large scale fraud what to do

mrsmess

hi
yes I know I have been very stupid bought a cooker from this seller goldust1983 and it has not arrived paid via bank transfer, yes I can here you all shouting at me but I have used eay for such a long time and i guess I trust people .I have just found goofay via this site and he has sold over 14k worth of good in the last couple of weeks so it is not just me .
ok
so what can I do apart beat myself up over this will the police care at all can he be traced via ebay
I am so very wound up over this just because of my own stupidity
any advise would be gratyfully received

frivolous_fay

Try to make contact with any other buyers who may have also been defrauded.
You will get more interest from the police if there are more victims.

soolin

I would suggest that you contact any other buyers who have had problems as it is easier to get the attention of the police if you all band together. Your best bet would be to get a crime number and then make attempts to find the seller, if you can get a real address and not just a drop address you stand a chance of being able to serve court papers on him. If you can do that you can go down the small claims route but be prepared for a fight as even if the courts find for you there is no guarantee of your money back unless you take further steps to send in debt collectors.

AS per my first statement though, this is all easier if there is more than 1 person doing it.

Apart from that you already realise you were perhaps a little naive in making this purchase by bank transfer so I will refrain from my usual nag about only using paypal backed by a credit card.

soolin

You type faster than me Fay!

mrsmess

I have already had other Buyers contact me after seeing the neg feedBack I have just left ,no need to nag on at me my mother will do plenty of that when she finds out just how stupid her child is

LilDevil

This may be daft, but could you not try and trace them through the bank details, surely you had some account information in order to send the transfer (I also realise that they may have set up an account under a false name/address)

soolin

LilDevil wrote: »

This may be daft, but could you not try and trace them through the bank details, surely you had some account information in order to send the transfer (I also realise that they may have set up an account under a false name/address)

All you need for a bank transfer is sort code and account number, you don't even have to have the name on the account. Data protection means that the banks are not able to release any info to 3rd parties.

frivolous_fay

soolin wrote: »

You type faster than me Fay!

I'm too lazy to fill in the detail

seashore321

However you can if you want to try it, send a letter to the Bank concerned witht eh persons account number on the top. Send a covering letter for the attention of the manager ,explaining why you would like them to forward this letter on to their customer. Do not get stroppy or anything just put facts in and that there are many more people who have this problem.
The Bank is morally obliged to forward this as they are not disclosing any information, they may also be legally bound as if this person is dodgy,they have a heads up to look for money laundering etc.,. This isaproblem, money laundering that is, that ebay are very strict on. Not saying that is what it is at all but Banks have to consider dodgy accounts.
The only reason this may help is that if you advise the person you are taking legal action they may, contact you!!? Or else they could go undergound.

If you do take this to court at least it proves you have tried every avenue available.
Just a thought do you not have his name and address on the invoice to send a solicitors letter?

soolin

This is th eproblem with bank transfers though that there is no link between the seller and the received money. Buyer willingly pays across to an unknown bank account, so no address to link that payment/seller/bank account With no address to serve papers it will be difficult to get anywhere with a lot of leg work and posisbly more expense.

I would certainly do everything in my power though to worry the seller.

Incidentally, what alerted you to the fact that this seller was rogue? Your own negative feedback was only the second left..

carolinosourus

It does seem a little odd, the seller suddenly has about 60 electrolux cookers to sell, all with stock photos!