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I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

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Re: I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

#291

Post by fapjacks »

snowwrestler wrote: post #267
jjoonathan wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got hit with the same-zip-code scam for a $6000 VNA on eaby and the response was completely different. Customer service immediately shuffled me off to a special claims department that investigated and got my money back within about a week. At no point did I encounter anything resembling the Kafkaesque web of strategic incompetence that I half expected. They followed up every step of the way with courtesy and profes…

I have shifted all my budget and used buying from Amazon Marketplace to eBay. At this point it seems like there are new stories about Amazon Marketplace scams almost daily. Does anyone think Marketplace is a priority for Amazon leadership these days? Does Bezos even know it is still operating? It's not getting the A team, obviously. Meanwhile connecting sellers and buyers is all eBay does. They don't make devices, pr…

Right, but if you're a seller and you get scammed, you're screwed, since eBay heavily favors the buyer.

Re: I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

#292

Post by fapjacks »

haburka wrote: post #192
softwarefounder wrote: post #12

I like how this list is zero-indexed.

Liking zero indexed lists is such a dumb programmer meme. Lists are for humans to read and therefore should use the natural numbers, which start at one. Arrays are zero indexed because the first item of the array starts with zero offset.

Oh, thanks for deciding that for us.

Re: I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

#293

Post by Ivoirians »

wfunction wrote: post #256
rgbrenner wrote: post #7

filing the chargeback is a good idea... but also, the sender made a critical mistake sending it usps.. that makes it mail fraud. Talk to the US Postal Inspection Service, it's a branch of law enforcement, and I'm sure they would be very interested with all of the evidence youve collected. They can cross state lines and arrest the sender. https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/

Would they pursue something like counterfeit software licenses or gift cards mailed via USPS, if the scale isn't as large (like <$100)? Asking since it's happened to me on smaller scales before, but the amount is smaller and I'm not sure how to prove I received whatever I received...

I once had the USPIS hunting for a $10 monthly subscription box of snacks when it was signed for at an apartment building but my friend never received it. Got a call from a gruff-sounding agent promising to look into it and everything.

I don't think I ever got a follow up after that, though...

Re: I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

#294

Post by daveheq »

dingaling wrote: post #3

Recap as I understand it, since the blog post isn't 0. Buyer purchased item from third-party seller on Amazon 1. Seller picked a name and address in buyer's town, from an obituary, and sent parcel containing two baking mats thereto ( instead of camera lens ) 2. Occupant of that address signed for it believing it to be for the deceased relative 3. USPS updated status to 'delivered' with signature and address recorded…

Why start at 0? Did you echo this from an array?

I think Amazon is part of the scam for allowing it to happen while doing nothing about it and profiting off it like the seller!

Re: I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

#295

Post by daveheq »

jjoonathan wrote: post #247
dingaling wrote: post #3

Recap as I understand it, since the blog post isn't 0. Buyer purchased item from third-party seller on Amazon 1. Seller picked a name and address in buyer's town, from an obituary, and sent parcel containing two baking mats thereto ( instead of camera lens ) 2. Occupant of that address signed for it believing it to be for the deceased relative 3. USPS updated status to 'delivered' with signature and address recorded…

I got hit with the same-zip-code scam for a $6000 VNA on eaby and the response was completely different. Customer service immediately shuffled me off to a special claims department that investigated and got my money back within about a week. At no point did I encounter anything resembling the Kafkaesque web of strategic incompetence that I half expected. They followed up every step of the way with courtesy and profes…

This is when human logic overrides a dumb policy. Really, people at Amazon shouldn't be overriding their brain with a bunch of text in a policy.

Re: I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

#296

Post by ss64 »

mikeash wrote: post #26

I'm wondering more and more why Amazon hosts third-party sellers at all. They dilute the Amazon brand to a tremendous degree. It used to be that buying from Amazon meant a certain level of quality and service. Now there are really two Amazons: the old one, and a new one that's basically a shitty version of eBay. I have to go out of my way to avoid these crappy third-party sellers when I'm searching for stuff on Amazo…

Also items which are 'fullfilled by amazon' are supplied by third parties and stocked on the same shelf in amazons warehouse. So even if you buy direct from Amazon if any 3rd party seller is qualified to fullfill the same item, then you may just get that item from the shelf - and it might be a fake.

Re: I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

#297

Post by syshum »

mulmen wrote: post #260
syshum wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>My enjoyment of using Amazon as a buyer would increase by like 100% if I could just tell it to act like anything not available through Prime just doesn't exist to me. So you check mark the little box on the left that say "Prime" and it removes all non-prime listings...

That doesn't take availability into account. Checking "Prime" includes only those listings that are prime . It does not remove non-prime listings .

If only listings that are prime are including then by definition non-prime listings are excluded.

Re: I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

#298

Post by davewasthere »

Amazon need to have a "This is a scam" checkbox for resolution. Something where instead of the automated process, an actual human with a brain looks at the evidence.

A one-minute read would show that this is fraud and the customer should be refunded immediately.

Re: I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

#299

Post by bradleyjg »

rgbrenner wrote: post #7

filing the chargeback is a good idea... but also, the sender made a critical mistake sending it usps.. that makes it mail fraud. Talk to the US Postal Inspection Service, it's a branch of law enforcement, and I'm sure they would be very interested with all of the evidence youve collected. They can cross state lines and arrest the sender. https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/

I'm a little more skeptical of the claim that crossing the post office is a big mistake after nothing came of this case: http://www.postal-reporter.com/blog/usps-oig-investigating-a...

The comment sections at the time were full of people talking about how it was a federal crime and the cops would be in deep trouble but the postal inspector seems to have been a paper tiger.

Re: I Fell Victim to a $1,500 Used Camera Lens Scam on Amazon

#300

Post by inetknght »

dawnerd wrote: post #107
ajross wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm more sympathetic to Amazon here than most. Scams are hard to detect. They set up a shipping confirmation process that's worked fine for them for almost two decades now. It has a hole (it only checks the town and has no closed loop to verify that the shipper shipped to the right address in that town), but none of the existing employees actually know that it has a hole. They get a report about a missing shipment, c…

Wonder if they could prevent this by requiring third party sellers to print amazon shipping labels. That should give amazon the correcting tracking information and ups/usps/fedex/whoever would have the accurate address.

I was going to suggest exactly the same
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