PSX5Central
Non Gaming Discussions => Off-Topic => Topic started by: luckee on December 30, 2001, 12:59:23 AM
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Buyer beware of Internet auction trick
by Bob Hansen
The Internet auction site ebay works on trust. That’s why 75 people around the country feel so betrayed. Jim
Brennecke in Riverside is one of them. He thought he was bidding for the popular Sony PlayStation II video
game.
“This was for my son, my ten-year-old son for Christmas,” Bernnecke said.
He thought he paid $300 for the game, but “I didn’t get my station in the mail,” he said.
What came in the mail instead was an envelope from Airborne Express, which contained a photograph of a
PlayStation system. That’s right. Instead of the actual PlayStation, Jim and his son got a color picture of the
game.
I showed my e-mail complaints to Bobbie Hill at the consumer group UCAN.
“This was a very well orchestrated scam,” Hill said. “They thought they were bidding on a PlayStation. At least 75
people thought they were.” Here’s the problem: the description part of the auction says, “You are bidding on the
Sony PlayStation II Xmas bundle picture below.” It doesn’t say “pictured below,” just “picture.” And that’s all the
bidders got for their money. Is the auction illegal?
“That’s a real good question, because of the way he worded this ad,” Hill said. “We are waiting to hear back from
the District Attorney as well as from federal authorities to find out if what he did was illegal.”
The victims of this trick say they mailed their money to a Mail Boxes Etc. on El Cajon Boulevard, and that they
were dealing with a man named Anthony Van Dean.
“Victims tell us that Anthony Van Dean was using a UCSD e-mail address and reports have it that he was a
former student here. But university officials tell us they don’t know anything about the alleged scam,” Hill said.
So far, the people at ebay say they have started an investigation. And local law enforcement is beginning to hear
from the dozens of victims, who instead of an actual video game are looking at a picture.
In this case, a picture is not only worth a thousand words, but perhaps also a criminal investigation. We tried to
talk to Anthony Van Dean, leaving a message on his cellular phone, but so far we have heard nothing. If you are a
victim of this trick or one like it, you should report it immediately to the FBI’s Internet Fraud Complaint Center.
You can find the link at the beginning of this story.
http://www.msnbc.com/local/KNSD/NBCFDGG0SVC.asp
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I hope it was a good picture
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Originally posted by Stupid Mop
I hope it was a good picture
u crack me so consistently..up :D
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look before you leap
the man should have emails mr. dean for clarification
i have no remorse for people that throw money away
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If something on Ebay looks too good to be true, it probably is. I imagine the $300 price must have included a bunch of other stuff like games and accessories. If I\'d seen that auction, I might have assumed it was just poor spelling, but I would also have verified it with the seller.
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People over looked the \'picture\' part. In Algebra, my teacher proved that people over look things like that. he told us to count how many F\'s were in a sentence. EVERYONE in my class got it wrong. Seems that we overlooked the F\'s in the word "of". Those people got scamed and should be refunded their money.
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It\'s not illegal people have tried to fight these very cleaver but all the same losers and they get no where. If he is saying your getting a ps2 xmas bundle picture and he gives it to you theres nothing you can do he has done his part of the deal. Thats why I never buy of Ebay, to be honest it\'s the guys fault if he took the time to read the thing properly he would have seen the scam.
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I think this Dean guy will come off clean. Nothing he did was illegal in my eyes. He did post that it was a picture, therefore people that payed for it got what he said he\'d give em. No fraud there.
People these days are idiots.
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People would A) think its a typo or B) would not even notice it was a fraud. You will read something like that one day and I guarentee you would not notice unless someone pointed it out. Its just like that test my Algebra teacher gaves us.
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LOL... I feel bad for that guy though... What was the game? I mean... Who would bet 300 dollars for a game that he could buy for 50?
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Originally posted by Titan
People would A) think its a typo or B) would not even notice it was a fraud. You will read something like that one day and I guarentee you would not notice unless someone pointed it out. Its just like that test my Algebra teacher gaves us.
Not true, when I go the ebay route, I take into account the sellers feedback, they must have a good amount of positive feedback with little to no negative. Also, if it looks fishy, I wont bid, that simple. Any question of doubt I have about it, I just won bid. Even as simple as a typo.
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Yes, this is what the feedback system is all about. It\'s a tool so everyone should use it. You\'d think they could get this guy on something, like criminal intent to commit fraudulence or something.
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this happened to me before...
i had tried getting an MP3 player, and I got one at a good price. After a week of no response from the seller I had realised he was a criminal. I got back my money, soon enough I realized he had like 12 different names and ripping off people around the country... he got arrested though...
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Originally posted by luckee
Not true, when I go the ebay route, I take into account the sellers feedback, they must have a good amount of positive feedback with little to no negative. Also, if it looks fishy, I wont bid, that simple. Any question of doubt I have about it, I just won bid. Even as simple as a typo.
I\'m saying that there are people that over see that and are too dumb to look at the sellers feedback. Also, the seller that sold the picture might have had a great feedback file but decided since it was so good that he would scam some people. He might not have had any negative feed back so people began to trust him.
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Originally posted by Titan
I\'m saying that there are people that over see that and are too dumb to look at the sellers feedback. Also, the seller that sold the picture might have had a great feedback file but decided since it was so good that he would scam some people. He might not have had any negative feed back so people began to trust him.
yes, that is true as well. In that case I guess one just chalks it up to lesson learned and hope it doesnt happen again. It sucks to get beat for your money.
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Yeah you gotta admit that was sneaky and kinda clever. But that\'s a real a-hole thing to do, especially on christmas. That guy should be fined just for being a **** head.
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Perhaps, but it was still legal the way I see things. Laws aren\'t set up to make everyone in America be "Nice", they\'re there so that you don\'t get ripped off. This guy didn\'t get ripped off, he got exactly what he bid for. What he thought he was getting, and what he agreed to pay for should be a non-issue. Buy here/Pay here car dealerships do this shyt every day.. and it\'s legal. Look in your local newspaper classifieds to all the "5000 a month/Work at home!" BS deals. Yeah, their scams. They don\'t set you up with a legitemite buisness, they teach you how to scam others. But there\'s nothing the law can do about it. It\'s legal.
The best defence against fraud is education. If your going to blow that much cash on something, you had better know exactly what your getting for your money. As the old axiom goes, "A fool and his money are soon parted".
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what he did was totally legal his line was "picture below"....you have to "read the fine print" so to speak.....
:hat:ScottyJ:hat: