p.4 #1 · Canada Bank Transfer (EMT) Scam. Warning!
molson wrote:
That won't help one bit if the buyer claims the item is DOA or that you mailed him a brick... it's just his word against yours, and PayPal always sides with the buyer.
See my quote above about this not being foolproof. Would you rather take these precautions and go into a potential dispute with this on your side, or go into a dispute with nothing and hope for the best?
p.4 #2 · Canada Bank Transfer (EMT) Scam. Warning!
Asimo wrote:
this is difficult to combat , especially Ebay never perfected the system . If I remember correctly
there were fraud cases within US as well , using Fedex/UPS to collect COD with a fake cheque or money order.
I have been working on the code constantly adding more security to the site but as you wrote, it's very difficult to combat these criminals. Our best protection is insured payment.
Personal story: I had not used Ebay for ages but last week won an auction for a race bicycle. The seller had amazing feedback and provided a tracking number shortly after payment was completed. I later learned that the tracking was bogus and I was a victim of fraud. Could this be an account hijack? I am not sure...Ebay has the same phishing email warnings I posted here.
Because I payed using Paypal, I in the process of getting the money back.
I will continue combating this with more code updates.
p.4 #4 · Canada Bank Transfer (EMT) Scam. Warning!
nwadventurer7 wrote:
there is a buy/sell for a nikon d800e on the forum, out of vancouver bc...is this the offender? no reviews for him
If the seller insists on only accepting bank transfers my advice is to stay way. If you can made an insured payment using Paypal for example, you will be protected.
Fred
p.4 #5 · Canada Bank Transfer (EMT) Scam. Warning!
I'm Canadian and I have dealed with lots of people here with no problems at all.
It's happening and will always happen again for this kind of frauds cause some people want things for free. Last year I was so close to get scammed for about $4000 gears but luckily I was able to get the gears back and thanks to those FMers who showed their support.
I mean for a big site like this we don't have any warning system to keep people alert or any other protection for those legit FMers, just one post to show up every time or so and will be forgotten again..........
p.4 #7 · Canada Bank Transfer (EMT) Scam. Warning!
Hmm.
You can only have so many safeguards. The best safeguard is due diligence and caution (there will always be super-intelligent scammers, and inexperienced, unwary, or idiot buyers on the other end).
Maybe include the last three digits of a person's cell phone in their profile (so mine would look like ***-***-*666) and recommend that buyers & sellers check and verify that it's that person. Having three digits that are exactly the same as the real account holder (if you're a hacker) is unlikely (1000 combinations of numbers if you take 10^3). That and make phone number changes in profile more secure (text code to previous phone to enter to confirm new number).
Or perhaps track IP addresses for login (like "Facebook" does) and only allow creation of FS/FT/WTB threads from the original IP address (and if different IP address, text code to cell phone to confirm). This would perhaps be one of the most secure methods as if I'm buying an expensive item from a "FS" listing, I would at least know it is extremely likely that it's the original account holder (since they'd have to create the listing from that first/confirmed IP address).
There can only be so many methods to deter hackers and scammers. I think the best deterrent is being both intelligent and wary at all times--meaning we be extra careful with low-feedback people, check with past buyer/sellers on a person's cell phone number (I get items shipped to my cousin's address--not my verified PayPal, and would gladly tell a seller to ask someone else I've dealt with [from +feedback] to confirm my cousin's address and my cell so the seller knows they're actually dealing with me). Really need due diligence nowadays when buying/selling online via forums.
p.4 #9 · Canada Bank Transfer (EMT) Scam. Warning!
I think that Fred should add in code that alerts you if the account holder has changed his/her profile, email address or password in the last 60 days.
There's no magic bullet that will protect anyone against the fraudsters, but the reputation system is one step, then making sure that the person's account hasn't been compromised is another.
p.4 #10 · Canada Bank Transfer (EMT) Scam. Warning!
wkhc168 wrote:
I am confused. How is the location of the scammer significant? Did this scammer use any tactics base on the fact that he is across the boarder? Or it is simply a fact that he is (or claim that he is) located in Canada and you believe that there are a lot of scammers in Canada? Why is there a warning against a "Canadian" scammer? If he/she were located in Texas, would there be an alert for a "Texan" scammer?
