REPORTING EBAY THEFT TO LOCAL POLICE

[the-fab-gift-shop]

Numerous complaints and we realise that Ebay has no intention of doing anything about buyer theft since they are now inviting it. We've had them pretend a few times to be checking into a buyer's account, but those same buyers are still on Ebay months later.

If a scammer uses the Ebay system to steal from us, then we are going to advise them, that we will be sending a written report with a stat dec to their local police station on what has ocurred. While we don't wish to take up the time of the police, by having them take a formal statement, a wriiten report at the writer's request, will be placed on permanent record at that station for future reference.  If enough sellers lodge complaints, then the police will be obliged to investigate and may issue a search warrant. If the thief has stolen electronic, furniture, jewellery etc worth big money, then it would be worth making a formal statement plus search.

Thieves generally like to keep themselves off record, relying on sellers to give in, for fear of  Neg. feedback. But with Ebay new invitation, you are going to find alot more long term professional scammers, becoming overly confident that the system supports them, so why email the seller, when they can get money quick, by going straight to the new scammers Ebay drive through ...

Stealing is an addiction and if allowed to get away with it, thieves nearly always move on to bigger/ other crimes. It assists police and the victims of crime in the future, if records are in place, showing a history of potential suspects in the area, or associated with a particular crime,  for when the thief gets caught out later on, for a major online fraud, house bulgary, car theft, assault etc.

Ebay may be building its reputation as a scammers paradise and instilling new found confidence in cyber thieves, but out in the real world theft/ shoplifting/ having stolen property in one's possession is still considered to be a criminal offense, punishable by law. Multiple accounts ... no problem. The name and address of the scammer and or friends and family is always the same ...

Reporting theft and only of you are certain that Australia Post is not at fault, is also a good deterent for wannabe newbie thieves.

[dylan11235813]

Ebay seem to like it. nah na nah

[colic2bullsgirlore]

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@am*3 wrote:

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@putney32 wrote:

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@am*3 wrote:

Good idea in principle.

As long as you are 100% sure a buyer  genuinely didn't receive their parcel (which imo you can't) before treating them as a scammer/thief (lost parcel could have been left outside recipients house by delivery person & passerby stole it, postal worker could have nabbed it, it got delivered to a wrong address and that person kept it etc)

If a scammer uses the Ebay system to steal from us, then we are going to advise them, that we will be sending a written report with a stat dec to their local police station on what has ocurred. 

Can you do that? You don't have to lodge it in person?

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actully for online fraud, it has to be lodged with the Online Fraud Squad, not the local police station.   that is why they set up an online fraud squad.

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Yes, that is why I queried lodging a complaint at the accused local's police station, when you don't live in that area yourself, over  an online transaction. 

Accuser have to be very careful, I would take action to clear my name if a seller did that to me, when if I genuinely didn't receive a item I bought online.

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lmao ...accuser.......

The best way to report a crime to police is by sticking to the facts and leave the accusations for the telly crime shows...

.... ie.....

"On 13/12/2014 Willy Wonka of (address) bought an item worth $200 via an ad online.

Delivery was included in the purchase price and was made via AP with tracking number ######### and recorded

as a successful delivery on the 16/12/14

On the 28/12/2014 Willy Wonka of (address) raised an item not received dispute through ebay.

Although the tracking showed as delivered Ebay refunded the buyer and debited my paypal account,

The goods that I sent appear to have been stolen by a party after I delivered them to the post office.

yours faithfully

....... A Ebayseller..........

Whether the police act on the report is obviously at their discretion. However the complaints hould be entered into a

searchable database (COPS) https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/8717

If so there is a chance that if Willy Wonka, AP deliveries in that area or even the street name has other recorded events

like your report ie a "cluster" then it will eventually be flagged and an investigation take place.

COPS, developed for the police by Anderson Consulting, is high tech in the extreme. So much so that it reeks of Big Brother.

A crime occurs in a street; say it is your street. The police, eventually through a patrol car-based computer, will be able

to call up all "persons of interest" living in your street.

Who are persons of interest?

Basically any person ever met in the course of policing.

Did you report the last time your house was broken into?

Then you are a person of interest.

Have you been involved in a traffic accident?

You are a person of interest.

Have you got an old criminal record from the time you were caught smoking marijuana as a student?

You are a person of interest.

Have you been the victim of domestic violence?

You are a person of interest.

How the police will use the massive list that such an inquiry will generate is yet to be seen, but you can bet that in

house-to-house interviews, persons of interest will be the first targeted.

