INTERNET AUCTION SCAMMERS

Recently, I've had conversations with people who have purchased or sold items via Internet auction sites and have been intentionally defrauded. A neighbor sold an item online (an expensive clock) and the recipient failed to pay, claiming she never received it. My neighbor has been corresponding with her and knows she has the clock since she sent my neighbor a polaroid. The buyer has arrogantly told my neighbor that there's nothing she can do so she's been screwed. Thus far several law agencies have been contacted, along with the insurance company and the online auction site. In a nutshell, the whole issue is up in the air, quite complicated, and doesn't look promising for my neighbor.

The successful purchase or sale of items over the Internet is way too dependent on trust. And, betraying that trust, sometimes people intentionally steal from others. Another instance is the following story from Sagamore Hills, Ohio, where a man never received what he paid for.

A Spafford Oval man called police for help with a year-old theft.

The man said he had bought recording equipment on an online auction site last August. He sent the Houston, Texas couple selling the equipment a cashier's check for $1,124, but had never received his purchase.

He told police that he had tried to work with the sellers to get his money back, but the couple denied any knowledge of the situation.

The man said he called the Houston Police department's fraud unit, and an officer there said they would need a local police report.

Sagamore detectives said they would follow up with the Houston department.

The outcome of his year-old case has to rely upon the interface between the Houston police and police in a suburb of Cleveland. That fact alone should elicit a groan. Throw in an insurance company and the online auctioneer and you've got the classic constituents for a cluster caucus. Prognosis has to be less than promising. It seems that the only way a person could have confidence in a transaction is to be intimately familiar with the person being dealt with. That's difficult over the Internet.