I'm so excited, I just sent the Western Union transfer this morning so it should only be about five days before it gets here.

The item got pulled, and there's two people saying they bought it? I really hope neither of you got scammed.<ul><li><a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1984-AUDI-COUPE-TURBO-QUATTRO-VERY-RARE_W0QQitemZ4581751870QQcategoryZ6055QQrdZ1QQcmd ZViewItem">http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1984-AUDI-COUPE-TURBO-QUATTRO-VERY-RARE_W0QQitemZ4581751870QQcategoryZ6055Q

I played along to see how far they'd take it:

<a href="http://www.cherokeechapter.org/urqscam.htm">Scammer e-mail</a>

Also they followed up with (notice how quattro is misspelled by not one but two characters):

Dear Mr [removed]
You are the only approved buyer for this Audi Ouatro. Your details have been forwarded on to the eBay Motors Customer Department and I think that you have been informed by them about the details of this transaction. Now, in order for me to ship the car to you and go forward with this deal, you must complete the first payment process exactly as you have been instructed by eBay Motors.
I personally advise you that when you will go to the Western Union office to send the money, tell to the Western Union agent that you send the money for a friend of yours because they will charge you more money if you tell them that you will send the money for an eBay auction.
As soon as I receive the confirmation from eBay that you have made the payment (deposit), I will have the car sent to you and you will receive it in about 5 days. If you are no more interested in purchasing this item from me, please let me know ASAP because I have another 2 clients waiting for this item but I need your agreement to sell it to someone else.
Thank you
Jill Trapizona

Yeah, that's not too fake a name.

according to the telephone directory.

Racingiron and I did about 2 hours of 'net digging on this too good to be true deal.

Other interesting tidbits:

contact phone number listed in the auction text was actually a dial-up number for an ISP in New York.

fax number same as phone number

James Trapizona has a different address but on same road, as mentioned, also, different phone number. according to mapquest all addresses are valid but i can't figure out if they actually go to houses or what.

eBay request for seller's contact info (I had to place a bid to get this) revealed yet ANOTHER phone number but reverse lookup was not successful on this. not a cell, but a working # as I called it but there was no answer.

;-)

I'm assuming Phil McCracken is joking, as is Eric. (No one falls for these scams these days, do they?)

The actual car with that VIN shown in the pictures was sold on ebay a few weeks ago (really). I emailed the new owner, who does in fact have the car, and asked if he is now trying to resell it. He wrote that he is not selling the car, and was concerned that someone else was advertising a car with his VIN number.

If anyone DID actually fall for the scam, well, I hope they got the ebay buyer's protection policy, 'cause they ain't gonna get nooo quattro.

I think the fact that the auction disappeared actually plays into their hands. Someone who gets that message will think, "oh, they cancelled the auction because they know I'm buying!"

The scammers got a bit crossed up, or they've got so much business they can't keep everything straight. Shortly after the spoofed eBay message about the urq showed up I received an identical spoofed eBay message, only this time it was about a Nissan Altima, the seller was Emily Szombathy, and the $4400 is only a deposit on the full price of $14,400. The money goes to the same "eBay rep" in Miami, though.

<ul><li><a href="http://www.moviewavs.com/cgi-bin/mp3s.cgi?Kingpin=fatherless.mp3">http://www.moviewavs.com/cgi-bin/mp3s.cgi?Kingpin=fatherless.mp3</a</li></ul>

Hope you didn't send any money to the seller.

Holy crap. Yep, same one I got too. Old school...sorry for being rude. I'm a little ticked off now because I did pay money (please don't laugh...didn't know anything about this). Had anyone done anything? I've been in contact w/ the FBI and various police dept's and ebay. Anyone heard of a joseph hogan?

See the link above to the original Ebay post!
Sorry man.

Only way to do this is to contact the FBI which I'm doing right now.

With my luck (and stupidity) I doubt. If so, it'll take a while. FBI said to call the Miami police dept (where the "ebay rep" picked up the money) and the police dept said to call the FBI. This is FBI territory but it'll take a long time. Western Union has the drivers license info of the man who picked the money up but they won't give me the info...they said I'll have to have a subpoena from the authorities to get it. I was about an hour late in being able to cancel it.

It was all fun and games for Phil and me, but I know it's no party for you. Please let us know if we can do anything to assist. I've still got all the emails they sent, but I doubt that'll be much help. If I lived near Miami I'd track down the rat bastard.

Thanks...really appreciate it. Talked to the FBI and they said they'll get on it (which means 2 weeks to me). Western Union has the drivers license for the person who picked the money up but I'm sure it was a fake id. I sent my emails to Ebay and to the FBI. I bet this imbecile is on Ebay now under another assumed name. I'm not sure what you guys can do but any assistance/advice would be really appreciated.