I am supportive of the warning and appreciate it. I just bought something using PayPal gift and got my fingers crossed. Am I worried? Not really because I still believe in the rating system on FM. But I will not use it again after seeing this warning. I think we all need to be careful but my point is that the alert should not be targeted to Canadians unless I missed some facts about this scam. ...Show more →
buddy, as i said in the earlier post. i sent via EMT and my bank was able to tell me that the funds were downloaded to a TD bank account, that's Canadian
a couple days later, i was chatting with another victim and his funds were downloaded to Scotiabank, yet another Canadian bank
therefore, Fred knows what he's talking. yes it can be Canadian and can be anyone with any nationality. however, it is strongly believed that he is Canadian, as I have his info. too bad i can't do much about it. RCMP rejected to help and i can only go through lawyer to sue the guy under 'civil disagreement'
p.4 #11 · Canada Bank Transfer (EMT) Scam. Warning!
Asimo wrote:
I didn't know that you can't track the person if payment sent by EMT (Debit with Email)
I thought all the bank which accepting EMT are within Canada . How can people get away with money deposit into their account directly ?
when i realized i got fraud back in Feb 2013, my bank could only tell me that the funds has been downloaded to another bank. and the scammer already withdrew it from that bank account
from there, the bank is useless and cannot trace the money back
yes you know who that person is but that's all the bank is willing to do. you can go through RCMP but RCMP turned me down. you can go through lawyer but that will cost you a fortune. let me know if you need more info.
i have the scammer's info but there's nothing i can do about it
p.4 #13 · Canada Bank Transfer (EMT) Scam. Warning!
kwokfusing wrote:
when i realized i got fraud back in Feb 2013, my bank could only tell me that the funds has been downloaded to another bank. and the scammer already withdrew it from that bank account
from there, the bank is useless and cannot trace the money back
yes you know who that person is but that's all the bank is willing to do. you can go through RCMP but RCMP turned me down. you can go through lawyer but that will cost you a fortune. let me know if you need more info.
i have the scammer's info but there's nothing i can do about it ...Show more →
p.4 #14 · Canada Bank Transfer (EMT) Scam. Warning!
tonywong88 wrote:
I think that Fred should add in code that alerts you if the account holder has changed his/her profile, email address or password in the last 60 days.
There's no magic bullet that will protect anyone against the fraudsters, but the reputation system is one step, then making sure that the person's account hasn't been compromised is another.
+1
Great idea! Maybe have everyone enter in a shipping from/to address that's hidden unless they decide to hit a "reveal to buyer/seller" button. That and have a huge, bright red sentence saying "This address has been updated in the past 60 days." and show the address prior to the change also! The bright red alert would appear even if the seller/buyer never listed an address, but decided to.
And for buyers/sellers with a long history, maybe we can "allow" FredMiranda to go through our PMs (we can mark certain PMs) to see that we did request everything to be sent to a specific address, so that he can take off that red alert notice when the system first comes into effect (for buyers/sellers with reputable history of over a certain amount sent from/to an address)! <- And cross check with our feedback!
Of course, that would probably mean a lot of work for Fred, so maybe not my last paragraph.
p.4 #15 · Canada Bank Transfer (EMT) Scam. Warning!
MazeRunner wrote:
+1
Great idea! Maybe have everyone enter in a shipping from/to address that's hidden unless they decide to hit a "reveal to buyer/seller" button. That and have a huge, bright red sentence saying "This address has been updated in the past 60 days." and show the address prior to the change also! The bright red alert would appear even if the seller/buyer never listed an address, but decided to.
And for buyers/sellers with a long history, maybe we can "allow" FredMiranda to go through our PMs (we can mark certain PMs) to see that we did request everything to be sent to a specific address, so that he can take off that red alert notice when the system first comes into effect (for buyers/sellers with reputable history of over a certain amount sent from/to an address)! <- And cross check with our feedback!
