I have been reading lately about many cases of people, who are
the victims of conmen on the internet auction website Ebay. I
myself had a negative experience a number of years ago when a
man tried to steal £170 from me. I was one of the lucky ones as
I managed to get the money back.
I had been having lots of fun buying and selling on Ebay for a
number of months, without any problems at all. I regularly sold
second hand mobile phones and was making a fair amount of money
for very little effort. If I ever bought anything that cost over
£100, I would always meet the seller somewhere, normally just
off the motorway. I managed to purchase what I felt were some
real bargains and also sold off many items which I no longer
needed or wanted.
This fun and easy way of earning cash was soon to come to an
end. Maybe I am a bit of a fool, but it came as quite a shock
when it happened.
On one particular day, I was scouring ebay, looking to purchase
another second hand mobile phone, which I would then re-sell,
hopefully for a profit. I eventually found an advert for a buy
it now phone, with the asking price low but not extremely low.
It was available for only £170, I believed I could quite easily
make a profit of at least £50 at this price.
On the advert there was a mobile number, which I could phone if
I had any questions. I duly did this and a man calling himself
Tony answered. I asked him the general type questions, which he
was happy to answer. He sounded and seemed really nice, however
stated that he was unable to meet me as he was unable to drive,
as he had yet to pass his driving test. The alarm bells should
have started ringing, but for whatever reason, they didn't.
As his house was a long way from where I lived, I reluctantly
agreed to pay via a bank transfer. He assured me he would post
the phone that very day via Royal Mail Special Delivery to
arrive by noon the next day. He seemed very genuine, they always
do your thinking and that was that.
As you will no doubt have guessed, no phone arrived the next day
or in fact any day.
I tried contacting Tony via e-mail, text and by phoning his
mobile phone, there was no reply.
I realised what a fool I had been, however decided to go to the
police. They were very helpful and about half an hour later I
had a crime number, however was warned that it was very unlikely
I would ever see a phone or receive a refund of my money. The
police advised me to be very careful as they regularly have
complaints from people who have been defrauded on ebay, I was
not alone!
Outside the police station I sent Tony a text with the police
crime number. To my shock he phoned me straight away swearing at
me but eventually agreed to refund me the money, if I stopped
the police action against him.
I was very lucky, I am sure many other people as the police
stated, never get their money back.
About the author:
Stephen Hill has a number of websites including:
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