hey all,

So a friend (really, it's not me) appears to have fallen prey to a scammer. He bought a watch through the forums, wired money, and now the seller is gone. The only point of contact is an email address. He has visited his bank, and they (as expected) tell him there's nothing they can do.

He's planning to file a police report, for what that's worth.

Is there anything else he can do?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

How did he "wire" the money? Bank, Western Union, PayPal?

Where was the seller located? US, EU, Ukraine??

If the seller is in Norway I can always pay the bastard a visit....

 

'through the forums'.... hereeeeee??????

 

heh, that would be very much appreciated!

seller claims to be in the US, but language in their communications that I've seen make me believe they're not a native English speaker, let alone an old timer American watch collector from West Virginia... a little bit of assumption on my part maybe, but there are some red flags there.

money was sent via Bank wire.

@Fost, no, not here.

 

Find his IP address and remove his dangly bits with a claw hammer?

 

not sure how I'd do that with just an IP address, but I'm sure said friend would be at the front of the line for the other part...

 

So was it these forums?

 

Unfortunately, wiring funds is a really bad idea unless you personally know the seller.
Despite some peoples opinions otherwise PayPal is a very safe way to deal with strangers. My rule is if they don't accept PayPal, then they generally are a scammer and I just walk away (unless they are known in the community). Sometimes in the excitement of finding a hard to find watch, we tend to make foolish decisions...but you have to just tell yourself another example will show up.

Once funds are wired, its rare for the bank to do anything. Chances are its already been transferred to another account anyway.
This is the appeal of a wire transfer...its not reversible. And exactly why it should never be used with a stranger.

 

BTW- You must be diligent especially this time of the year as the scammers are out in full force. Another trick they use is to add a single letter to a known email address to appear to be that person. For example if [email protected] is a known seller, make sure you aren't actually dealing with [email protected]. This is less likely on OF...but on other forums that display your email address its a common trick.

 

thanks gents.

just for clarity, it was NOT here on OF. it was elsewhere.

good tips there @CajunTiger. I guess there's no hope then at this point...

 

I think your friend just learned an expensive lesson sadly. Hope it was not too large a figure.

 

Never say never...but options are limited. Pretty much the only option is to work with the bank.
The authorities will do little or nothing.

 

Contact local PD at his and destination locations..

Also he can contact the FBI

https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us

 

is there any line of questioning or anything to make with the bank? He asked this morning, but they just said "sorry, nothing we can do." if there's an angle that would get them to dig a little deeper, I'm sure he would appreciate it!

...I feel very fortunate today for never having had this happen to me... be careful out there folks!

 

If it was me ,,, I would press harder. Of course if it was me, I'd have used Pay Pal. The receiving bank must have records. This is wire fraud.

 

Good luck with that. The FBI will respond with a form email and you will likely never hear from them again. The only way to report internet crimes is via that link. They will not allow you to call and talk to a real person. You will get a response that says something like. "we receive thousands of reports a week and you will probably not hear back from us". Yes, literally this is the response.

The local authorities are your best bet, but will have little if anything to work with as the chances are very high that the scammer is nowhere near where he claims to be. Its all worth the effort, but chances of a recovery are slim.

 

Unless he is just a completely inept scammer...which is highly possible, the funds stayed in that original account for all of 5 minutes before being moved on. Regardless banks will do nothing about it unless they have a court order to hold the funds. The scammers know this and move the money out long before you will ever obtain anything to stop it.