Hi Aristotle,

I heard the same newscast this morning. The guy, wasn't a complete
newbie, he had made big-ticket eBay purchases before. And we're
talking about a real $20K, not $6. Here's the story, direct from the
CBC:

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2007/12/03/ebay-hijack.html

I can also agree with David about poor support from Paypal. I got
burned for $60 in "transaction fees" 3 years ago when trying to
transfer $$$ out of paypal into my bank account. Apparently there was
a glitch, and I got hit with a $30 fee. And they hit me twice,
because some of the funds I was transferring out were coming from a US
$ account, and the remainder from my $CDN account.  It was impossible
to get a paper trail on this from paypal, and my bank could not
verify a declined transaction; so I had to swallow it. They have
since changed their verification practices on bank transfers, and the
problem has not recurred.

But with $20,000 involved, I am very unhappy that eBay won't talk to
the RCMP. That has me quite concerned.

Happy Trails,

Greg Potts
1973/74/77/79 Westfakia "Bob The Tomato
www.pottsfamily.ca
www.busesofthecorn.com

On 3-Dec-07, at 11:48 AM, Aristotle Sagan wrote:

> There's an old saying.  It's hard to cheat an honest man. Putting
> 20 grand
> somewhere where you don't know EXACTLY where it's going to go?
>
> Someone was in for the one time big deal and got burned.
>
> Sorry it happened but you (the Queen's you) always need to cover
> your butt.
> Now maybe at the time 20K Canadian was only worth $6.00 US but still.
>
> tim in san jose
>
> On Dec 3, 2007 6:31 AM, David Etter <detter@mail.auracom.com> wrote:
>
>> I sat up in bed this morning in horror and turned the radio up..
>>        The CBC (Cdn. Broadcasting  Corp) aired an article about this
>> poor man who bought a car through e-Bay but ended up with no car and
>> was out $20,000.xx, AND he got less than no support from e-Bay
>> concerning his loss. He reported it to the RCMP who then contacted
>> e-Bay. The RCMP  representative said that e-Bay refused to talk to
>> them and refused to acknowledge that "Criminal elements had figured
>> out a way to highjack e-Bay web-sites". He also said.."I guess they
>> don't want the public to know this is possible so they won't talk
>> about it."
>>        The man in question said that he trys to contact e-Bay then
>> as soon as he gives them his I.D. name or password, he is
>> disconnected.. everytime..
>>        Now, I'm sure that 'criminals' are not going to highjack the
>> site that sells a 1982 diesel radiator, but it does reinforce my own
>> experience of getting no support from e-Bay or Pay-Pal for a deal
>> gone bad even if it was a small transaction. Caveat Emptor !
>>        I just thank my lucky stars that this VW forum and others
>> like it have enough savvy members who are aware of what's out there
>> for sale and whether or not it's a scam.
>>        Several times I've read where members of our forum have
>> identified and warned others of a possible scam. I just feel sorry
>> for the poor fellow who lost $20,000.xx trying to buy a car on e-Bay.
>> I think every member of the various VW forums should be grateful for
>> the close support we get from one another. THANK YOU ALL !
>>
>>                                                David (dsl82westy)
>>
>> P.S.:
>>        Does anyone know how it is possible for "The Criminal
>> Element" to do such a thing. I thought that with a vehicle purchase
>> on e-Bay a buyer had the "Right" to retract a bid once he found out
>> that the vehicle wasn't as advertised.
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Where ever you are, there you be. Unless you're driving my van, in
> which
> case, you ain't got there yet.