Of course, that would probably mean a lot of work for Fred, so maybe not my last paragraph....Show more →
p.4 #16 · Canada Bank Transfer (EMT) Scam. Warning!
Asimo wrote:
Are you sure RCMP can't do anything about it ? this is ridiculous . I think you can go thru small claim court to deal with it .
RCMP rejected to help as they see this as a 'civil disagreement/dishonouring' or something, whatever. they rejected to do further investigation. in other words, they are useless
i can go through a lawyer and through small claim court to get my money back, i guess, but that will cost me more than what i have lost, am i correct? i have lost $2700 here my friend...
p.4 #17 · Canada Bank Transfer (EMT) Scam. Warning!
kwokfusing wrote:
buddy, as i said in the earlier post. i sent via EMT and my bank was able to tell me that the funds were downloaded to a TD bank account, that's Canadian
a couple days later, i was chatting with another victim and his funds were downloaded to Scotiabank, yet another Canadian bank
therefore, Fred knows what he's talking. yes it can be Canadian and can be anyone with any nationality. however, it is strongly believed that he is Canadian, as I have his info. too bad i can't do much about it. RCMP rejected to help and i can only go through lawyer to sue the guy under 'civil disagreement'...Show more →
Peace buddy. I did not know it was a EMT scam hence I was wondering about the "Canadian" significance.
I feel your pain and wish you luck in resolving this. Too bad that these bad apples are giving Canadian s a bad name. I am glad that Fred updated the title of this thread which I think is more appropriate.
p.4 #18 · Canada Bank Transfer (EMT) Scam. Warning!
Well, I'm out the $1400. The local police here said "we'll do what we can, but it's VERY unlikely you'll get your money back" and my brother is a cop.
That being said, I'd like to thank Fred Miranda for all his help. The second I brought this to his attention he put a lock on Mikeitis account. Fred Miranda did nothing wrong...I DID. I was the fool who believed this guy. I had never bought anything off this site before, when I asked Mikeitis how we go about buying stuff off this site he said "just use e-transfer" at which point I said I never heard of it and he assured me that it was secure. The only reason I agreed to this was because the fucker had a 39 positive feedback so I thought he was being honest and a good person to buy from.
Now, looks like I'll have to save up another $1400 to buy the lens again. I just don't know if I can trust this site anymore which is sad because "professional photographers" seem to take better care of their equipment than ebay user do. I'll likely end up spending an extra few hundred dollars and buying from Amazon.
Again, I want to thank Fred Miranda for all this help. The night this happened I must have sent him a dozen emails and he quickly replied to them all.
Off to set up a charity for the idiot Canadian who basically emailed a complete stranger $1400. What the f-ck was I thinking? I was just that excited over a stupid lens.
p.4 #19 · Canada Bank Transfer (EMT) Scam. Warning!
Scary stuff. I am a newbie here, registered couple months ago. The first transaction I did was with PayPal gift because it was well over $1,000 and PayPal fee would have cost a hefty much. I trusted the person and sent him PayPal gift because he had quite a number reviews, all "great". I recieived the system is very good condition, so all good. But if somebody hacks into a reputable FMer's account and uses his ID to fraud, how can the tracking system be trusted anymore?
I hope Fred is working on a good verification system.
p.4 #20 · Canada Bank Transfer (EMT) Scam. Warning!
Getting ripped off sucks, but as we kick around ways to fix the system I have to ask: How many buyers have gotten ripped off when using standard PayPal and funding the transaction with a credit card?
By "ripped off" I mean you got scammed, or whatever, and never recovered your money.
I'm not saying that is a foolproof way to be safe, I'm sure it's not, but we seriously just ask for trouble if we don't take the safest route.
The story is too familiar of someone who has enough money to buy $1000s in photography gear but yet is too cheap to pay for shipping insurance or Paypal fees.
