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Call the local police department in her area, see if they have some sort of internet fraud/crime department, explain to them the scam. They may not be able to do anything...but at least they're local, in her area, and if they CAN do something you have people with authority right in her neighborhood that can go knock on her door and try to straighten things out. Don't just give up on this quite yet.


As soon as I realized the mistake I made I contacted the police department (which ironically is almost literally in her backyard), they said I have to go through my police department and have them send it over to them, so working with my local department now.
 
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As soon as I realized the mistake I made I contacted the police department (which ironically is almost literally in her backyard), they said I have to go through my police department and have them send it over to them, so working with my local department now.

Good! Hopefully that course of action plays out in your favor.

If not, another route you could go...find her on Facebook, see if you can access her friend list (or if her account isn't totally private you can see other people tagged in her pictures and posts), and start messaging her friends and family about the situation (in an honest and respectful way). Shame and embarrassment has a way of springing people into action very quickly. I know this idea is a little "iffy", I would look at this as a last ditch effort.
 
Good! Hopefully that course of action plays out in your favor.

If not, another route you could go...find her on Facebook, see if you can access her friend list (or if her account isn't totally private you can see other people tagged in her pictures and posts), and start messaging her friends and family about the situation (in an honest and respectful way). Shame and embarrassment has a way of springing people into action very quickly. I know this idea is a little "iffy", I would look at this as a last ditch effort.

I'm already on that, but it's actually quite hard to find her so far, however, the name seems to be correct. Thank you for the kind words!
 
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Good! Hopefully that course of action plays out in your favor.

If not, another route you could go...find her on Facebook, see if you can access her friend list (or if her account isn't totally private you can see other people tagged in her pictures and posts), and start messaging her friends and family about the situation (in an honest and respectful way). Shame and embarrassment has a way of springing people into action very quickly. I know this idea is a little "iffy", I would look at this as a last ditch effort.

I think this idea is more than a little iffy. Contacting third parties (friends, family, or others) and telling them what happened could be construed as harassment. It's likely that some of these people won't believe you and they or the buyer may turn around and do the same to you. I hope you get this resolved, but not this way.
 
I think this idea is more than a little iffy. Contacting third parties (friends, family, or others) and telling them what happened could be construed as harassment. It's likely that some of these people won't believe you and they or the buyer may turn around and do the same to you. I hope you get this resolved, but not this way.
I agree, it is a bad idea, and likely if someone tried to do that to me I'd report them for harassment. Let the police do their job, and use it as a learning experience.
 
I mean, dude, I feel really bad for you, regardless of how you wound up in this place, it is a serious bummer.

1. The only reason why I bought off eBay was because I had run out of that model of computer, and she was threatening to sue if she didnt have a laptop by friday (playing off of emotion)

This is what I don't get, was there a contract? A bill of sale? How could she - or could you think she could - "sue" you over a product that hadn't been paid for? I mean, that's the equivalent, of me walking into a car dealer, telling them I want a new 911 delivered to my house on Friday or I'll sue, and BTW, I don't want them to wait for payment verification, just trust me.

I don't mean to rub salt on the wound, but yikes ...
 
I think this idea is more than a little iffy. Contacting third parties (friends, family, or others) and telling them what happened could be construed as harassment. It's likely that some of these people won't believe you and they or the buyer may turn around and do the same to you. I hope you get this resolved, but not this way.
I kinda thought of it that way, too. But if you contact them in a respectful, factual manner - explain to them the situation and don't slander the "scammer" in any way - then I don't thiiiink it would really be harassment. Also, I find it hard to believe that someone that just scammed someone out of $1100 and a computer would have the audacity to turn around and file a harassment complaint against the person they just scammed.
 
So after doing some more digging, apparently this woman was not very smart. It looks like she used her real address to ship the computer to (apparently she is in the Housten Projects). I also have a working phone number, photo of her, and a signature she used to sign for the computer. Hopefully the police will have enough to go on.
 
So after doing some more digging, apparently this woman was not very smart. It looks like she used her real address to ship the computer to (apparently she is in the Housten Projects). I also have a working phone number, photo of her, and a signature she used to sign for the computer. Hopefully the police will have enough to go on.
Funny -- I was scammed on a MacBook Pro once -- PayPal covered my ass, believe it or not -- and where did I ship it to?

You guessed it -- Houston.
 
I find it hard to believe that someone that just scammed someone out of $1100 and a computer would have the audacity to turn around and file a harassment complaint against the person they just scammed.
Those are the people that do that, onest people won't even think about it...remeber the best defense is the attack...
 
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Wow, I'm confused, maybe the OP (or someone else) could clear things up.

  • So let me get this straight, you sell electronics on the side, and a potential buyer couldn't get paypal or google to work (why is this not a red flag for you?).
  • She then offers to buy a computer with apple gift cards that she does not have in her possession (why is this not a red flag).
  • You no longer have that model for sale so you have to buy one off ebay to sell to her - why doesn't she just do that and cut out the middle man?.
  • You send it to her, before funds are in your possession (this seems risky to me).
  • You then cancel the eBay purchase (or the shipment) because the apple store gift card thing was cancelled (presumably by her).


