Many of the scam's that come through our office require payment by western union. That is because ther is no recourse or tracking down of the person who receives the money. You are just out - out - out. Many of the you won! here is a check scams require payment of taxes and such by western union after you deposit their cashiers check. It takes two weeks for the bank to notify you that the cashiers check was a fake... and they want their money back, freeze your accounts, and your out what ever amount you sent them.. See it 20 times a day.
-----Original Message-----
From: JR <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Sent: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 14:11:32 -0400
Subject: [MOPO] MOPO sellers need to act on this fraud
Brek, This high-end auction by "nikitas_best" is clearly a major fraud attempt and should be reported to eBay reps by the larger sellers on this group immediately. I agree that it is long past time for Heritage to add digital watermarks to their images. I can't imagine why they haven't been doing so all along. For a big operation they certainly can miss the obvious from time to time. But, Brek, you don't have to worry about them sending out a bunch of fakes and lowering the value of the originals -- they are not going to be sending anyone who gives them money anything by excuses via email and then they will disappear. They won't be delivering anything but heartbreak to the poor saps who fall for this. This "nikitas_best" is so obviously a crook that I can't believe anyone would fall for it and bid on any of these auctions. But, these auctions have 6 days to run and they already have over $6,300 in bids (assuming they are from genuine bidders and not this nikita fellow shilling). I can't believe people are so stupid as to believe some unknown seller in Brazil has all these premium posters up for sale at one time on eBay -- this is a collection that would make the largest auction houses in the world drool with envy -- and they're selling them on ebay all in one week with low starting bids and no reserve? And hidden feedback and bidder IDs? And they only accept Western Union and PayPal and insist on payment in 5 days but tell you will it take 14 to 21 days to get your item? How can anyone be so dumb as to bid on these things? Yet there seem to be plenty of people doing it. How can it be that eBay allows this kind of clear fraud to happen? I hope all you big eBay sellers will personally contact your eBay reps about this "nikitas_best" criminal and have him shut down before he walks away with $20,000 or more without even a slap on the wrist. Clearly, you can make good money very quickly with little effort by staging a fake high-end auction like this, so it is going to continue to happen if eBay doesn't do something -- and if the genuine big sellers on eBay don't police the business themselves. According to eBay, "nikitas_best" has been a member for just over a year and has built up over 1300 feedbacks with only 8 negatives for an overall rating of 99%. If these feedbacks were genuine, why wouldn't nikita make them public? It's a quality rating, something to be proud of. Of course, if these feedback were all generated by bidder IDs with (0) to (10) feedback themselves, it would be obvious that nikita has spent the last year building up his own feedback rating himself in preparation for launching this fraud. I can think of no other reason why a seller would want to hide over 1300 positive feedback comments. For years I have been asking WHY, WHY, WHY does eBay even allow feedback to be hidden (along with Bidder IDs)? Hiding these things is an open invitation to fraud. It is aiding and abetting illegal activity as far as I'm concerned and I'm surprised some smart, well-heeled lawyers have not sued eBay over providing crooks with a way to hide what they are doing from the public and assisting them in their crimes. There are some things eBay has no control over, but hiding feedback is something they have total control over and they can put a stop to it anytime they want to. That they continue to allow private feedback when they know it is being used to hide criminal activity is in itself a criminal act.. I know a few legit businesses also hide their bidder's IDs -- but I won't participate in those auctions either -- and I don't think even legit businesses should be allowed to do it. I know the song-and-dance about protecting their clients. That's hogwash. When their clients are on the floor at a live auction they don't worry about people from other auction houses being in the audience, noting down the names of "their clients" and then later trying to get them to buy something from another auction house. They are NOT "your clients" anyway -- you don't own them -- they are members of the general public who happen to bid on your auction is all. While nowhere near as bad as hiding feedback, I have always believed that hiding bidder's IDs is an invitation to trouble and simply bad form (at best). I don't bid on any seller who does it. Sorry, Bruce, but that's the way I feel about it. Even though you haven't abused the feature, it is obvious that others can and will and therefore ! I think all genuine sellers who are concerned about fraud should not use that feature and should advocate its removal from the eBay system. -- JR ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brek Anderson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2006 13:18 Subject: [MOPO] FW: [MOPO] Ebay Scams. Maybe It's time for Heritage to start adding a Digital Watermark to there Images > I have Heritage's last catalog right here and The Black Pirate is an exact > match with Heritage as well. I would not be happy if I bought one of these > high end posters from Heritage to find other fakes selling from this con. > It might hurt the value of the originals if he isn't stopped. Everyone > should email eBay. I know how they work. Two or three complaints on one item > or seller and they will end the auctions. > Cheers, > Brek > > -----Original Message----- > From: MoPo List [mailto:mopo-l@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU] On Behalf Of Danny > Carlson > Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2006 9:26 AM > To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU > Subject: [MOPO] Ebay Scams. Maybe It's time for Heritage to start adding a > Digital Watermark to there Images > > Hi All-This Guy Is Scamming the Poster collecting World. The 51 > Dracula Realart Insert that just ended today was taken from Heritages > web site. I compared both photos and they match. Each of the 4 > corners were replaced and this is evident in both photos. Now he just > listed the Heritage $46,000 Wolfman Insert that is the only known > rolled copy. Again I compared both photos and they match. Maybe It's > time for Heritage to start adding a Digital Watermark to there > Images. Many stock photo websites place digital watermarks on their > Images before you buy a high res one and agree to their terms. Grey > should definitely call e-bay and stop this scam artist. Danny > > On Jun 22, 2006, at 10:35 AM, jbirddouglass wrote: > > > I don't know him, Michael, but those pictures of the posters look a > > little TOO scanned-from-other-auction-catalogs perfect, the guy's > > hiding his feedback, he's in Buenos Aires, the name Nikita reeks of > > Ukrainian internet scam...oh, but he does offer a COA on his material! > > Also, as I went through this guy's way-too-good-to-be-true > > listings, I started to hear the banjo theme to "Deliverance" and my > > butt started to hurt. I took that as a sign not to bid. > > Greg D > > Michael B wrote: > > > >> link: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZnikitas_bestQQhtZ-1 > >> this seller has the best best best best items listed on ebay > >> now. original CASABLANCE, POSTMAN, NOTRIOUS, THE THING, THE BLOB, > >> SUNSET BOULEVARD, HITCHOCK DIAL M, CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON > >> &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& MORE ................... all > >> top auction house stuff. my guess is that he has over 200,000 > >> worth of stuff.......... he hides his feedback > >> bidder identities are private > >> only one picture per item > >> DOES ANYONE KNOW HIM???? 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