can't speak for adamfilip, but many out there don't really know about the scams out there. Wasn't going to say anything about it, but since you brought it up: this type of posting has cropped up a few times on eBay over the last month or so.

For myself, I usually don't deal with someone unless they have more than 50 to 75 sales of similar items. And if I do, I generally ask if I can pick up the item personally. Scammers will say no. In the end I will only buy something from someone that I am suspect of, if I am willing to lose my money. Sort of a crap shoot if you will.

The real shame of it is that eBay only pays lip service to the security of their transactions. There is so much more that they could do that would not cost them much of any of their profits. And if they tightened their ship a bit, they could have a profit center of insurance that covered the full lost value, other than the 5 to 10% premium.

If you can't tell, I put eBay themselves up to the same level as the scammers themselves. But in the end we all want something for nothing. I just saved over 40% by buying my dog's Greenies on eBay. I would have been just as happy buying from Petco or PetsMart if they were even down the middle of where they are now, compared to eBay sellers.

[bitfactory]

i feel sorry for you - but you should learn to read the descriptions a bit closer...

this line raises the big red flag:
Free shipping is provided to users that provide feedback as soon as the auction is over.

this to me says FRAUD. why would anyone send feedback before they actually had the product in their hands?

edit...

oh - and i love this line, too.
This package is as complete as we can offer it. You may not complain simply because it is not as complete as you want it to be. Everybody has their own view of complete, this auction complies to our view of complete.

huh? so is it complete, or not? :)

what a dips**t. it's obvious this guy is a little slow - why would you buy from him? glad you got your money back, though.

[Chip NoVaMac]

what a dips**t. it's obvious this guy is a little slow - why would you buy from him? glad you got your money back, though.

I missed that part. Glad to see a good guy winning sometimes.

[dvdh]

Just sent this link to the top three bidders on each of his powerbook auctions. . . .

[Chip NoVaMac]

Just sent this link to the top three bidders on each of his powerbook auctions. . . .

Careful on that. There have been reports of eBay users being banned for such activity.

At the same point, the warning should go out to those that are bidding on an item that the seller has hid the bidders list from. There are legit (I guess) reasons for this; but in my book it smells of a scam.

[Mertzen]

I do wonder why these auctions are still up when they are a fraud .. :confused:

[dvdh]

Careful on that. There have been reports of eBay users being banned for such activity.

I was careful to say that it *may* be a scam and they should check the link to decide for themselves. I only got about half way through the second set of powerbooks though and ran out of emails . . . .too bad.

Besides, given that I have only ever bought one thing on ebay, being banned would hardly be a set back if it helps protects someone's hard earned cash.

[liketom]

adamfilip i was thinking if you could put the images up on your website so we can have a look at it !! i just looked at the auction and even though it looks iffy it still does say

"This package that you will recieve is featuring the following:

G4 Power Book with:

The featured notebook contains 1GB of ram.
80GB Ultra ATA/100Mac OS X
1.5GHz PowerPC G4
17-inch (diagonal), 1440 x 900 resolution, TFT widescreen
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 128MB of DDR SDRAM
SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit)
Built-in 54-Mbps AirPort Extreme; built-in Bluetooth
Built-in 56K V.92 modem
Full size, illuminated with ambient light sensor
Mac OS X v10.3 Panther
S-video to composite adapter, DVI to VGA adapter
Modem cable, power adapter, AC wall plug, power cord"

hell it even shows a picture of the powerbook
now call me stupid but that does not say ARTWORK or Pictures ???

i know the rest of the wording that follows is questionable about the feedback but hell if you feel he is a rip off

but hey if you wanna ask the man a question e-mail him fragfusi@fragfusion.net

[Chip NoVaMac]

I was careful to say that it *may* be a scam and they should check the link to decide for themselves. I only got about half way through the second set of powerbooks though and ran out of emails . . . .too bad.

