Yahoo Fraud

[djkonstable]

My wife and I were tricked into paying for a product that never came. The vendor on yahoo has taken our money 8000nt, the bank won't resend the transaction even after calling 1 hour after the transaction. The thief has taken other peoples money, but yahoo didn't stop him even after our transaction.

A note to foreigners, don't send money through ATM accounts, Always get paper receipts, never buy on yahoo.tw and never send money through a 7-11 atm because you have no protection. The bank won't help you and the police will just file another millionth report. You won't get your money back.

Pay your agents with cash or let the school pay, don't get ripped off. No acceptance. Never move money here without the proper paperwork, If they won't give you a receipt don't give them money.

[maoman]

Yeah, this happened to us, but from the other end...
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=80841

[djkonstable]

That really sucks Maoman, I wouldn't be surprised if this gangster is using the same M.O., Nothing we can do but report it to the police and yahoo. At least in America I can run transactions through paypal, had some people that didn't deliver and paypal gave my money back.

I was trying to ask a lot of questions for my wife but she just said its no problem just transfer the money. She wasn't thinking and I just obliged. The account name is down in Kaoshuing (Gaoxiong) so won't be pushing civil suit, not worth it. Guy got a 8000 nt donation, I guess he really needs it if he is doing stuff like this. Freaking mahjhong.

Weird thing is my wife talked to this guy and he kept answering his phone, What is up with that? If you are going to rip me, why do you feel it necessary to talk to me?

[asiababy]

Earlier this year, my husband got ripped off by a guy on yahoo auction, and my husband sued him and won the case, getting his money back. I asked my husband to explain the process, and I hope this will help someone if they are unfortunate enough to be in this situation. Sorry, I don't have all the Chinese characters to explain the actual depts, but I will get them and add them when I can.

There is now a special section that handles Internet cases. You go to your local police station and ask to file a complaint relating to Internet fraud. If you have been cheated in some way and want to get your money back, you file as a scam, which is a public issue, not as a consumer issue. (Sorry for the lack of legal lingo) This way seems to be simpler (husband explained why but I need to double-check details) but you can only claim your money back, no other kinds of damages.

The police will ask you where this happened. To make it more convenient for yourself, tell them it happened at the place that will be more convenient to visit the police station. This means, if it is easier for you to report to the police station near your house, you tell them you bought the item online when you were at home. If near work is better, tell them you were in your office at the time. The accused will then have to come to that office nearest the place that is convenient for you. (So, you don't have to worry about going down south if you are in Taipei, for example. In our case, the guy wasn't too happy about making trips from Zhonghua to Taipei, serves him right!)

Keep printed copies of any Q&A or other transactions that you had on yahoo. In my husband's case, he printed out the Q&A where the seller had first said the item had never been used, which was not the truth. You also have your bank book or online printout that shows the ATM transaction.

You will have a chance to tell your side of the story, then the other party will. There will be some kind of mediation. There will be a written agreement and if either party fails to follow it up, the office responsible will take action. (In our case, the seller kept stalling the payment, and after a call from the mediator suggesting he might end up in court after all, money turned up the next day.)

There is no charge for this process, but it can take up some time, as you have to go to the office a couple of times for the meetings.

There are so many bullies in Taiwan who think they can get away with this kind of thing, and the general public feel they have no rights. But, this year I have seen personally and in business, that if you do take a stand when you are in the right, the outcome can be surprisingly satisfying.

[maoman]

My wife's case was officially closed the other day. The cops determined that her account was hacked from an ip address outside Taiwan, so she's off the hook. Apparently there are *thousands* of similar cases that have been reported. Yahoo has a serious problem on its hands.

[llary]

Last week I was looking for a used MacBook on Ruten and noticed one in Taichung for a decent price. I asked some questions about the spec etc. and there was nothing fishy about the replies. I had a tentative deal with a friend who was bugging me to make a firm offer, so I told them I found a better price and they happily sold it to someone else a few hours later with no hard feelings either side.

I mailed back to ask where we could meet up to do the deal and they said they will only ship by post. Anyone refusing to exchange a high value item face-to-face is a 100% guaranteed scammer. I was pissed at myself for losing the previous deal when I should have known this was a scam from the start.

Doing some research I found over 20 accounts selling exactly the same 4 items using a variety of MSN addresses (all popular high value electronics selling just low enough to be attractive and high enough to appear genuine). I reported them to Ruten who shut the accounts down but they were back literally within 30 minutes and they are still pulling the same scam with exactly the same items as I write. Whenever I see them pop up in the Ruten search results I post a warning to other buyers but they just delete the auction and start a new one to erase the comments.

I will not buy any auction items worth more than $1,000 unless the seller has a physical store that checks out or I go to pick the stuff up. I bought hundreds of items that way and never had any problems so far.