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P-P-P-PowerBook for a S-S-S-Scammer...
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Sun May 16, 2004 10:12 AM
from the thats-just-a-good-laugh dept.
from the thats-just-a-good-laugh dept.
kormoc writes "It all started with a ebay auction when the seller got a email from a dude who wanted to scam him. It was a normal setup and it went horribly wrong... for the scammer. This has turned from a awful plight for a ebay user to a wonderful prank on the scammer. Throw in some crazy brits with digicams and you have the making of a great story.
Mirror
Mirror"
That should get the coffee out your nostrils on a fine sunday morning. Note that you have to download the PDF to read the story.
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P-P-P-PowerBook for a S-S-S-Scammer...
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A bit hard to follow...... but funny.... (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://djedwhite.com/)
Re:A bit hard to follow...... but funny.... (Score:5, Informative)
(Last Journal: Thursday July 17 2003, @12:54PM)
It's a rather hilarious site and if you haven't explored all of their comedy goldmines and photoshop phridays you probably ought to give those a rundown, too.
Enjoy!
Re:A bit hard to follow...... but funny.... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:A bit hard to follow...... but funny.... (Score:5, Informative)
BEWARE SELLER F----!!!!!!!!!! (Score:5, Funny)
What a great way to start a dreary Sunday! (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.scottkuma.net/)
Even if they are being scammed, aren't this person and his/her accomplices committing mail/wire fraud?
I just wouldn't want to be on the other end if the scammer tried to fight back.
Scott
Re:What a great way to start a dreary Sunday! (Score:4, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Friday April 09 2004, @01:09AM)
Re:What a great way to start a dreary Sunday! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What a great way to start a dreary Sunday! (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://flaggers.org/ | Last Journal: Sunday July 17 2005, @12:02PM)
who says the value is far above the real value of goods sent?
As far as the beef with customs goes:
An artist can take ten dollars worth of canvas, smear five dollars of oilpaint on it, and sell it in a gallery for tens of thousands of dollars
By the same token, a sculptor can take a three ring binder, some magic markers, and a broken keyboard and make a sculpture easily worth two thousand.
Art is in the eye of the beholder
Since the eBay transaction never occured, they have no beef with him -- he merely used the contact made with the person who stole the german account to sell some artwork in a separate transaction
Re:What a great way to start a dreary Sunday! (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.2bit.net/)
I agree... after all, if the P-p-p-powerbook resurfaces and finds it's way on ebay, I'm sure it'll fetch far more than a couple dollars (the value of the goods used in construction).
Re:What a great way to start a dreary Sunday! (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.iki.fi/wwwwolf/)
So this pppppowerbook is worth two thousand dollars? And cheap materials are worth tens of thousands?
Somehow, I'm imagining that the folks who came up with this way to trick scammers are laughing now, but wait 'til the scammer sells the pppppppowerbook to some modern art gallery or computer history museum. The scammers sure are smart! They can easily make zillions!
Re:What a great way to start a dreary Sunday! (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://flaggers.org/ | Last Journal: Sunday July 17 2005, @12:02PM)
<mode="pedantic">What auction? The e-bay auction was rescinded, so there could be no fraudulent transaction.</mode>
Since no money changed hands, the buyer cannot claim he did not receive the article he paid for.
As to what was on the customs declaration, your assertion seems likely, but you are arguing facts not in evidence. Maybe the pranksters honestly filled in "p-p-p-powerbook"
Re:What a great way to start a dreary Sunday! (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Wednesday February 26 2003, @06:32AM)
You'll be quite safe selling a genuine V-v-v-van G-g-g-gogh
Re:What a great way to start a dreary Sunday! (Score:5, Informative)
The real moral of this story, I think, is don't get involved in interstate (that's state as in country, not as in US state) commerce unless you really know what you are doing, and you are going to be doing it often enough to make all the aggravation worthwhile. The scammer was obviously too dim to realise this since he hadn't realised in advance he would have to pay import duty and Value Added Tax, or even that someone might send him a fake parcel.
Re:What a great way to start a dreary Sunday! (Score:5, Informative)
(http://pjt33.f2g.net/)
Re:What a great way to start a dreary Sunday! (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://coherentnetworksolutions.com/)
Or, to put things another way: the scammer started it.
[1]wikipedia [wikipedia.org]
Re:What a great way to start a dreary Sunday! (Score:4, Insightful)
In order for the scammer to claim that he was the victim of a fraud, he'd end up confessing to the original scam which was much more serious. Most judges and prosecuters would grant immunity to the people who sent the "P-P-P-PowerBook" in order to bring down the larger scam artist.
Re:What a great way to start a dreary Sunday! (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://gbookcards.com/)
So I emailed the person to express my interest in buying the computer. He writes back with a long description of their 'operation'. They hacked into 'major computer makers' and re-routed shipping containers to me because they felt that computer makers were overcharging, etc. They were doing it for the good of the public; stealing from rich computer makers to give to the public.
I almost fell for this, until I started to think about it. What if it was a scam? I couldn't contact the police, because I would have knowingly bought stolen goods. Wait! it must be a scam then!
Scammers come up with incredibly diverse kinds of scams, because someone will eventually fall for one of them.
Re:What a great way to start a dreary Sunday! (Score:5, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Saturday August 18 2001, @11:04AM)
Now you understand why that is true.
Re:What a great way to start a dreary Sunday! (Score:5, Informative)
(Last Journal: Sunday June 08 2003, @10:05PM)
The original seller made an honest offer. He had the real product, and it was a legitimate auction.
He only decided to send the dummy laptop after it was established that the buyer was using a false name, phone number, and escrow site, with the intent to defraud the seller. If the buyer has no intention of holding up his end of the contract (paying for the laptop) then the seller is not bound to send a real laptop.
If the buyer attempts to recover the import duties through civil court, then he exposes himself to criminal prosecution. Further, his claim in civil court would likely be easily denied based on the doctrine of unclean hands [law.com]--that is, "...a party who is asking for a judgment cannot have the help of the court if he/she has done anything unethical in relation to the subject of the lawsuit."
Re:What a great way to start a dreary Sunday! (Score:4, Insightful)
Amusing, none the less, and entertaining to read. But overall I think you are better off just reporting the scam and letting it go. Sure, reporting it probably won't result in anything, but it is about the most we can legally do.
Re:Where did I see this... (Score:4, Funny)
(http://www.blacklance.org | Last Journal: Tuesday June 10 2003, @02:50AM)
God damned Farker.
Re:Where did I see this... (Score:5, Funny)
(http://konspire.sourceforge.net/)
Re:Where did I see this... (Score:4, Informative)
(about:mozilla)
it must be said... (Score:5, Funny)
Truly an awesome story. (Score:5, Informative)
The thread is now in the Comedy Goldmine here [somethingawful.com] and has over 3200 replies and 3/4ths of a million page views.
This originated from SomethingAwful (Score:5, Informative)
You can find the original thread here:
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthrea
Thanks to MyNameIsJeff and the SA forum community for a good laugh.
Just start in the threads (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.penguinradio.com)
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s
Just wait for the follow-up story (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://glendinning.org/)
This story is getting popular enough that it just might work.
A bit confused (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://www.ttaxus.com/)
Re:A bit confused (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://flaggers.org/ | Last Journal: Sunday July 17 2005, @12:02PM)
My instinct tells me the prof in Terre Haute has nothing to do with it, and just had his name pulled out of a directory to be stuck on a domain registration, as a red herring.
Re:The end isn't quite clear... (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://www.elmarko.org/)
Legality? (Score:3, Interesting)
(http://www.gimmeallthe.info/)
Re:Legality? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:All for it .... but (Score:5, Informative)
Did you even READ the damn story? The "transaction" went through a FAKE ESCROW SERVICE, not Paypal. The scammer did NOT buy the item through ebay, it was settled outside of ebay.
Read->Comprehend->Post.
Re:All for it .... but (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://home.earthlink.net/~eldoraan/index.html)
Wrong!
As far as PayPal is concerned, he received funds to ship an item - they have no involvement in what item was involved. Since he shipped an item, he has completed that transaction properly and PayPal has not been defrauded in any manner.
He DID use eBay to sell a real item but ACTUALLY shipped a fake item
Wrong!
He used eBay to advertise the sale of a real item. The "purchaser" in this transaction persued the sale completely outside of eBay. Thus, eBay has not been defrauded in any manner.
He DID use fedex to ship a fraudulent item.
Wrong!
He used FedEx to ship an item. They are not a party to the contents of the box - they were simply the transport medium. They were paid to ship a box, they shipped the box. Thus, FedEx has not been defrauded in any manner.
The only debatable fraudulent actions were between the buyer and the seller directly. But since the bogus escrow site disappeared and the seller was never paid for an actual PowerBook - the buyer has no basis for a fraud claim!
This can be wrapped up as: the buyer used PayPal to pay the seller to ship a box via FedEx to his address. The buyer payed taxes on the declared value of the box's contents - which as was said elsewhere, could be a $2000 piece of contemporary art for all the government cares. That the buyer did not receive an actual Apple Powerbook is due to the fact the buyer never paid for an actual Apple Powerbook! So there was no actual fraud from the buyer's side. The seller still has a claim though - since he was never paid for the piece of $2000 art he shipped in the box!
Re:...but maybe you should RTFPDF (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.jeremyp.net/ | Last Journal: Saturday January 17 2004, @02:25PM)
Finally, who cares if the intended victim screwed the scammer? What's the shithead going to do, press charges? I'd like to hear that phone call to the police: "Hey, I was trying to defraud this guy out of his $2000+ PowerBook and he sniffed out the scam, turned it around, and made me pay $X in taxes on a 3-ring binder-- now will someone please prosecute him?"
Yes, but three ring binders are useless here in the UK. All the paper has either two holes or four holes in it.
Re:...but maybe you should RTFPDF (Score:5, Funny)
Wow! What are your women like?
Re:All for it .... but (Score:4, Insightful)
Although unfortunately common, this sort of policy reflects a fundamental contempt for the concept of justice, and sets a terrible example for students. What it reflects is a fundamental laziness and irresponsibility on the part of the administration. They take the easy course of punishing the innocent rather than going to the trouble of investigating the situation. It gives great power to bullies, who are able to force the suspension of an innocent student by attacking him. Although the intent is to discourage fighting, it tends to make fights worse, because once a fight begins, you have nothing to lose by retalliating. It would be terribly unfortunate if you happened to have a sharpened pencil in your hand when you were attacked. Somebody who started a fight with you could suffer a horrible accident...
amusing but not the best (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Turning the tables is funny, but also... (Score:5, Insightful)
What you missed was that he listed an actual PowerBook on ebay - and actually SOLD said PowerBook on eBay to a legitimate buyer. The events of this story all take place SEPERATELY from the eBay sale, outside of eBay. No defrauding of eBay went on here.
As for defrauding PayPal - all he asked for was donations for shipping an item to Great Britain, and said funds were used for that purpose. I think that accusing him of defrauding PayPal is a bit of a stretch - you might make the argument, but I don't think anyone would really swallow it.
The only defrauding that went on here is FedEx - the contents of the package and value were both misstated.
Re:Not Funny... (Score:5, Informative)
The "payment" for the P-P-P-Powerbook was a fake escrow site. It seems the scammer spent a few hundred GBP of his own money to release the package from customs, and a bunch of SomethingAweful goons put up the money for the FedEx shipment in the first place. But no innocent person is out any money.
Bitter Sweet? (Score:3, Interesting)
So he got made the fool and wasted some of his time. Unless he gets caught and charged with various fradulencies he's just going to do it again to someone less astute.
Here are the pics mentioned in the article (Score:5, Interesting)
Pics of the shop [somethingawful.com] (scroll down, shitty forum...)
More pics (Score:5, Informative)
lil' movie of the street [palp.org]
movie of the package delivery [phalex.com]
possible pic of the scammer [apotheosis.tv]
Great media coverage... beats CNN
Correct barber shop pic (Score:4, Informative)
Thye funniest part of the pics (Score:5, Funny)
The keyboard's re-arrangement [sbcglobal.net] including:
UFAG
and
LOL
... great stuff ... thanks for the laughs...
The really sad part of this is ... (Score:5, Funny)
(http://linuxhomepage.com/)
The really sad part of this is that some scammer now has a really excellent work of art. It will probably sell for several million pounds in a couple hundred years. That would be about the price of a cup of coffee.
That bluetooth mouse just cracks me up!
I bet the P-P-Powerbook would Ebay now for $2,000+ (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:misleading customs (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.pocketgamer.org/)
This is someone getting their just desserts, and in a damn funny way too. Just as good as sending the box, marking it "MUST BE CHECKED BY CUSTOMS" and sticking a polythene bag of flour in there.
Hilarious, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.inmostlight.org/ | Last Journal: Saturday October 19 2002, @09:42AM)
Also, what's with the 28 page PDF? What's wrong with just HTML? That alone would cut down his bandwidth usage, especially in light of all the publicity this story is getting.
Yeah, I know, -1 Flamebait.
Wanted: Missing Conclusion (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://bityard.net/ | Last Journal: Thursday August 08 2002, @04:18PM)
Is it just me, or is this an incomplete prank? I read through the entire PDF and found, to my surprise, that it ended with them waiting for the package to be delivered. Hello? This would be just a little more amusing if there were some sort of punchline. The whole point to this is to get the guy's reaction in some form. So have they waited two weeks without hearing anything more from the scammer? Are there still people staking out the barbershop? WHAT'S GOING ON?
