Ebay fraudster - funtime or quit?

[jacobyte]

I was looking at various laptops on Ebay yesterday and made a few enquiries. One of them has turned into a bit of entertainment. It was a London-based laptop from a seller with over 2000 feedback. But the auction description said to email him off ebay at a yahoo address. It seemed a bit fishy, but I went ahead nonetheless. Here is my email correspondence with him so far from yestreday and today:

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Me:

Re Ebay item: SONY VAIO VGN-S3HP

I'm looking to buy a Sony Vaio S series with Bluetooth, and this looks like
the one, but not sure if another version might suit me better (S3HP, S3XP,
S4XP, etc - they all seem the same!). Perhaps you can help me and give me a
good price!

A VAT receipt will be required - I trust that's OK with you.

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Him:

the buy it now price is 700£ GBP (including shipping)
the unit is brand new and it will come boxed with all the original accesories and one year warranty.

reply me asap and let me know if we can make a deal

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(700 Quid! A bit too good to be true for this item. Time to see how he plans to rip off his quarry)

------------

Me:

I'm interested.

4 questions:

What is the outside and inside colour?
Can I collect?
Will you provide a VAT receipt?
Is it your warranty or Sony's?

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Him:

the inside color is green and outside it is balack
i am sorry but we can't meet because i had very bad problems in the past with one of the people that i meet .... i tought that was my last day of life ... i am very scared .. i was to the police but he is still out there ... i will not meet anybody form now on ... and you alosw see that there are a lot of problems with this bombs form the terorists .. if you want to deal with me you have to make the payment in advance.
i will provide a VAT Recipt and the warrant is from Sony

reply me asap

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(At this point it is clear there's a very smelly rat, and his English is great fun to read. He wants to do the deal off ebay, which is clearly daft, and does not want to meet, plus wants the money up front. LMAO at his terrorist fears! I go back to ebay to check the details and the item is no longer on the site. However, I notice that the username he was registered under is based in Colorado, but has now changed. I get more curious...)

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Me:

Thanks for the information.

The ebay description has disappeared. Have you sold it already?

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Him:

no i didn't sold it .. it is still for sale ... i just closed the acution on ebay

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(Obviously Ebay know he's a fraudster and spotted that he hijacked another user's account and closed the auction. So I proceed to see if he's still wriggling...)

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Me:

Do you take Paypal?

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Him:

i will not accept paypal as a payment metod becase i changed the bank where i had my credti card and my bank acount and now i am waithing for them to give me the new credit card so i can't use the paypal acount at this time

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After getting up off the floor in hysterics, I put his email address into Google, and find that he is a well known regular fraudster. I also notice that he has now put the same auction under another user's account. I have reported it to Ebay, but I imagine he'll jump ship and keep swapping identities (although using the same email address) until some mug loses their money to him.

So: suggestions for my next communication with him, please. :)

[_VTEC_]

Classic.

You've got to keep leading him on, try and get him to send you something (preferably something amusing) and in return you'll do a better deal with him.

Try a few of the scam baiter websites for some ideas.

[datasafe]

Lets all have a go, post his details

[Mobster Raks]

I've just been had by someone like this... it was my first ever ebay purchase too

is there anything i can do to get my money back?

i was supplied a name and address for a western union money thing-y... although could be fake?

[rfisher]

Tell him you want a bulk purchase of 100 units!

(fun)

[alexkp]

Mobster Raks said:

I've just been had by someone like this... it was my first ever ebay purchase too is there anything i can do to get my money back? i was supplied a name and address for a western union money thing-y... although could be fake?

I'm afraid if you did Western Union you stand no chance at all. Ebay now recommend that you don't use such kinds of payment methods.

Where did you send it to? What was the address?

[parrot of doom]

Is it a p-p-p-p-powerbook?

[Jon C]

E Mail him back and ask if he will accept a money order for a few thousand over the price, and will he refund the difference to you in the form of used tenners.....

[munky]

Tell him you're a policeman and that you have to run a routine background check on him, since you can't be seen to deal with anyone dodgy, and that you assume he'll be OK with that