Seriously, after reading the OP's post, and reading it again because I couldn't believe it, I thought I was being scammed somehow.

Apple cards!?
 
I feel for you pal , I had one guy try it with me once who had claimed he had payed for an item but there was never any payment made . He went off on one saying that he was going to contact all sorts to make sure that the problem was dealt with .

He even went to the level of coming to my house least to say tho he was a little shocked when the door was opened and soon backed down .

Just be careful in future and don't fall for people's ****
 
Call the local police department in her area, see if they have some sort of internet fraud/crime department, explain to them the scam. They may not be able to do anything...but at least they're local, in her area, and if they CAN do something you have people with authority right in her neighborhood that can go knock on her door and try to straighten things out. Don't just give up on this quite yet.

THIS !

You learned a lesson the hard way.

Now let the person learn the rules of law as well.
It is a question of self-respect for yourself...

I´d never stop unless the person gets what he/she deserves: Being arrested.
 
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Hey MacDude2010 - we all do stupid things now and then... Just so long as you learn from it. :)

Here in Australia, you'd possibly be permitted by law to enter the lady's property (without using violence/property damage) and take the laptop, given that you bought it, and whilst you "gave" it to her, she then didn't pay you, so any contract between the two of you would be void... But of course, here in Australia you don't really have the likelihood of having a gun pulled on you...

(I say that, though admittedly just yesterday a guy was shot dead just a few streets away from the house I was living in 12 months ago... But really by comparison - not an issue...)
 
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For the people that have actually been nice about this and not call out my stupidity (I already knew what I did, no need to remind me), Thank you!

Right now this is an update:

1. She wasn't using her real name, but I found it and gave it to the police. I know this one is real because all the addresses (and even voice on youtube) line up.
2. I followed the advice of one of the forum members here and started contacting her friends and family to try to get them to persuade her to do the right thing.
3. Right now I'm waiting on my local police department to transfer the report over to the Houston police so they can start investigating it, it will take about a week to get over there, but they did tell me the chances of recovering the laptop are slim to none (but I believe that because I have her real name and address, the chances are slightly higher)
4. At this point, I'm considering it gone, but it will be a nice surprise if I get it back.
 
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For the people that have actually been nice about this and not call out my stupidity (I already knew what I did, no need to remind me), Thank you!

Right now this is an update:

1. She wasn't using her real name, but I found it and gave it to the police. I know this one is real because all the addresses (and even voice on youtube) line up.
2. I followed the advice of one of the forum members here and started contacting her friends and family to try to get them to persuade her to do the right thing.
3. Right now I'm waiting on my local police department to transfer the report over to the Houston police so they can start investigating it, it will take about a week to get over there, but they did tell me the chances of recovering the laptop are slim to none (but I believe that because I have her real name and address, the chances are slightly higher)
4. At this point, I'm considering it gone, but it will be a nice surprise if I get it back.
Solid course of action and perfect attitude to have towards the situation. Wishing you the best of luck!
 
For the people that have actually been nice about this and not call out my stupidity (I already knew what I did, no need to remind me), Thank you!

Right now this is an update:

1. She wasn't using her real name, but I found it and gave it to the police. I know this one is real because all the addresses (and even voice on youtube) line up.
2. I followed the advice of one of the forum members here and started contacting her friends and family to try to get them to persuade her to do the right thing.
3. Right now I'm waiting on my local police department to transfer the report over to the Houston police so they can start investigating it, it will take about a week to get over there, but they did tell me the chances of recovering the laptop are slim to none (but I believe that because I have her real name and address, the chances are slightly higher)
4. At this point, I'm considering it gone, but it will be a nice surprise if I get it back.


well done !

At least you did something to prevent that she will do it again…

I hope you still have the SerialNo, configuration like Type of HDD, Ram, and so on and you remind well some special and very individual things like scratches at certain points, Screen errors, special things about keyboard, and so won?This will help the police to identify more easier your MBP…

You should also refer the Serial NO to special websites for declaring them to be stolen. Seling them is more difficult for her like that… You could also public FACTS (!) about her behavior in public…. But before the last point , talk with the police about that.
 
Well, just a thought, if she is pulling this kind of scam it seems possible she's taking the computer to sell it (ex. For drugs, etc) rather then to use it, in which case you wouldn't necessarily be able to retrieve it. If she pawns it, I believe in most places the pawn shop will be required to hold it for 30 days. It might be worth calling pawn shops in her area, though her local police will likely do that. If she sells it, the best you could get is financial reimbursement, but not before getting caught up with further legal crap.

It's possible if she's scamming you she has no money, which means getting your money will be even more difficult.

Glad things are at least heading in the right direction.
 
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