Amusing little prank, but it's just a little prank as long as nobody knows what happened in the end. C'mon, I could send someone a marked-up binder in lieu of a computer anytime I wanted. For those of you who haven't read it yet, don't waste your time. The pictures of the P-P-P-Powerbook itself are worth a giggle but that's pretty much the climax of the whole scenario.
Amazing Coordination (Score:5, Insightful)
If just some guys on a message board can do this, what does this say about organized crime? About the police? I can't even imagine the possibilities for the group that stays connected like this.
big risk (Score:4, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Monday April 12 2004, @04:18AM)
For example, if the guy at the other end has a mean streak and some spare cash, he may just send the $2100 and then charge you with fraud. Try explaining to the police and judge that you thought you were being defrauded because some WHOIS information didn't look right to you when the other guy can prove he sent the money to you and you sent him a worthless piece of plastic. Or maybe you are just dealing with a very unprofessional operation, but not necessarily a fraudulent one.
If you believe someone is trying to defraud you, just don't do business with them, contact eBay's fraud department, and maybe go to the police. That's better for everybody involved.
Imagine... (Score:5, Funny)
(http://moreminimal.com/ | Last Journal: Saturday March 15 2003, @06:24PM)
W-W-W-W-Why a P-P-P-P-PDF? (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://slashdot.org/)
Re:who's the lawbreaker here? (Score:5, Insightful)
The way I see it, the scammer got what he deserved and you've really got to scrape the bottom of the barrel of technicalities to find something that the seller did that was "illegal".
IANAL, but the only thing "illegal" that was done by the seller was mis-stating the value of the item on the customs form. And even that could be debated. If I paint a picture and declare that it's worth $10,000, who is to say that it's not?
1, Ebay was not defrauded. The seller sold the real Powerbook to a legitimate buyer on Ebay. Ebay got paid.
2, Fedex was not defruaded. They got their $80 for shipping the package.
3, Paypal was not defrauded. Every day, thousands of people use Paypal to collect donations for various things. The seller said he needed money to cover the cost of shipping a package and that's exactly what he used the money for.
4, The government was not defrauded. They got paid their customs duties when the scammer picked up his package.
5, The P-P-Powerbook seller never received a penny from the buyer (the attempted scammer).
Excellent (Score:4, Funny)
(http://blog.paulmcgarry.com/ | Last Journal: Friday July 25 2003, @12:57AM)
Hey, I built a Powerbook just like that (Score:4, Funny)
(http://www.geocities.com/orion_blastar/contact/ | Last Journal: Tuesday April 03 2007, @07:19PM)
Re:too long (Score:5, Funny)
(http://mclarenhome.com/~dougmc/)
It all started with a ebay auction when the seller got a email from a dude who wanted to scam him. It was a normal setup and it went horribly wrong... for the scammer. This has turned from a awful plight for a ebay user to a wonderful prank on the scammer. Throw in some crazy brits with digicams and you have the making of a great story.
Or were you looking for a *longer* summary?
Re:too long (Score:5, Insightful)
(https://addons.mozil...&application=firefox)
Except that there's not law in either the UK or USA that says you have to send a REAL powerbook to someone who DIDN'T pay you for it. He pretends to pay, you pretend to send him a real computer.
Re:too long (Score:5, Informative)
(http://slashdot.org/)
A guy was selling an Apple Laptop and a scammer offered to buy it. The scam was revealed when the scammer tried to do the payment through a fake escrow site. The seller then shipped the "laptop" in the pictures along with some heavy books so the package would feel like the real deal.
The seller then got donations via paypal to pay the $180 for shipment. The really funny part is that he had to give a value of the package and he said $2000. The scammer then had to pay a tax of the package value to actually recieve the package.
It wasn't all that easy. It almost didn't happend but FedEx trace-system confirms that the scammer actually paid customs to get the package released...that's how it ends! Read the entire story - it's funny!
Re:too long (Score:5, Funny)
(http://home.cogeco.ca/~storage/index.html | Last Journal: Thursday March 20 2003, @09:33AM)
Street Justice (Score:5, Interesting)
Personally, I think it's pretty horrible to defraud someone in this manner. While I'm sure this guy in the UK is not totally without blame, it seems pretty goddamn stupid to send someone a fraudulent package with a ring binder instead of a laptop and make them pay ~$300 in VAT
It's called street justice, my friend.
This guy wouldn't have gotten nailed for $300 if he hadn't tried to rob someone in the first place.
And as for the publicity, good. Maybe it'll stop the next guy from trying.
I always view calling a policeman or getting the law involved to be a last resort. If you can solve your problems on your own, more power to you. Here, we have crime, and we have just punishment. Bravo, guys.
Weaselmancer