Ebay, dropshipping, unsolicited email

IC3 normally doesn't respond. They just collect information in case a federal law enforcement agency asks.

It is pretty sure that your associates in Ukraine are using you to cash out stolen credit information. Definitely save all the info you have about how you were tricked in case, just in case. I think your local police wouldn't have jurisdiction and would be no help to you, but you can call during office hours and ask the advice of a detective.

Do not send any more money. Business is never done by Western Union or MoneyGram. You may be threatened, but don't worry, the bad guys aren't coming to your house.

Don't be a dropshipper on Ebay. The person who has the item could list it and sell it as easy as you can, so there is no reason to pay you unless ... well, you just found out.

So should I just keep all the money? lol

See viewtopic.php?f=4&t=81025. Maybe we could call your case a quadrilateral scam, since the scammers aren't taking PayPal payments themselves.

So should I just keep all the money? lol

At this point, yes. You didn't steal it and the thieves don't deserve it. It is possible you will have some future expenses related to this scam, so don't waste the money.

Lincoln Osirus wrote:

I guess what I'm saying is if this is a stolen goods scam, it wouldn't be hard to bust the people responsible

You are almost correct with that statement. The people in the Ukraine will not be caught. Only you/mule and the shipper/mule will be caught. You and the shipper have left a trail the scammer did not.

Let me explain once again. Alan Jones and TB tried.

When the real holder of the Credit card, Bank account or Paypal realize that their account has been hacked they will report it. The transactions will show Merchant. Ebay will have records of you receiving the money. In the end Law Enforcement will only find you and the shipper of the stolen merchandise.

The shipper will be caught because merchants will have records of the payment and who they shipped to. When the shipping mule is caught they will sing like humming bird. When the police recover the stolen property from those victims. They will tell them they bought it off Ebay.

As already stated to you. You should notify your local Law Enforcement that you were a victim in a scam. Show them the emails. You may also want to note. When the charge back comes Ebay will take money from your account/back up method. They may even sue you or send you to collections.

Your local Law Enforcement will advise you on what to do with the money you have on hand. Currently in the eyes of LE you have conspired to commit Fraud. Your case crosses borders and financial transactions. So you are looking at some Federal Statutes. Only you may be able to change how LE may view you when they knock on your door.

Whoa. Calm down, eh. I have pointed out before that USA doesn't have a national police force - the local police in Podunk are only concerned with what happened in Podunk, which from this report, is nothing. There isn't a shipper/mule. There is a store, we don't know which one, or a few, that shipped some products to people. The store was paid, not robbed. The owner of the credit card won't be held responsible for fraud committed by overseas criminals, so it will be a bank that is missing some money. One of the reasons interest rates are high is so banks can just write off losses like this. Nobody is going to Ukraine to investigate. The FBI wouldn't go across the street for the amounts involved in this case. There is nothing to do but wait. Answer questions when and if they are asked. Don't panic and always carry a clean dry towel. You did report to IC3 and you did report here. Enough.

You were dropshipping. You don't know how or where the supplier got the products and we don't either. We are guessing. There is nothing to report, yet.

@Lincoln Osirus,

As stated previously please read the post by Alan Jones, Terrance and VX. Each of those post has reliable information.

[AlanJones]

the local police in Podunk are only concerned with what happened in Podunk, which from this report, is nothing.

That will be the crime that the OP has committed of selling stolen goods - the local police may not do anything, but at least by reporting to them that he has been a victim of the scam, it will be on record if anyone starts investigating him.

There isn't a shipper/mule.

How do you know? All of the items appear to have been shipped from the same location - so either it was a mule receiving them and shipping them or one store that has a distribution center in that location. Either way, when the recipients of the goods are questioned about receiving stolen goods, they will tell the authorities that they bought them on eBay and provide the OP's id as the seller - he will be the easily identified individual.

The owner of the credit card won't be held responsible for fraud committed by overseas criminals, so it will be a bank that is missing some money.

Wrong again, the bank will reverse the credit card transaction, leaving the store as the one taking the hit - they may decide to write it off or they may decide to report it - if they report it then they will provide details of where they shipped the goods to - either the shipping mule or the end "customer" - either way, the trail is soon going to lead back to the OP as the person who is selling these stolen goods.

One thing I'd add is that any commercial entity or bank is much more effective in mobilising law enforcement than an individual when there is any evidence of fraud or wrongdoing. That's a fact of life. It is is quite a widespread and organised fraud and it's in their interests to make sure that anyone involved is punished, or it only encourages others to do it, and the only identifiable party is the one who is receiving payment in to an account.

Whoa. Calm down, eh. I have pointed out before that USA doesn't have a national police force - the local police in Podunk are only concerned with what happened in Podunk, which from this report, is nothing. There isn't a shipper/mule. There is a store, we don't know which one, or a few, that shipped some products to people. The store was paid, not robbed. The owner of the credit card won't be held responsible for fraud committed by overseas criminals, so it will be a bank that is missing some money. One of the reasons interest rates are high is so banks can just write off losses like this. Nobody is going to Ukraine to investigate. The FBI wouldn't go across the street for the amounts involved in this case. There is nothing to do but wait. Answer questions when and if they are asked. Don't panic and always carry a clean dry towel. You did report to IC3 and you did report here. Enough.

