Hello all,

Recently I became a victim of fraud and I have been trying to reach out to all the right people in order to correct this.

I purchased a brand new, still sealed mobile phone from what looked like a reputable seller on eBay. They had been on eBay for quite a few years selling all sorts of items with great feedback and not negatives.

I received the mobile phone after paying using my CC and used it for 6 months as there were no issues until February this year. It had turned out the original owner had put the mobile phone on the global blacklist as I believe they're the only person (except the police) that can do this. I tried to get in contact with the seller and it had seemed they had deactivated their eBay account, which was strange since they had been a long term user of eBay.

I'm reaching out to the eBay community for advice on this situation please. I have actioned the following so far:

- My CC company won't issue a refund due to a third party handling the transaction (PayPal). There is a Consumer Credit Act 1974 (yes, this is a problem in this day and age) that apparently stops banks from issuing refunds.

- eBay have said they wouldn't help and I needed to go to the payment handled.

- PayPal have said they wouldn't help being it's outside their 180 day limit. I have sent the CEO a letter with all the evidence screenshotted.

- I wrote a letter to the supplier of the mobile phone and report the fraudulent activity but I received a very unprofessional letter with no name or signature back. I am looking to send this to their CEO and ask if this is acceptable.

- I logged a case with Action Fraud who tried to pass it to the National Fraud Agency and got told they literally don't have the time to check this case.

- I am currently trying to work with the Financial Ombudsman Service to push my CC company into getting my money back.

Short of me running about and trying to get either my mobile phone working (off the blacklist and the IMEI number moved to my account) or getting my money back, I am running out of ideas. I could try legal advice but if anyone has any kind of appropriate and helpful advice, I would be grateful.

Kind regards,

Mark

Hi and Welcome to CAG

I have moved your thread to the appropriate forum...I would suggest your problem is with Ebay/PayPal not Santander. Section 75 refund to not apply to third party sales.

Thread title updated

Regards

Andy

seems weird they would blacklist a phone after 6mts?

sounds like an admin error somewhere by someone

seems weird they would blacklist a phone after 6mts?

sounds like an admin error somewhere by someone

Certainly does. I found out the IMEI is linked to an EE account. This means EE were the phone supplier who sold this phone from new. EE have it in their contracts that you cannot sell a phone within the first 6 months of starting a new contract because you're still paying for the phone.

I'll leave it to you what to think.

ah right that explains it then

the guy sold it off [or it was sold to him] before he/they was allowed to and EE have found out

probably left them with a tidy usage bill too.

ah right that explains it then

the guy sold it off [or it was sold to him] before he/they was allowed to and EE have found out

probably left them with a tidy usage bill too.

It could be an insurance claim. Check this scenario; original owner sells and waits 6 months before claiming on insurance for this phone as lost/stolen. This means the IMEI goes on the blacklist and the original owner gets a new phone. This also means that by selling the original phone, they have gained 605GBP from myself. The reason for the 6 months could be to avoid all helps from eBay/PayPal leaving the buyer with nowhere to turn.

No one left a usage bill because I bought the phone brand new and still sealed. Only I have ever used the phone which I can prove from my account.

I would like to get the IMEI off the blacklist and removed from the original owners account so they cannot blacklist it again. Failing this, I would clearly want my money back. Sadly, I'm not very well protected due to the seller waiting this duration and PayPal being the third party handler which stops my CC refunding me due to the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Not that I agree with this, I believe all fraud should be fought against and with none of the big companies nor the National Fraud Agency getting involved, I do not have a lot of options left.

I have quite a lot of evidence in screenshots but so far no one is wanting to help.

No one left a usage bill because I bought the phone brand new and still sealed. Only I have ever used the phone which I can prove from my account.

Surely the usage part of a bill would relate to the SIM card, not the phone.

Unless you got the original SIM too, (& it was unused, still in the carrier it was supplied with originally), I wouldn’t be so confident there wasn’t a usage bill ......

Surely the usage part of a bill would relate to the SIM card, not the phone.

Unless you got the original SIM too, (& it was unused, still in the carrier it was supplied with originally), I wouldn’t be so confident there wasn’t a usage bill ......

I'm not sure why the usage part has come up because this has nothing to do with buying the phone and my issue. I bought a brand new, still sealed mobile phone and put my own SIM in it. I do not have the SIM the phone was sold to/with.

Whatever the original owner does with their SIM has nothing to do with my end of this. Could you please clarify what you mean?

For clarification on my part; I have tried not to talk about a SIM because I didn't want people to get confused. I'm purely discussing the phone IMEI being blacklisted.

yes but if you read whats been said the original sim card could be the reason why its been barred?

yes but if you read whats been said the original sim card could be the reason why its been barred?

If you mean because of a usage bill on the original SIM sold with the phone (if it wasn't just an upgrade) then surely the SIM alone would be blacklisted and not the phone as well? After all, it was in my own care for 6 months, longer than EE T&Cs.

Unless I'm clearly missing the point. Sorry, not trying to be awkward, I'm only trying to understand the situation so I can see if there is something I can actually do about this.

Yes so are we.. Its an interesting one

Most likely the events developed as follow:

1. Fraudster signed up to a contract and got a new phone

2. Signed up to insurance at the same time

3. Sold the phone to you without telling the network provider

4. 6 months later he/she made a claim through the insurance for lost/stolen phone

5. Phone gets barred

6. You get shafted

7. He/she gets a new phone and keeps your money

If you manage to find out why the phone has been barred, you could report the seller to the police for handling stolen goods and/or making a fraudulent insurance claim.

Providing my assumptions above are true.