KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A scammer on auction site eBay has stolen more than $132,000 from innocent bidders all over the continent, Kansas City television station KMBC reported.
The station said it is the biggest scam ever reported on the site.
Danielle Stange said she was ripped off and has no way to get her money back.
"I was bidding on an iPod for my brother. I was buying it for my parents for him for Christmas," Stange said.
Before Stange placed her bid, she did what the FBI suggested. She checked the seller's reputation and asked the seller if he or she used PayPal.
But the seller in this case did not use PayPal, which is an online payment system.
"Which was a red flag. But I called him before I bid and asked him to explain why he didn't take PayPal. He explained that he had been burned a few times by PayPal," Stange said.
But the green star, eBay's stamp of a super seller, boosted Stange's confidence.
For a month, Stange said she read nothing but good things about the seller, so she decided to bid. She won and sent in a money order for more than $200.
"About a week later, I hadn't heard anything, so I called him. He said he had received my payment that day and would send me confirmation via e-mail. And everything was fine. Then, about a week later, I still hadn't heard anything," Stange said.
Stange said she got back on eBay and saw that complaints canceled out the previous compliments she had seen.
"He had gotten more than 100 negative feedbacks from people with the same experience as me. They'd sent in money, had gotten confirmation of the payment but had not seen any of their items," Stange said.
Moritz said hundreds of people were affected.
"Just today, I've received more than 300 e-mails from people who have been hurt by this," Stange said.
The online auction site closed down the seller's account. Investigators in Collier County, Fla., said that they are looking for Alisher Mardonov, 34, and his girlfriend, Shahnoza Khakimova, 31. Authorities said Mardonov traded on eBay under the screen name alisher71.
Investigators said Mardonov and Khakimova are reported to be Uzbekistan citizens. Investigators are working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A nationwide notice has been sent to law enforcement agencies.
1 comment:
These mofos are just cold blooded. Karma is a muthafucka though.
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