Who do I report ebay to?

darrengillies

Cutting a long story short, I've been a victim of fraud on ebay, my case was instantly closed with their resolution centre because i never paid via Paypal. That's fine, i cant change their policy on that but I have strong evidence that the seller that scammed me is a serial fraudster and he has had a previous ebay account and I have been in contact with somebody whom he has done over before.

Now, I have recontacted ebay regarding this matter being ignored on the prima facie matter of money without paying heed to the greater picture of this seller being a serial fraudster.

If nothing more is said by ebay, who do I ultimately report them to for ignoring the blatant fraud going on?

Also, is there somewhere on the forum here i can post details of this fraudster?

suited-aces

Ebay gave you a secure means of payment which you avoided, so I'm not sure what body would find them liable. On the other hand, ebay are not the final arbiter, you could still pursue the scammer via small claims court (if they're uk based).

darrengillies

As I've said, it's not about the money, it's if ebay ignore a raised matter of a seller scamming

porto_bello

First, I don't think it's wise to post any specific details about the seller, or your own identity here.

There are a number of experienced MSE users, who have written thousands of helpful replies here, and who between them, have encountered all types of scams, so they will be able to point you in the right direction... but it is difficult to know which direction, as the type of scam isn't specific.

Without identifying yourself, the seller or the transaction, you need to explain what the issue is. For example:
Did you send a cheque and the item sent to you is not that sold?
Did you pay cash and later find the item is a fake/broken?
Did you pay and receive nothing?

RFW

First, if they don't handle the money how do they know you have paid (apart from your say so) and how, if they did, do they go about getting it for you?
Second, how do you know they have ignored you and are not doing anything about the seller?

If you suspect someone of fraud you should report them to the police. I suspect this is more of a consumer issue, so contacting your local Trading Standards would probably be better than the police, though you can contact both.

qazitory

I suppose it depends on the type of fraud? Could you contact the police or trading standards?

darrengillies

Ebay listing for audio equipment - cash into sellers account(i know, but from how the seller described the item and all the photos i was convinced). Proof is in the receipt of payment from the bank which can be backed up by the CCTV of me being there at the time and date stated on the receipt.

Seller took long time posting, stalled by email with excuses and ultimately received nothing. I googled his name and the title of the ebay listing, suspecting a fraud and found a similar forum post about him being a scammer and duplicates of the listing on gumtree and a blogspot(he is still selling the same item under this pretense after a month). I had correspondence with the chap who posted about being scammed by the same seller, although it happened to him 4 years ago.

It's been reported so far to actionfraud.police.gov.uk and my next steps are to go to my local police station and also phone the london met. also i'll go to the bank where i deposited the payment.

Again - i amn't looking for money back, my concern is if ebay ignores all the information i have proving this guy is at it on a serial basis, who do i report ebay to?

RFW

darrengillies wrote: »

Again - i amn't looking for money back, my concern is if ebay ignores all the information i have proving this guy is at it on a serial basis, who do i report ebay to?

You've reported to the police so if they need information they will contact Ebay, there have been cases in the past of them leaving sellers on the site so police/authorities could gain enough evidence to prosecute.

Trading Standards have powers that are equal to the police in matters like this, so report to them too.

I know you know this, but worth mentioning for others, if you had paid by Paypal you wouldn't have lost anything. Also you haven't really got proof of payment as I'd guess that the account you have paid into is not the same details as the Ebay account.

darrengillies

good point about the connection of the bank account. well, the seller gave me the sort code and acc number and his name to boot so that i could pay into it(bank wouldnt allow me to unless i had his name)

ill report to trading standards aswell

porto_bello

So it's a straightforward scam then.

First, I would pull the evidence you have I would contact Trading Standards and Consumer Direct for advice as to who you should be putting the details to.

I'm afraid both organisations receive an awful load of complaints from time wasters, so your immediate feeling might be that they aren't taking you seriously. However, once they understand the sitauation, I'm sure they will. You also might find yourself diverted via several people or teams before you get to the right person who is empowered to do something.

You have obviously researched this individual and it seems eBay is content for them to continue, which adds another aspect to this. Because of this, you might also find that a consumer programme such as Watchdog may take an interest.

To make things easy, if possible I would write an email statement of what happened, with attachments A, B, C etc backing up your statements (scan any paper based evidence like receipts), so it is easy for the reader to understand the issues and see the proof.

Hope this helps!

darrengillies

That's a smashing post, thanks very much