amazon scam

[h8_Halifax]

is this a "new" amazon [problem]? i've been to lots of sites found in google but i can't find any reference to this particular con.

if it is new, does anyone know how to report it to amazon? i can't find a link/email addy.

 

[problem] details:

 

on friday i got a message, clearly sent via the amazon message system saying that someone wanted to buy an item i had for sale. it was from: [email protected]

it asked me to reply to a yahoo address.

 

i replied saying thank you for showing an interest adding that she would need to buy using amazon.

 

sunday i received an email from: [email protected]

it's format was exactly the same as the one you receive from amazon when an item is sold ... except for one small addition, this line:

Postage Credit: £45.74

 

it also showed a shipping address which was different from the buyers address.

 

it looked so kosher that i sent an email to my son, i was selling the item for him, saying that it had been sold.

 

then i saw that i also had another email from the buyer. in very good english it asked me to confirm that i would post the goods the next day as it was a present and they wanted to make sure that it would arrive in time. to be honest, i had not noticed that the buyer and shipping addresses were different at this point so i replied that i would only be able to ship to the address that was registered for the credit card as amazon insisted on that.

that's when i went back to the Amazon "Sold, Dispatch Now" email and noticed the shipping address was Lagos.

 

as i was almost scammed out of £250,000; almost arrested for trying to report the [problem]; threatened with immediate arrest and prosecution by a triple A american bank in 1990, all for being asked to sell some computers to a company in Nigeria, i was immediately suspicious.

 

however, when i tried to send the email supposedly from amazon to their scams department, i could not find an address.

and when i checked my amazon account it showed the item as still being for sale, i.e. unsold.

clearly i have no intention of shipping the goods but i would really like to report this to amazon and warn others. is there an amazon [problem] address? is there somewhere to warn other amazon sellers? i have the web address of consumer direct but i won't be able to send the entire email.

 

suggestions please?

[SkyPaulusPlus]

i had a fuuny one like that a while back about a dvd recorder, but amazon dont have messaging.

 

i always check amazon before i send anything

 

how did you nearly get arrested?

[borisbeaver]

Give their customer services a call on 0800 496 1081.

[Conniff]

[email protected]

 

It's not very prominent, it should be on the front page but is hidden away in safe online shopping.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200406970#e

[h8_Halifax]

cheers Conniff and borisbeaver

 

how did you nearly get arrested?

 

it started when the owner of a small post office asked if i would be interested in selling computers to his friend. he implied overseas, did not mention nigeria but if he had it would have made no difference as in 1990/1991 i had never heard of any of these "nigerian" scams. i spoke to various banks and was told that they could clear an overseas cheque in a couple of weeks, three at most. however, when the cheque arrived and i tried to deposit it none of them would give me a clearance date. barclays, after keeping me waiting over 40 minutes, told me that even when the funds had been deposited in my account they could take them back again, even six months later - or longer!

so i telephoned the manchester office of the american triple A bank that the cashiers cheque was drawn on. the conversation was strange, i asked about time to clear the cheque, she asked me for the cheque details, e.g. the branch it was drawn on and cheque number. after over five minutes she returned and said that i must post the cheque to her "IMMEDIATELY". i said, "sorry but i'm not going to throw away a cheque for almost £250,000 without some sort of receipt". she said that if i did not agree to post it to her then she could have the police at my address, i had only told her my name and phone number, "within ten minutes" and i would be arrested for fraud. she added that they had "all the evidence they needed to charge me with fraud from what i had already told her" - i.e. that i had been sent a cheque and it's details! the fact that i was in possession of the cheque was "all the proof they would need".

i agreed to post the cheque to her but insisted that she sent me a prepaid addressed envelope (to delay things a little). then i went to my local police station. the plod on the front desk listened to my story, took no notes. went away. he came back, there was no-one available in cid to see me but he asked me to repeat everything i had already told him. i thought he'd gone to lunch he was away so long. when he did return he said that the best thing i could do was to go home and do what the bank had said. when i asked if he was not going to make an entry in his "day book", i was told not to tell him how to do his job. when i asked him to please make an official record of my visit, keep a copy of the cheque, anything to prove that i once had such a large cheque, he refused. when i politely said that i had a right to have them make an official record of my complaint he replied that the only right i had was to be arrested if i "didn't leave now". when i asked to see a senior officer to make an official complaint he said i had until he counted to three to get out.

i wrote to the then Home Secretary, David Waddington, but only received a "can't deal with anyone outside my constituency" reply.

i did return the cheque to the bank.

they did tell me that someone went into their Manhatton branch and asked for a $100.00 cashiers cheque some years earlier. that cheque was then altered and duplicated using a colour photocopier. they certainly implied that the same [problem] had been done lots and lots of times and that it was very common and that it was always out of nigeria. after that i had dozens of hand written 419 fraud letters then lots more typed then emails. clearly i made the nigerian mugs list.

the owner of the post office continued to be very well thought of but i never used his shop again.

Edited December 7, 2009 by h8_Halifax

[SkyPaulusPlus]

ah so they thought ypu had made the counterfit, and it was all a [problem], and you dealt with a terrible bobbie, okay thanks for clearing that up:(

 

sldo ow many computers was it for 250 grand?

[h8_Halifax]

ah so they thought ypu had made the counterfit, and it was all a [problem], and you dealt with a terrible bobbie, okay thanks for clearing that up:(

sldo ow many computers was it for 250 grand?

 

well, the logic seemed to be, if i had the cheque then i must certainly be involved in the [problem].

as for the number, i really don't remember. i do remember that they had insisted on ibm ps/2's (i was always a clone person) so i had to source a new supplier and that i was having huge problems arranging transportation insurance for them.