Available recourse to FRAUD victims.....

[im4darush]

Hi guys,

There has been no fraud just yet, but have a listen to the following scenario and let me know what you think..

Car is advertised on Ebay..buyer contacts the seller and agree to purchase said car for say $10000. A deposit of $1000 is sent via PayPal. A bank issued cashiers check is then issued and sent to the seller via USPS. Seller recieves check and lets me know that I can make travel plans to come get the car. 100% positive feedback on ebay with close to 200 transactions and good communication. Ok, so air ticket is purchased to go pick up the car in 4 days time and everything is confirmed and set. 2 nights before pickup seller calls with bad news. Took the car out one last time and it now has developed a knock in the motor. To me this means the seller sold the car to someone else for more money even though he already had full payment on the car in his account. With a thousand miles between buyer and seller, there is no way to confirm this, but I am not new to this game. And in addition...why would seller take the car out one last time when it is already paid for? Anyway, seller swears this is the truth and says the full purchase price will be refunded plus the cost of the airline ticket. Truth or not...buyer could care less at this point. What buyer does care about is getting the money back as promised. Now, again there is no reason to believe there is intent to defraud at this point. The point of the thread is about what course of action a buyer can take if in fact it is determined in the very near future there there is in fact intent to defraud.

 

[silver03svt]

Contact the bank that issued you the cashiers check and get their fraud department involved. You could also contact your states LEO agency that would handle fraud cases. In VA, the State Police has a Criminal Investigations unit that would handle cases like this.

 

[im4darush]

No need for any such thing just yet. This is more of a 'what if' scenario at this point. Seller claims check will go out today!

But it is a very interesting question in todays world. I cant imagine anyone could possibly get away with something like this unless they are leaving the country for good with cash in hand?

 

[silver03svt]

No need for any such thing just yet. This is more of a 'what if' scenario at this point. Seller claims check will go out today!

But it is a very interesting question in todays world. I cant imagine anyone could possibly get away with something like this unless they are leaving the country for good with cash in hand?

You'd be amazed at what scammers get away with on a daily basis!

 

[RDJ]

don't know who the buyer is but anyone who pays in full for a car over the internet is less that intelligent. the 1k deposit was to hold the car until final payment is made. final payment should have been made in person and with a certified check or cash once the signed title had been handed over with the keys

 

[silver03svt]

don't know who the buyer is but anyone who pays in full for a car over the internet is less that intelligent. the 1k deposit was to hold the car until final payment is made. final payment should have been made in person and with a certified check or cash once the signed title had been handed over with the keys

Damn, I miss read that part. I though the 1K deposit was what was sent by USPS. OP is possibly screwed badly.

 

[RDJ]

Damn, I miss read that part. I though the 1K deposit was what was sent by USPS. OP is possibly screwed badly.

I had to read it like 3 times to be sure I read what I thought I read. couldn't believe someone would do it that way. I have bought a couple of cars over the internet one from a private party, one from a dealer. I didn't even pay the dealer in full before I got there in person.

 

[Weather Man]

Good luck man. That cashiers check should have been handed over in person.

 

[derklug]

If you get full refund plus ticket price, I am guessing the guy was legit. Only problem with showing up with cashiers check in hand is the number of good forgeries out there. Some are good enough that they even get past the bank tellers, so many people don't even trust these anymore.

 

[COBRA_ESQ]

Only problem with showing up with cashiers check in hand is the number of good forgeries out there. Some are good enough that they even get past the bank tellers.

QFT

The only 100% sure method is an Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) ie, bank wire. Not a big deal, cost about $15.

 

[RDJ]

If you get full refund plus ticket price, I am guessing the guy was legit. Only problem with showing up with cashiers check in hand is the number of good forgeries out there. Some are good enough that they even get past the bank tellers, so many people don't even trust these anymore.

that was just an example. there are a number of ways to pay someone in person so you can avoid paying in full before you go. I could have made a list I suppose but in the interest in brevity I simply used that.

and yes, if you get a full refund plus ticket price the guy was legit. but if he isn't legit that is a bad time and horrible way to find out he isn't

 

[Uncle Meat]

Paid the full cost up front without every seeing the car in person let alone driving it? This needs to go to smackdown...

U.M.

 

[im4darush]

God bless the internet!!! Nobody but one person (silver03svt) actually came back with the type of feedback that was requested in the title. Everyone else just figured since they didn't have a clue on what is actually available to fraud victims in this country, they would just point out how stupid the buyer is and not bother with anything that could actually be helpful.

There was no fraud, the check was sent (with airfare), but that is not the point of this thread at all. The entire point was to actually think about what recourse 'could' be taken in the case where someone did decide to 'take the money and run'. You bashers may find this hard to believe, but in today's age with federal organizations like IC3(among others)and electronic paper trails of emails, texts as well as funds being withdrawn and deposited by distinct individuals.....getting away with things like this is not as easy as you may think!! Unless of course you cash the check and run to south america.

 

[Outlaw99]

dont contact him back, go ahead and fly out and verify. confirm = call poilice.

 

[RDJ]

actually there is a lot of good advice for the next buyer that makes a stupid decision and gets lucky. the fact that the buyer in this case got lucky and the guy wasn't a scammer is just that, pure blind luck. Frankly if I were you, I would tell the buyer that if he didn't want to hear comments on his situation that perhaps he shouldn't post stuff on the internet or have his friends do it for him.

While some of the advice and comments here may not be helpful to this particular situation, it is in fact fairly helpful to someone wanting to avoid fraud in the future. maybe someone reading this has already determined to not make this dumb mistake himself. in that case this could be called a very successful thread

God bless the internet!!! Nobody but one person (silver03svt) actually came back with the type of feedback that was requested in the title. Everyone else just figured since they didn't have a clue on what is actually available to fraud victims in this country, they would just point out how stupid the buyer is and not bother with anything that could actually be helpful.

There was no fraud, the check was sent (with airfare), but that is not the point of this thread at all. The entire point was to actually think about what recourse 'could' be taken in the case where someone did decide to 'take the money and run'. You bashers may find this hard to believe, but in today's age with federal organizations like IC3(among others)and electronic paper trails of emails, texts as well as funds being withdrawn and deposited by distinct individuals.....getting away with things like this is not as easy as you may think!! Unless of course you cash the check and run to south america.

 

[Weather Man]

God bless the internet!!! Nobody but one person (silver03svt) actually came back with the type of feedback that was requested in the title. Everyone else just figured since they didn't have a clue on what is actually available to fraud victims in this country, they would just point out how stupid the buyer is and not bother with anything that could actually be helpful.

There was no fraud, the check was sent (with airfare), but that is not the point of this thread at all. The entire point was to actually think about what recourse 'could' be taken in the case where someone did decide to 'take the money and run'. You bashers may find this hard to believe, but in today's age with federal organizations like IC3(among others)and electronic paper trails of emails, texts as well as funds being withdrawn and deposited by distinct individuals.....getting away with things like this is not as easy as you may think!! Unless of course you cash the check and run to south america.

What you would find is that for the small (relative) amount of money, most agencies will not get involved. They are overwhelmed and have much bigger fish to fry.

 

[Uncle Meat]

The best recourse is to not allow oneself to get into this situation to begin with! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

U.M.