Ebay fraud/neg feedback helpline

susanthunt

Hi,
last year I posted a message about my niece being conned through ebay - bought a non-existent mobile home and couldn't get action from ebay or the police.
while searching the internet for help, I found a firm (name I don't recall but maybe ebay or auction helpline??) which had a premium rate no. but said if you rang for help, they could recover money lost in this way through ebay.
I've seaarched all my past messages but the post seems to have been deleted and I've had a private message from someone who said he tried to post a reply but was told it was advertising for the company involved and not allowed. (He claims the firm helped him to recover money lost through ebay)
Just wondering if anyone has used this helpline and whether it was any good?
After sending the helpline an email enquiry, they rang me and said they would be able to help but I needed to call them on the premium rate no. I then asked questions about the company - who owns it etc because I had an awful feeling that it might be Ebay itself, trying to make extra cash
any more info about this helpline would be great.
many thanks

frivolous_fay

Was your post last year on this forum? I can't find it on your post history.

After a year I can't imagine a firm like this will be able to help, and I would advise NOT to pay anyone money to attempt this.

Can you show us the original thread?

susanthunt

Hi

I have searched through all my posts since I joined but that one just isn't there so it looks like it has been removed from the site - don't know why it would be but the person who sent me a private message said he had tried to reply but was told the message was not allowed because it was advertising.
I certainly wasn't advertising - I was saying I thought the helpline appeared a bit dodgy since they wouldn't give me details of who they were. However, the guy responding was claiming that he had paid £6.95 to the helpline in call fees and had received his money back from the ebay con.

I don't know if there is a forum moderator who could find out why my message is no longer available for viewing?
thanks for your response
susan

StaffsSW

The "helpline" was nothing more than a team of people sat in a call centre in Cannock who had the eBay help pages in front of them, auctionhelpline.co.uk

There is nothing that they can do above and beyond what anyone here can help you with for free, and they do not have any special relationship with eBay in order to pull strings.

You could try using the "You're A Star" helpline number that ebay have emailed out to certain people - 020 8080 2105 - that is eBay Custard Support, and charged at normal rates, rather than somebody taking advantage of premium rate numbers.

mandweena

I found the number for this site on the internet, rang it and realised it was going to cost £1.50 a minute so I hung up,
they then rang me back and persuaded me to ring again, saying it would only take 2 minutes and they would get back to me and solve my problem, (the person ringing was customer support, so he couldnt solve problem but assured me it would be quick when i explained my problem)

well it took 10 minutes £15.00!!!! and they didnt solve anything,

they then called me back to try and persuade me to sign up to a months free trial (wanting to take my credit card details) so they could solve my problem, and they would call me!!!!

The whole thing is an absolute rip off.

I still cant login to ebay - it says my password or login is invalid - they seemed to think it may have been 'stolen' by someone as i had good feedback etc, ebay never get back to me, and i am at a loss what to do,
but i do know i wish i had never called this helpline and i advise you not to do it, it is just a rip off, they wont call me back unless i sign up for the monthly package!

frivolous_fay

mandweena wrote: »

I found the number for this site on the internet, rang it and realised it was going to cost £1.50 a minute so I hung up,
they then rang me back and persuaded me to ring again, saying it would only take 2 minutes and they would get back to me and solve my problem, (the person ringing was customer support, so he couldnt solve problem but assured me it would be quick when i explained my problem)

well it took 10 minutes £15.00!!!! and they didnt solve anything,

Shame you found them before you found us

Go to the 'stickies' at the top of this forum and look for the Live Help link in the 'Useful Links' thread. They'll sort you out, for free!

Oluap84

Well guys... I have recently been victim of a fraud on a MacPro auction. Im gonna tell you my story, for it to keep present to everyone. Doubt everyone on ebay from now on ... ( i am just copy-pasting the mail I have sent to the auctionhelpline).

I have recently been victim of fraud on an ebay auction (Item number: 250308312213). The item was an Apple MacPro which was on auction for 1200£. The seller was jpau8192 with no feedback at all at the time ( 0 feedback), which made me doubt the auction and begin contact with the seller. I firstly asked the seller if he could lower the price to 800£, which he accepted, sending me some pictures of the computer attached, but due to the fact of his low feedback I asked him if I could make the payment only when receiving the item.
The seller replied promptly saying that we could do the transfer through ebay. So it was agreed that I could send the money to ebay, ebay would hold the money until I receive the item and only after my order, the would release the money to the seller. It sounded right to me and after receiving the ebay invoice with details to send the money through moneygram, I went to the post office to do the payment.
Somehow at the post office they told me that the moneygram was not available until the 1st of November (we were on the 20th of October). The only details I had were the name and address of the supposed ebay agent, mr Bob Swan, so I asked at the post office if there was any option to send the money safely to the person in question. They told me that I could send it as a special delivery which would be there in the same day, which I did.
But, strangely, the money went to a Car Parts Shop. After contacting ebay about that, they told me that the address they gave me has nothing to do with ebay and that the money , if not sent via moneygram would go to another person that not an ebay agent. That is very very strange.
Anyway, I managed to contact the person who got the money to send it back, which was done successfully.
Between all this process I kept changing emails with the seller who was always very pleasant and even helped me getting the money back when the money was sent to the wrong person at first.
SO, after getting the money back and after contacting ebay to see if I could still send them the money, they told me that more than 18 days have past since the transfer was activated and so I had to deal with the seller directly which I did. Unfortunately, and perhaps I shouldn't have done it, I sent the money to the seller directly also through moneygram. When I sent the moneygram reference to the seller, he replied saying he had already shipped the computer which would arrive the next day. Of course I did not receive any item until today. I have sent numerous emails to the seller but none of them was replied.

---

I dont know if I have actually contacted ebay, or if it was a fake number from the seller since the address I had for the moneygram payment was fake....

I have tried to solve this matter trough auctionhelpline, but even though I have sent them numerous emails, the only reply I get is the automatic message they send every time you report a problem, asking you to call them....

Ebay couldnt do anything about my problem even though it involved an ebay fake moneygram address.
I am completely desperate. 800£ is a lot of money, specially for a student as I am. I could pay my university fees for the whole year with this money.... :(:(

I dont know what else to do. I have not yet reported this problem to the police but I am considering doing it.

Hope you guys all have a great christmas, since mine was somehow ruined.

frivolous_fay

Olua, the police are your ONLY option. You are a victim of fraud. Ebay will only cooperate with the police - they won't do any more than they have done already. MoneyGram is banned on ebay, and for a good reason. Try to gather any information you have. Request the contact details of the seller, if it's not too late.

Advice on ebay-moneygram below, for your info. It won't help you, but it might stop someone else using it

http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/mrkt_safety/instantcashtransfer.html#moneygram
http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/Avoid-Paying-by-Western-Union-or-Money-Gram_W0QQugidZ10000000002375639

ramenkid

I too, in a similar situation. my post: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=16789351#post16789351

My b'f bought an imac, paid by bank transfer and no item received! After a bit of detective work by contacting the seller's other buyers using goofbay and google the seller. I managed to get quite a lot of info about him - His address, where he worked/ working etc. Now he's working abroad so my b'f rang him at his new workplace in Singapore today asking where his item is! The seller might be quite shocked that we've tracked him down, after 2 weeks' ignoring emails and calls (uk landline - so he probably wasn't there anyway). He promised on phone that he would sort it out. My b'f told him the police was informed too and the seller insisted there was no need for that. So hopefully we'll see the item soon.

So I reckon u should try to do the same. Go to www.goofbay.com to search for the seller's history. Maybe it'll give u a few clues there. If there's nothing u can find on the internet then I guess contacting the police is the last thing u can do. Obviously if the seller has a fake name & address to start with then it's unlikely that u will get anything back. Good luck.

P.S. By the way, I've never heard of Moneygram!

Oluap84 wrote: »

Well guys... I have recently been victim of a fraud on a MacPro auction. Im gonna tell you my story, for it to keep present to everyone. Doubt everyone on ebay from now on ... ( i am just copy-pasting the mail I have sent to the auctionhelpline).

I have recently been victim of fraud on an ebay auction (Item number: 250308312213). The item was an Apple MacPro which was on auction for 1200£. The seller was jpau8192 with no feedback at all at the time ( 0 feedback), which made me doubt the auction and begin contact with the seller. I firstly asked the seller if he could lower the price to 800£, which he accepted, sending me some pictures of the computer attached, but due to the fact of his low feedback I asked him if I could make the payment only when receiving the item.
The seller replied promptly saying that we could do the transfer through ebay. So it was agreed that I could send the money to ebay, ebay would hold the money until I receive the item and only after my order, the would release the money to the seller. It sounded right to me and after receiving the ebay invoice with details to send the money through moneygram, I went to the post office to do the payment.
Somehow at the post office they told me that the moneygram was not available until the 1st of November (we were on the 20th of October). The only details I had were the name and address of the supposed ebay agent, mr Bob Swan, so I asked at the post office if there was any option to send the money safely to the person in question. They told me that I could send it as a special delivery which would be there in the same day, which I did.
But, strangely, the money went to a Car Parts Shop. After contacting ebay about that, they told me that the address they gave me has nothing to do with ebay and that the money , if not sent via moneygram would go to another person that not an ebay agent. That is very very strange.
Anyway, I managed to contact the person who got the money to send it back, which was done successfully.
Between all this process I kept changing emails with the seller who was always very pleasant and even helped me getting the money back when the money was sent to the wrong person at first.
SO, after getting the money back and after contacting ebay to see if I could still send them the money, they told me that more than 18 days have past since the transfer was activated and so I had to deal with the seller directly which I did. Unfortunately, and perhaps I shouldn't have done it, I sent the money to the seller directly also through moneygram. When I sent the moneygram reference to the seller, he replied saying he had already shipped the computer which would arrive the next day. Of course I did not receive any item until today. I have sent numerous emails to the seller but none of them was replied.

---

I dont know if I have actually contacted ebay, or if it was a fake number from the seller since the address I had for the moneygram payment was fake....

I have tried to solve this matter trough auctionhelpline, but even though I have sent them numerous emails, the only reply I get is the automatic message they send every time you report a problem, asking you to call them....

Ebay couldnt do anything about my problem even though it involved an ebay fake moneygram address.
I am completely desperate. 800£ is a lot of money, specially for a student as I am. I could pay my university fees for the whole year with this money.... :(:(

I dont know what else to do. I have not yet reported this problem to the police but I am considering doing it.

Hope you guys all have a great christmas, since mine was somehow ruined.

StaffsSW

Is it really any wonder why eBay want to go paypal only....?

BeardyWeirdy

I noticed people quoting this (020 8080 2105) number. Saying it was for 'select' ebay members. The scammers are just playing on your ego. '

The number is a scam. I recieved the emailmyself. checked the senders details, they were not ebays. Reported the scam to the REAL ebay, they got back to me and confiremd it was a scam.