iMad at eBay Auction Fraud
What we would like to see eBay change
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My name is Apollo. I am an environmental artist and I also produce Cyber Art on the computer. About 80% of my art goes out for licensing on product. I was purchasing a new computer from shadowsb to render my cyber art. I made a great licensing deal with 3d images for Wal-Mart. Unfortunately I have not been able to supply them with the images because I do not have a machine I can render them with. This has cost me a lot of business as well as the $2454 I put out for a computer I never received.
I believe I received every con and delay tactic that Teresa had in her bag. Two bounced checks (one personal and one drawn on Smith Berkeley (who is the Berkeley part of this scenario anyway?) I had three different tracking numbers for product that was never sent. I had a phony wire transfer and a fraudulent pay pal transaction. Still no refund!
I spoke to Joseph Sconzo of the FBI yesterday. He said that he had gotten on the list because someone in the group had spoken to him. He said that his office did not have any jurisdiction because no one in his district had been a victim. We spoke in some length and he did a check on Teresa. He said that the FBI was not currently showing anything in their computers on her. He said that it might be that it is not in the system yet. He gave me some advice to pass on to the group. He said that everyone should report the fraud to their local authorities as well as their local FBI agency. If the FBI gets complaints from all across the country they are more likely to launch a full blown investigation. He was also very interested that eBay was aware of Teresa's dealings and did not stop her from ripping off more people.
So we should all report this to both our local law enforcement and our local office of the FBI.
I am constantly in the public eye for my art and working with environmental groups. I spoke to one of our local stations here in Las Vegas and the are going to do a story probably this next week on cyber crime. I have agreed to give an interview. Perhaps the story will be picked up by other news stations. I believe we should all contact our local TV stations and get the word out.
The only reason I used eBay was I thought that with all their P.R. and hype it would be a safe transaction. I truly believe that eBay is more concerned with profit than with security. Think about it these were not $5 purchases from some grandma. I bet eBay made profit on every transaction, thus they are a coconspirator. They knew that this lady was shady but took their sweet time to do anything about it. All the time putting our money into their corporate profits. They took theirs right off the top.
We need a very good attorney that will represent the group in a class action suit against eBay. I will talk to my attorney and see if he knows someone that would be willing to take on the case.
Name: Apollo
Item Purchased: g4 Power Mac 933 w/ 17in flat panel display monitor and Harmon Cardon speaker system
Purchase site: Found on eBay then dealt direct with shadowsb (Teresa & Drew)
Auction Item Number: ShadowSB order number:785292
Date Money paid: Jan 16, 2002
Price: $2454
Method of Payment: cashiers check
Refund date: never happened
Refund amount: $0
Bounced checks: 2
Apollo