Besides, given that I have only ever bought one thing on ebay, being banned would hardly be a set back if it helps protects someone's hard earned cash.

Still even with the word "may" others have run afoul of mother eBay. It just shows who is of interest to eBay. Thanks for trying to help others.

[adamfilip]

I never ended up getting one of these prints.

I must have been too excited about getting a 17" powerbook at a great price
that I didnt see the obvious signs.

after I won the auction I sent payment via paypal
the next day i got an email telling me its a scam with prints.

I then started bombarding the seller with ebay, paypal and square trade inquires and investigations.. talked to him over the phone argued till i was about to blow.

then once he realized that he could do any more transaction while the paypal investigation was going on.. he refunded my money.
luckily he didnt withdrawl the funds or I would be screwed.

I called the RCMp and regional police. unfortunately the cant do anything until I get the "print" and see that its obviously not the real thing.

Ive been contacting other bidders. warning them of this scam and getting them to retract their bids.

I believe the seller is getting friends to buy stuff and post positive feedback aswell..and asking people to post a complaint to ebay. they will do something if they get enough complaints.



adamfilip i was thinking if you could put the images up on your website so we can have a look at it !! i just looked at the auction and even though it looks iffy it still does say

"This package that you will recieve is featuring the following:

G4 Power Book with:

The featured notebook contains 1GB of ram.
80GB Ultra ATA/100Mac OS X
1.5GHz PowerPC G4
17-inch (diagonal), 1440 x 900 resolution, TFT widescreen
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 128MB of DDR SDRAM
SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit)
Built-in 54-Mbps AirPort Extreme; built-in Bluetooth
Built-in 56K V.92 modem
Full size, illuminated with ambient light sensor
Mac OS X v10.3 Panther
S-video to composite adapter, DVI to VGA adapter
Modem cable, power adapter, AC wall plug, power cord"

hell it even shows a picture of the powerbook
now call me stupid but that does not say ARTWORK or Pictures ???

i know the rest of the wording that follows is questionable about the feedback but hell if you feel he is a rip off

but hey if you wanna ask the man a question e-mail him fragfusi@fragfusion.net

[dvdh]

I did a quick check on the registration for fragfusion.net and .com. Not surprisingly they have no owner/contact/admin information. Looks like someone is going the distance to keep their identity covered.

[MacNeXT]

Reminds me of a scam that was once going on in the Netherlands, when pagers/beepers were the big thing. We call them "piepers", which literally translates into beepers, but the thing is, pieper is also a synonym for potato here. So people were reacting to ads for them in the newspaper and they got a box of potatoes.

[Chip NoVaMac]

I believe the seller is getting friends to buy stuff and post positive feedback aswell..and asking people to post a complaint to ebay. they will do something if they get enough complaints.

This a popular eBay scam. It is not even "friends"; but multiple accounts to "partners" in crime. Though in this case, if memory serves me well, you were only the second "buyer". The other activity was him buying from "sellers". That is a red flag for some of us.

[dvdh]

Now where will he pop up next . . . ?

[Chip NoVaMac]

Now where will he pop up next . . . ?

To be honest I came up with an empty search on eBay.

If someone was willing to take the time, they might find postings here with a similar MO...

[svejar]

When I started using EBay a friend gave me a simple rule:

"Never pay more than $1 pr. positive feedback to a seller", so if a seller has a positive feedback of 200 my maximum bid is $200. This rule has served me well so far. I'm sure I've lost out on some good deals, but usually I end up sleeping a lot better at night...

[aricher]

Look like he's "no longer a registered user." Good luck getting your $$ back - sometimes you have recourse with Paypal or eBay.

[adamfilip]

Look like he's "no longer a registered user." Good luck getting your $$ back - sometimes you have recourse with Paypal or eBay.


AWESOME.. thats great im really glad hes no longer registered

Thank you EBAY!.

I just hope no one else is trying to get their money back

[dvdh]

AWESOME.. thats great im really glad hes no longer registered

Great job on exposing the scammer adamfilip!!