One thing is for sure if you do not report the incident then that incident can never be of any help

[missbonnielovesglitter]

has anyone made a report to the Police?

I would think that the Police would feel like you were wasting their time.

When I worked at a service station and people drove off without paying for their fuel, I had to go the police station after my shift & report it - & the police always acted like I was wasting their time, they told me that thay had better things to do than be the petrol stations debt collectors

A missing parcel is not necessarily a crime - e.g. AP worker could have delivered it to the wrong house

I wish that in the blocked buyer settings, you could block people that have had more than one item not received claim in the past 12 months (the same way that you can block someone who has had 2 non payment strikes)

The few item not received claims I have had over the years - have all been from parcels/letters addressed to units.

The problem is buyers refuse to pay extra for registered post - because in their eyes they are already covered by paypal.

Which means that all the risk goes back to the seller

cost that most of my items sell for , it is not economical for me to pay for registered post out of my own pocket

maybe rather than report all missing parcels to the police, we could petition the online fraud squad to investigate people who are making multiple item not received claims?

[2014auswit]

My experience on ebay was there were only sellers stealing,not sending,sending old as new.The worst ones from Sydney West.

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@fabulous-gift-emporium wrote:

Numerous complaints and we realise that Ebay has no intention of doing anything about buyer theft since they are now inviting it. We've had them pretend a few times to be checking into a buyer's account, but those same buyers are still on Ebay months later.

If a scammer uses the Ebay system to steal from us, then we are going to advise them, that we will be sending a written report with a stat dec to their local police station on what has ocurred. While we don't wish to take up the time of the police, by having them take a formal statement, a wriiten report at the writer's request, will be placed on permanent record at that station for future reference.  If enough sellers lodge complaints, then the police will be obliged to investigate and may issue a search warrant. If the thief has stolen electronic, furniture, jewellery etc worth big money, then it would be worth making a formal statement plus search.

Thieves generally like to keep themselves off record, relying on sellers to give in, for fear of  Neg. feedback. But with Ebay new invitation, you are going to find alot more long term professional scammers, becoming overly confident that the system supports them, so why email the seller, when they can get money quick, by going straight to the new scammers Ebay drive through ...

Stealing is an addiction and if allowed to get away with it, thieves nearly always move on to bigger/ other crimes. It assists police and the victims of crime in the future, if records are in place, showing a history of potential suspects in the area, or associated with a particular crime,  for when the thief gets caught out later on, for a major online fraud, house bulgary, car theft, assault etc.

Ebay may be building its reputation as a scammers paradise and instilling new found confidence in cyber thieves, but out in the real world theft/ shoplifting/ having stolen property in one's possession is still considered to be a criminal offense, punishable by law. Multiple accounts ... no problem. The name and address of the scammer and or friends and family is always the same ...

Reporting theft and only of you are certain that Australia Post is not at fault, is also a good deterent for wannabe newbie thieves.

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[cherry*135]

Report every parcel claimed as lost to the police as theft.. right.. accusing the receiver (buyers in some cases) as being thieves.. OK.

[antonios7529]

In the past I tried to report a seller to special police unit against online fraud without success

Police asked me for some information I about sellers ID and I asked ebay for this information.

The ebay did not give the information but a link to give to police.

I gave the link to Police but thei  informed me that they can not continue without the information they wanted from me. I think mainly they  wanted to know in which Australia State the seller.

I gave up. I thought Police and ebay were playing with me

[amaterasuthird]

I had this happen recently. Seller wasted my time and was really slow getting back to me. Claimed he'd posted a replacement item for the dud he sold (that wasn't 100% genuine or official), and then paypal found in favor of him, because I took too long reporting it, because I was stupid enough to give him the benefit of the doubt and waited for his replies. Avoid REMOVED This guy swindled me out of $72.15 AUD. Ebay and Paypal clearly don't give a toss. It was obvious to anyone involved that he scammed me, yet they still found in favor of him. I'm not impressed, and am now having to talk to my bank in order to reverse this fraudulent action.

[davewil1964]

You started a thread about, posted on a reasonably recent thread about it....

Did you really need to drag up a three and a half year old thread about it, too?

Especially one about online shoplifters. Buyers, not sellers as in your complaint. Which makes your post off-topic as well as against board policy.

[imastawka]

Self edited.

Found other thread.

[dazzledayz]

Lithium creates these Zombies by giving subject hints whenever a new post is started.

I so wish they'd adjust the time threshhold to maybe 12 or 18 months.

Things change so quickly on eBay these days that any advice beyond that will be stale in most cases.