'If you ask me I would never, ever trust that logo anymore.'Shaqir Duraj, eBay consumer
A Calgary man is one of 1,000 Canadians who have been scammed on eBay through a tactic known as hijacking, and the RCMP says the online auction service is not co-operating with their criminal investigations.
Shaqir Duraj, a Calgary bakery owner, won an eBay auction for a car in early October. He thought he was dealing with a reputable seller with a 98 per cent customer satisfaction rating.
Duraj, a refugee from Kosovo who started his life in Canada with $75, has purchased costly items from eBay before, including one of the big ovens in his bakery.
But six weeks later, there's no sign of the car or the $20,000 he wired to the alleged seller.
When Duraj complained to eBay, the company wrote him a letter saying someone had temporarily taken over, or hijacked, the seller's page, and that he would have to contact police and the FBI.
About 1,000 Canadians have reported being victims of a similar scam since 2000, said RCMP Cpl. Louis Robertson of the criminal intelligence and analytical unit of the Canadian Anti-Fraud Call Centre.
Robertson said eBay is trying to hide the problem and has not returned any of his phone calls.
"They don't want to share this intelligence," he said. "I don't think it will be in the best interest of eBay to say that X number of Canadian consumers have been the victim of a fraud."
Robertson said he believes eBay is ignoring police and customers because it doesn't want people to know criminals have figured out how to abuse the site.
"If you ask me, I would never, ever trust that logo anymore," said Duraj of eBay.
There needs to be tougher laws so internet companies will act more responsibly, said Robertson.
EBay did not respond to several phone calls and an e-mail from CBC News
As for cooperating with Law Enforcement..... I heard they (eBay) drag out providing "time sensitive" info to LE (Law Enforcement) which of course allows for the "crooks" to get out of dodge before the Law can actually catch up with 'em.
I heard this about eBay from a very reliable source.
__________________
“There is a destiny that makes us all brothers: None goes his way alone.
What we put into the lives of others,
comes back into our own.”--Edwin Markham
Oh, BTW, not that it is not obvious, but that sounds like the bayrob.trojan scam.
There was a video about that too, but somehow it got pulled or made unavaible to the public at large, & replaced by a video with the ebay logos all edited out. (as if the bayrob.trojan affects any other site in the world!)
Talk about some cheating, fearful commie losers!!!
By Dan Goodin in San Francisco More by this author
Published Tuesday 4th December 2007 01:50 GMT
A Canadian man was scammed out of $20,000 when he tried to buy a car through eBay.
Shaqir Duraj, a baker from Calgary, thought he was dealing with a reputable seller because the person had a 98 -per cent customer satisfaction rating. The refugee from Kosovo had already made high-ticket purchases off eBay, buying a big oven for the bakery he owns.
It turns out he was another victim of an eBay account take-over, in which scammers hijack the account of a legitimate seller and use it to list fraudulent auctions. Six weeks after he wired $20,000, he has yet to receive the vehicle, according to this article from the CBC. When Duraj reported the fraud to eBay, the company told him to contact the police and FBI.
While the vast percentage of eBay transactions are legitimate, the internet is littered with accounts of people who lost large sums of money while shopping on the popular site. In some cases, the con artists infect their victims with a sophisticated Trojan that causes their browser to display fraudulent pages from eBay and third-party websites used by automobile buyers, such as Carfax. One woman lost $8,600 after her machine was infected by the malware, which Symantec dubs Trojan.Bayrob.
Duraj is one of about 1,000 Canadians who have been scammed since 2000, according to a RCMP official.
eBay guarantees auto purchases for up to $20,000, but only if the transaction is carried out on the website. In Duraj's case, the buyer appears to have paid through a wire transfer, which makes him ineligible for the protection.
"Unfortunately, because the transaction occurred off eBay, he/she was not covered by our vehicle purchase protection program," an eBay spokeswoman said. She added that the victim continued to communicate with the scammer even after the hijacked account had been shut down.
The company strongly advises customers to use the official PayPal payment system when making purchases. ®
The Johnson County Sheriff's Office is warning online car buyers to take caution when purchasing vehicles from online auction sites like eBay.
The sheriff's office has received several complaints about Internet scams that use eBay look-alike or copycat sites. According to the sheriff's department, the complaints involve people who have been trying to buy a vehicle, usually one that sells for less than $10,000. The would-be buyer then receives an e-mail notifying them that they have a second chance offer to bid on the vehicle and is directed to a phony site set up by the alleged scammers.
According to the sheriff's office, the prospective purchaser thinks they are buying a vehicle on eBay, when in reality they are wiring money to someone involved in the scam.
Based on the investigation into the cases, Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said the money goes through multiple hands and is "virtually impossible" to determine where it ends up. He said that makes it difficult to file charges or prosecute, and the victim is unlikely to get their money back.
Pulkrabek added that he believes it is likely a nationwide scam and recommended that people be cautious when conducting online transactions and not open e-mails from eBay that promise a second-chance officer.
My guess is that somehow they would find a way to close down & run off with the money. Have you noticed what all the bigwigs are up to lately with the stock options?
Someone is getting ready to bolt with the cash & someone else is going to be left holding the bag, watch & see. Maybe even before Christmas.
Ebay/Paypal still has a BUTTLOAD of serious lawsuits against it, & I can guarantee there are more on the way.
I guess they have chosen to not pay back those victims, and to lie about it.
They will pay for this crapola one way or another.