As I wrote before, the scammers screwed up and sent me a spoofed eBay message about a different auction too: 4581645877 was for a Nissan Altima. Different seller name, but the money destination in Miami was identical, as was the $4400 amount requested. That auction is no longer active either, but if the authorities know that this is a pattern rather than a one-time deal, they might be more motivated to do something.

Yep, I got that one too...maybe it's their goof or maybe it's a trick...hard to tell. Ebay knows about that one too.

Phil...did you send any money for this?

If you can believe it, it is. Talked to her and her husband on Friday. Had no idea what was going on but they've also alerted the FBI. Crazy stuff!

Because they don't care about the item. They pick cars that have been sold recently where the price or initial deposit is somewhere close to $4400. Also just heard from Ebay and they won't do anything to help if you've been screwed by this scam (i.e. ME).

Their site gives clear warnings about using Western Union, completing a sale outside of ebay, etc., which you did not heed. I wouldn't expect anything from them, other than them providing the information that the "seller" used to set up the fraudulent account.

To quote:
Marketplace Safety Tip
Never pay for your eBay item using instant cash transfer services such as Western Union or MoneyGram or by recharging somebody's prepaid credit card. These methods are not safe to pay people you do not know personally.

In addition, these payment methods are not eligible for the eBay buyer protection programs.


As with purchasing anything, Caveat Emptor...

Thanks for making me feel that much better.
Also...their fraud policies include items that were listed on ebay. So what are they doing about that? Nothing.

Luckily my "learning experiences" never cost me that much. I do hope that you get your money back.

If you haven't already, it would probably be a really good idea to talk to a lawyer.

But I just don't see what a lawyer could do? Ebay claims no responsibility because the item was "purchased" outside of Ebay. My point to them is that if it was listed on Ebay, then how do I, as a consumer, have any guarantee that any item on ebay is legitimate? How was I supposed to know the emails sent from "ebay motors" was fake. Basically, they've shown me that the consumer is always at risk and that they can't completely police their own site. If I could afford a lawyer to get my money back from Ebay, I would. But I think I'd lose, unfortunately, regardless if I have a valid point or not. Maybe the news channel or 60 minutes would like to hear about all of this. Guess I'm just frustrated because neither the FBI, police, or western union seems to want to do anything...and I saved money for a long time to buy a very good condition ur-q for my Dad, who's always wanted one. Don't mean to take any frustration out on you or anyone else here. Now if I did find one, I probably won't be able to afford it...and I'd like my Dad to have one before it gets to the point where he can't enjoy it.

and we're not trying to pick on you. If anything, we want others to learn from your mistake rather than the hard way.

Your guarantee from eBay that items are legitimate is their buyer protection for completed auctions. I've made a claim through them before for a misrepresented item, and I think it was handled reasonably.

I'm not sure why you've got a beef with eBay in this. They shut down the auction shortly after being notified. Maybe they should have replaced it with a warning page, but then they open themselves up to litigation if the seller turns out to be legit. When you said, "Basically, they've shown me that the consumer is always at risk," you demonstrated that you now understand the principle of caveat emptor (see link).

Western Union has no culpability. They have lots of warnings about using their service for auction payments.

The FBI and local police should certainly be involved, but I can only imagine the volume of these kinds of cases they get. Ideally, they'd be all over it, but the realities of manpower and prioritizing cases forces them to make choices.

Ultimately the responsibility falls on you. You made a costly mistake, and no one is going to reimburse you for it. You can do your best to help law enforcement, maybe even talk to a PI. If it were me, I'd troll eBay looking for any fresh car auction with zero feedback sellers and private bidding. It may take a while (depending on how quickly they burn through their cash), but if you find the same scheme you can engage local law enforcement to setup a sting. There's still no guarantee that you can prove they are the same ones who took your money. Even if you can, they may not have any assets left when you get to them.

You have our sympathy for your situation. We all know that love of these cars (and even love of those who love these cars) can affect our reasoning skills. Unfortunately, sympathy and advice is all we can provide.<ul><li><a href="http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/lexicon/caveat_emptor.htm">http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/lexicon/caveat_emptor.htm</a</li></ul>

http://www.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp give this a go... it worked for me a couple of years ago.

I appreciate your support, and agree with what you're saying. Especially the authority part. I will look on ebay for suspicious activity and hope that everyone else on this forum does too. If you see something, let me know. If we can catch the person, it might not get me my money back, but it'll prevent others from the frustration. Maybe I'll find the Ur-q diamond in the rough and all will be forgotten :)