I just remembered. . .between the time the Wall Street and Lombard PowerBooks were released, there was an entire family somewhere in the Deep South that was these PowerBooks on eBay and other outlets, through their several accounts. Back then, it was unusual for a buyer to offer a sale without first receiving payment, though this often did occur.
Anyway, the Clampets required advanced payment for their PowerBooks. Sadly, I was one of their victims. They offered a discount, but not very steep. I don't know how it happened -- whether I contacted them or they became aware of me -- but I spoke to an upper level FBI agent about my situation. He told me that the theft, resale, and phony offering of PowerBooks was one of the biggest "white collar" crimes in terms of goods and services at that time. He also told me that the Clampets would frequently deliver a single PowerBook to buyers who ordered more than one. He later referred me to Apple's Head of Security who confirmed what the agent told me. Unfortunately, I never recovered my payment.
At that time, the popular belief was that if you bought something through eBay, you'd be protected in the event you got screwed. Thousands of us found out the hard way that this was not the case. As I wrote earlier, eBay took no responsibility for any kind of losses, including outright theft. Fact is, this family remained on eBay despite the fact that the FBI was tracking them.
Unbelievable.
