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Anyone got cheated in eBay before?

Son of Matrix

Son of Matrix

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 9, 2008
214
0
I have paid for a macbookpro... but I have some feeling that I will get duped! I hope I am wrong...please....I paid into his bank account in the UK already...He said he will send me the tracking ID tomorrow for the item...However, I saw him relisting the same item again in eBay...He said that he has 4 macbook pro for sale...i also found that the ebay account doesnt belong to him. He said that it belongs to his cousin...Or am I just being paranoid...oh boy...this will be a long night...

He said that he doesn't have my address but I already messaged him in ebay. He said that he does not have internet access and asked me to send a SMS to again on my address...
 
Paid directly into his bank -- not his ebay account -- sez he magically has 4 identical machines for sale -- not good news. Call your bank and ask if the transaction can be reversed.

Please tell me you are in the UK too -- you didn't send money to an offshore bank for a Mac??
 
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Hawkeye411 said:
Did you use PayPal to pay for the item? Or did you use a credit card?
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i went to the bank and bank into his account. I have his name and his account number. I don't think a scammer will give me his real name right?? And also I think the bank in UK will have proper checking on their customer right??
 
CanadaRAM said:
Paid directly into his bank -- not his ebay account -- sez he magically has 4 identical machines for sale -- not good news. Call your bank and ask if the transaction can be reversed.

Please tell me you are in the UK too -- you didn't send money to an offshore bank for a Mac??
Click to expand...

Am in the UK too...man........I really hope that there's no problem...
 
Well ... hopefully he is honest but, I'm sorry to say that is the worse way to pay for an item on EBay. You should always use PayPal and your credit card. If the item doesn't arrive, you can contact PayPal and they may refund your purchase and you can call your credit card company and have the charge reversed.

If your bank is open, you should go there right away to see if you can reverse the transfer. I know that when I make a mistake on a bank payment that is done online, I have some time to go to the bank to have it reversed.

What is the EBay auction number?
 
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I hate to say it, but if you're in the states, and you sent money to someone in the UK for a computer on ebay, you most likely just lost your money. Did you use a credit card or paypal or western union/money order?

Hopefully I'm wrong, and you're just dealing with poor communication by the seller.
 
No doubt in my mind that you just got scammed. I hope you used PayPal. If not, just contact eBay and see what your next steps are, but I think there's not much you can do.


What I would do is contact the seller again to "buy" the same macbook that he reposted, but do it under a different name. But, tell him that you want to mail him cash. You'll have to be tricky, but convince him you're sending cash, and get an address to mail it to. Then, show up with the cops (or a bat) when he tries to pick it up.

Oh, and contact your bank. They might have fraud protection, or at least insurance to refund your money. And probably better to have your bank hunt him down than you if at all possible.
 
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Hawkeye411 said:
Well ... hopefully he is honest but, I'm sorry to say that is the worse way to pay for an item on EBay. You should always use PayPal and your credit card. If the item doesn't arrive, you can contact PayPal and they may refund your purchase and you can call your credit card company and have the charge reversed.

If your bank is open, you should go there right away to see if you can reverse the transfer. I know that when I make a mistake on a bank payment that is done online, I have some time to go to the bank to have it reversed.

What is the EBay auction number?
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i have pmed you...i just dont want to publish this until i am certain he is not genuine...
 
Adokimus said:
I appreciate you coming to macrumors to get advice, but you should have already called your bank by now. If not, call them. Don't wait!
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ok i will go tomorrow morning. it's 1:20 am here... thanks. you are right, i will need to check with my bank on what i can do...maybe freeze his account or something...am sure he will already have withdrawn the money...hope he delivers tomorrow...
 
slybeans said:
Wow mate, that sounds REALLY dodgy, I'd try to get my money back ASAP
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i hope someone with this experience or knows about this similar experience can provide advise. my best bet is to go to the bank and see if this is a really dodgy transaction and what i can do about it.

he's using his REAL name for the bank account so I think he won't dare to dupe me...off to bed..wish me luck...
 
There are routinely Mac items for sale on craigslist.ca for ridiculously low prices. Although the user indicates he is from somewhere in Canada, s/he always ends up being in the UK for some reason. If you do a search, you'll find descriptions of this scam. Apparently the UK, Italy and countries in Africa are the biggest offenders in this type of scam.

Sorry, Dude.
 
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Son of Matrix said:
ok i will go tomorrow morning. it's 1:20 am here... thanks. you are right, i will need to check with my bank on what i can do...maybe freeze his account or something...am sure he will already have withdrawn the money...hope he delivers tomorrow...
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Good luck having his account frozen over an Ebay claim :D

I hate to say it, but you most likely will not get your money back since you were foolish enough to send it straight to his bank account. Ebay won't help you unless you used PayPal.
 
Before you bid on the item did you check his feedback? If not, you should always check the sellers feedback and see how long has that person been register with ebay. This always help you to give you a peace of mind when buying or selling overseas. Hopefully he has a good feedback record and beenregister with ebay for a while. Hopefully everything turns out O K.
 
this should be a lesson for all...always use paypal. seriously only buy and sell w/ paypal. with expensive items it's better to use paypal. b/c they cover you if you did not receive item if your case is legit and etc you would get your money back. but since you didn't you probably won't get your money back :/
paypal protects buyers and sellers. ebay always prefers paypal. it makes it easier for everyone.
anyway hope things get resolved and you get your mbp or get all your money back.
 
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newbie2008 said:
this should be a lesson for all...always use paypal.
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I seriously wouldn't even give five seconds thought to an eBay auction that did not accept paypal...

I haven't really been cheated per se on eBay. But I'm pretty sure that the one or two times I foolishly ordered Gameboy games on there, I got knockoffs....
 
im a long time ebay user. only got scamed once...

iPod Video 5G - paid for a "list"

What is the auction number?
 
Sorry to say this but it seems you just got scammed. You should have been more careful about doing this type of transaction. I mean, do you have his phone number? His address? Making a direct deposit into his bank account is probably - I hate to say it - the stupidest way to pay for something.

Regardless, good luck...
 
If it turns out you got scammed, make sure you don't lose the account number, call the bank you transferred money into to confirm the name, and then contact your local police, and give them as much information as possible (including the phone number of your scammer's local police).

Keeping my finger's crossed for you!

I bought two things on ebay, on two separate occasions. And I got scammed both times. Fortunately it was only DVDs for about $15... but I'm never using ebay again.
 
newbie2008 said:
this should be a lesson for all...always use paypal. paypal protects buyers and sellers. ebay always prefers paypal.
Click to expand...

Oh, please!!! "Ebay always prefers paypal?" Well, duhhh, yeah - 'cause it owns it and makes double the fees off of every transaction that uses paypal.

"Paypal protects buyers and sellers"? In your dreams! Good luck trying to find a regular eBay seller of big ticket items who hasn't been screwed over by PayPal.

Yep, PayPal is safer for buyers - 'cause eBay will tell you to go jump in a lake if you use any other payment method that isn't generating double the fees for them. Is anybody around here old enough to remember, way back in the good old days, when eBay used to provide buyer protection for all transactions, regardless of payment method?
 
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Is it too hard to hope that this guys MBP might get delivered tomorrow morning??? its 6.22am
 
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