You were dropshipping. You don't know how or where the supplier got the products and we don't either. We are guessing. There is nothing to report, yet.

Interesting thoughts. I did report this to IC3 AND I decided to email this whole thing to the St. Louis division of FBI because the goods are being shipped from there.

Should I just stop selling for my other party or should I tell them I can only pay them through _____ (easily traced and non-scammy sounding method)?

I would really like to continue making money from this, and though this may* be a scheme, if the authorities don't get back to me in a reasonable amount of time, I'm not quite sure what to do next.

[AlanJones]

This is a public forum, so unfortunately some of the comments you are going to receive will be from well-intentioned but misinformed/misguided people - the advice given by Byron a couple of posts up will give an idea of who you should be taking notice of

Should I just stop selling for my other party or should I tell them I can only pay them through _____ (easily traced and non-scammy sounding method)?

I would really like to continue making money from this, and though this may* be a scheme, if the authorities don't get back to me in a reasonable amount of time, I'm not quite sure what to do next.

Regardless of how you pay the people who have "employed you", the fact remains that you are involved in a scam and it is going to come back on you as you are the one in the USA. It is highly likely that the goods that you are selling are stolen. The only possible scenario where they aren't is if the person paying for them has been scammed into buying them as he thinks he has a job as a purchesor and will be re-imbursed for what he has purchased - when he discovers that he isn't then he will report it as a scam and you will still be implicated.

Were you to carry on selling these fraudulently obtained goods and the authorities were to find out that you did so despite knowing what you were involved in, then any excuse that you had that you are a victim will go out the window.

At the end of the day, it is up to you what you do as you are the one who will be facing prison time when it all goes belly up - I know what I (and any sensible person) would be doing.

We told you to stop. If you continue, you are a willing participant and can no longer claim any innocence. You will be held responsible. Using virtual currency won't help you at all. While you don't know who to report to, the bank investigator does, and if he keeps seeing your name and address everyday, he will prosecute, have you jailed. You will find you didn't make enough to pay bail and a lawyer.

Obviously, people disagree with me, but I always advise not to make a police report when you don't know any useful information -

Report -

Who? Don't know
What? Don't know
Where? Don't know
How? Don't know
etc.

I always like to think that the police have better things to do than listen to me list all the things I don't know.

My advice is still, stop. Don't. If there is a complaint against you, you were gullible, but not guilty. If you continue...

I understand your point Mumbles but, even if making a report to law enforcement is a waste of time and they show no interest, when affected parties do go after him, it will be useful if Lincoln Osirus can evidence that he made an attempt to alert the authorities himself.

Apart from any paperwork he holds, this could be the most compelling thing he could do to evidence his own innocence, but I do concede that there is a strong possibility that they won't initially be interested. It's almost inevitable that any victims will come after him, so anything he can do now before that happens will improve his position I feel.

Yeah I think I'm going to not post any more items, and hang low. Not going to transfer any more money to the other party-tell them its on hold due to pending investigation. Not going to spend the money in case I need it to pay any potential victims.

That said, it's been 5 weeks or so and no complaints have arisen yet. You would think it wouldn't take long for someone to be busted for allegedly buying stolen goods on ebay and then implicating me as the seller of said stolen goods. Hmmm.

Don't tell the scammers there's a pending investigation. Don't tell them anything. No matter how loudly they say they're going to send the FBI after you, ignore them. Don't give them any clue how you found out it's a scam.

But do tell the police and the bank everything about how you found out it's a scam. Hopefully they will treat you as a victim, not a criminal.

CooperDeals at http://cooperdeals.com



Oh look! viewtopic.php?f=34&t=100121

COOPERDEALS - More than 8 years on the market

A wide range of consumer goods from manufacturers across the United States, China, Turkey and France.
We work with all regions of the United States, from the West to the East.
Our partners include the largest marketplaces: Amazon, Sears, Walmart, and more.
Thanks to our plentiful experience coupled with an impressive volume of transactions and a long-time trend of cooperation, you can buy our products at retail or wholesale at very competitive prices.
Be Part of Our Community

A large variety of goods, low prices, mutually beneficial working conditions, a flexible discount system, and attention to customer support all promote the ongoing growth and development of our company!
CooperDeals cooperates with a large number of suppliers and manufacturers from the U.S., Europe and Asia. This allows us to offer the highest quality products at the lowest prices on the market. We encompass a vast variety of goods from different fields under one roof. Working with us, you deal directly with the suppliers, so you get prices without retail mark-up and access to goods that are always available.

AMERICA
USA
2083 49th Ave N Minneapolis, MN 55430
Tel: + 1-612-231-1739
Fax: + 1-612-486-7123
Email: cooperdealsmail (at) gmail.com

EUROPE
Germany
29 Harpener Straße, Dusseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia
Fax: + 49-211-95987528
Email: cooperdealsmail (at) gmail.com
ASIA

Singapore
11 Tanjong Pagar Road, Singapore
Fax: + 65-67-250-524
Email: cooperdealsmail (at) gmail.com