[Mechcozmo]

Anyone else notice that the pictures didn't match the auction in the link you provided, adamflip?

It was the first thing I saw... Scam artists usually don't know enough about Macs to get the right pictures.

[dvdh]

Anyone else notice that the pictures didn't match the auction in the link you provided, adamflip?

It was the first thing I saw... Scam artists usually don't know enough about Macs to get the right pictures.

Yeah, thought it was a little odd that the pics showed a 17" TiBook, while the description was for a current generation AlBook. The scammer did get that fixed for the later auctions though. I also thought that it was a little odd that the laptop (singular quite intentionally) was photographed sitting on what looks like a bed, an odd scenario for someone who just "bought out a media company".

Anyways, it easier to miss these things at the time, while they may be immediately apparent in retrospect.

[Hemingray]

i feel sorry for you - but you should learn to read the descriptions a bit closer...

this line raises the big red flag:
Free shipping is provided to users that provide feedback as soon as the auction is over.

this to me says FRAUD. why would anyone send feedback before they actually had the product in their hands?

AHA. Well then that would explain why he got positive feedback for this auction (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=81687&item=5153729549).

[Raid]

I'm glad this guy was called out, his auctions are really decptive:
Featured in this package is... Note that he didn't use the phrase "Contained in this package"

We are a closing media company and need to sell 5 really really fast.
Note here that he didn't say "We need to sell 5 computers really really fast."
... honestly I'd probably over look that too in the description, with the bad grammar I've seen on the internet my brain tries hard to fill in the gaps left by the authors

However this phrase would have been the deal breaker for me:This package is as complete as we can offer it. You may not complain simply because it is not as complete as you want it to be. Everybody has their own view of complete, this auction complies to our view of complete.
It subtly says that your not going to like what you get, and you'd better not complain.

What a jerk, proven by his rebuttal email. I'm glad you didn't get burned adamfilip, and I'm happy you shut down this guys scam too!

[Chip NoVaMac]

However this phrase would have been the deal breaker for me:
It subtly says that your not going to like what you get, and you'd better not complain.

What a jerk, proven by his rebuttal email. I'm glad you didn't get burned adamfilip, and I'm happy you shut down this guys scam too!

I have learned to read very carefully now any eBay auctions. Thought I was good, but did not catch this twist.

[dvdh]

AHA. Well then that would explain why he got positive feedback for this auction (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=81687&item=5153729549).

LOL, feed back less that three minutes after winning the auction, I'd love to know which company shipped that . . .

[Chip NoVaMac]

LOL, feed back less that three minutes after winning the auction, I'd love to know which company shipped that . . .

That is why I always say that I will send feedback AFTER I get the item, when I am sent an email for feedback after I have paid.

[puckhead193]

Yeah, thought it was a little odd that the pics showed a 17" TiBook, while the description was for a current generation AlBook. The scammer did get that fixed for the later auctions though. I also thought that it was a little odd that the laptop (singular quite intentionally) was photographed sitting on what looks like a bed, an odd scenario for someone who just "bought out a media company".

Anyways, it easier to miss these things at the time, while they may be immediately apparent in retrospect.


Yea i also noticed that i was a Ti pb, not AL... also that first picture of it looked like he got if off online and not an acutal picture of the product.....
I highley doubt he's got a studio is his house!

[sjpetry]

This guy is a co**su**er.

He is not worthy of even looking at a Mac. :mad:

[cheekyspanky]

I think the best rule with eBay is - if you can't pick it up from the seller, don't bid on it! It just seems so easy to be screwed over by unscrupulous sellers. eBay really need to sort this out, otherwise it won't be too long before the mainstream media point out its a bad idea to use eBay and they'll start seeing a fall in profits. (I hope anyway..!)

Could you contact any of the people who have sold him stuff? They may well have an address for him, unless of course they are his partners in crime.