spoofers

OK, I bought this laptop from Toshiba Direct in November, and it's been a non-stop infuriating, energy drain hellhole ever since.

Here's the latest.

The machine has been repaired, twice, and I'm trying to sell it, all loaded up with Adobe software. After two attempts on eBay, someone bought it. She wanted me to ship it to France, so I looked into that. Then she changed her mind and wanted it shipped to Nigeria. (Really?) She sent me an email that "spoofed" the Paypal emails, showing I'd been paid. Great! But, Nigeria?

Here's eBay's response to the matter, which is pretty a 'you're SOL'. Never mind that this person managed to transact without being registered. (Note to eBay: there's no "report fraud" task for sellers on your website. Oops!)


Hello jdemock,

We had to cancel bids for the following buyer because they aren't registered on eBay:

desola4567

Please don't complete the transaction and don't ship the item. You may have received an email saying the buyer has paid. However, that's probably a fake message. To check if you actually received a payment, please log in to your PayPal account. Also, be sure to report fake emails to us. For more information, visit:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/account/questions/report-spoof-email.html

If you've already shipped the item and didn't receive a payment, you can request a final value fee credit for the listing. To find out how, go to:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/credits.html

To help you avoid this situation in the future, consider setting a Buy It Now price and requiring buyers to make an immediate payment. For more information on immediate payments, visit:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/pay/require-immediate-payment.html

Also, please consider taking the following action:
1. Contact the company that was used to send payment to verify whether funds have cleared.
2. If the funds are fraudulent, contact law enforcement in the buyer's area and give them the buyer's name, address, phone number, and any other information that may be helpful. If someone is assigned to your case, please ask them to contact us so that we can help with the investigation.
3. Contact the shipping carrier to find out if you can stop shipment on the package.
4. If you used the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to ship the package, consider filing a complaint at:
https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/forms/MailFraudComplaint.aspx
5. File a complaint with the National Consumers League's (NCL) Fraud Center at:
http://www.fraud.org
If you have any concerns or questions, click "Customer Support" at the top of most eBay pages.
We're sorry for this inconvenience, and thanks for continuing to work with us.
Thanks,
eBay

Yesterday, I tried posting on Craigslist. Same thing! I got an oceanographer who was at sea, and wanted it as a gift for his pastor. I got a university professor in Texas who wanted it shipped to west africa for her son. (I mean, seriously, a university professor who can't spell or use proper punctuation? And what parent wouldn't buy their kid a new laptop *before* they left on a research trip?) And then the poor woman whose father was in the hospital but really wanted the system. They all ask for my email associated with my Paypal account.

It must work, or so many people wouldn't be doing it. What's amazing to me is how much time these people spend, just to try to rip someone off. Imagine what you could accomplish if you harnessed all that energy for a political cause, like ending factory farming. Maybe I'll start writing them back with suggestions about how to better spend their time.