Is there a way to fight a stolen money order?

Nutts

Nutts

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I recently bought something from an individual and payed by money order. While I realize that this was a calculated risk, it is one I've taken many times in the past and have never been burned. This time though, I think I got ripped off. I filled out the money order completely and mailed it for the goods. I checked and found out that the money order was cashed, but I have yet to receive the items and the seller has not returned my last two e-mails over the last 3 weeks.

Is there any course of action I can take, having his address, and proof that the money order was cashed, or am I just totally screwed. This was a seller that I sought out, and what he had wasn't very rare or expensive, so it doesn't make too much sense to me. Anyway, I figure someone else here has been ripped off, and I just wonder what course of action if any can I take?

Thanks, and ps, it was not someone from CAG. ;)
 
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Yeah unfortunately TBW is right. If he hadn't of cashed it you had a chance (with the M.O. receipt) to go back to the original point of sale and get a refund but once he cashed it you are S.O.L.
 
I got burned years ago by money order.

Unfortunately, it is not a calculated risk, it is just a flat out risk.

I refuse to do anything with money orders right off the bat.
 
If you have the guys address and its alot of money maybe $500+ you MAY be able to get police involved. Im not sure what proof you would need but I believe with large cash amounts you can get legal authorities involved and pay him a visit. If its a small amount Im unsure if theres anything you could do.
 
I got burned on a money wire once I lost $200 and the state would not do a thing about it despite my having a signature and emails from the guy. :bomb:
 
Contact the post office and there is a form you can fill out. I'd look up the post office code and e-mail the guy a copy of it where it says you can face jail time for a federal offense thats investigated by the FBI.

Then file all the paperwork and report him. It might not do anything but if you word your e-mail properly you might be able to scare him. If possible get the phone number of his local police office and include it in the email saying you filed a police report with them for mail fraud.
 
I guess it was stolen from the perspective that I paid for goods that I never got. I don't want to say scammed because, he didn't instigate the deal, I did. He agreed to it and then for whatever reason decided not to send the goods. Like I said it wasn't for anything suspiciously (sp?) rare or what I would consider "bait". For all I know the guy got in a car accident or something. Or is having computer problems. The amount is about 100 dollars, so it's not a huge deal. I just though, since the money order is traceable, that there should be some law institution or group that can look into a consumer complaint. But since it's an individual not a business, I haven't found anyone that I could report it too. I thought that it would be better than sending cash because of the traceability but I guess that wasn't true.

I guess I sort of assumed that Western Union would have some complaint department available to me. Oh well, I guess. I knew it was a risk. A guy once tried to rip me off through Pay Pal, but thier complaint department handeled the situation and was able to take the money back out of the person's account.

So, I guess sending a Check would be an equaly bad idea? I don't see it being any different.
 
Check is better as you have the record at your bank. You also can see who cashed it. It is very easy to trace a check as with money order its a pain as you have to pay for everything. I use to do this and never got burn but had one get lost in the mail. Are you sure it was cashed ? If so you could always ask to get a copy of the MO as I know Travelers did that if you paid for it. If it was cashed by him you could file mail fraud or something along those lines. I think the fee was 5$ but that was for travelers.
I don't see the company doing anything unless it was not cashed or not cashed by the one on the MO.
 
Well, thanks for the information everyone. Brian and animeguy, I'll look into filing mail fraud. As far as paying for a copy of the MO, I'm not sure how that will help me. I do know the person cashed it because I called the customer service number and checked the MO number. I don't really care (to a point) how much it costs to file a complaint or to somehow bring justice to the person. I don't like the fact that it's easy to just get away with it red handed. Anything I can do to instill fear, or make it a little less easy for the other person to get away with it will be worth it.
 
Sucks man, I've been burned by a CAG here for 10 bucks. The persons SN is GAMGAM007 just to give everyone a heads up to stay away from this guy.
 
What type of money order was this?

For future reference if you prefer to use MO's;

Always use MO's purchased from your personal bank or the US Postal Service.

USPS would have kept a copy or record of the signers state ID if you pay for delivery and signature confirmation, thus making it virtually theft proof unless a person was also willing to steal someone's identity. In the event you have a dispute and choose to call the police you now have enough evidence to start a viable investigation.

Why didn't you buy the MO and provide a copy of the proof of purchase to the seller, so that he could ship the items to you before you sent the MO? A reputable person will take this as a sign of goodwill and ship the items once they see this. Once you have a tracking number you can drop your MO in the mail.

Too bad you had to learn this the hard way, next time be more careful.

Your local PD might have a few people who work with online fraud if you live in a large area like mine.
From experience your local PD will contact the sellers local department and carry on from there.
 
I too have been burned faar worse than all of you put together 1500 was what I was scammed for. and the police haven't done shite.

the guys e-mail adress is [email protected]

he puts it in his auctions as the contact thing. (
 
Thanks, unPimp. That's some good advice. I didn't realize there was a difference between a postal MO and a western Union MO. Needless to say, I won't any WU services again. Though, I think the biggest problem now, and I don't know if the postal MO would be any different, is just finding someone that cares about a 100 dollar claim. I guess I could try calling my local PD, but I think I'm just going to send the guy one more note, telling him that I am filing a mail fraud claim. Maybe if he's done this before, it will be enough to get someone interested.
 
Am I to believe that this "deal" or "sale" or whatever wasn't on some type of auction site? You just contacted the guy and offered him an offer with no website involved?

IMO, that's pretty crazy. Maybe I just don't trust people easily.

Sorry to hear you got burned. It happened to me long ago using a money order, but it was only for $20 or so. I don't think I've touched one since.
 
Don't even bother dealing with the post office. They won't do shit for you (even if you sent a postal money order) unless you used signature conformation. They'll give you their standard mail fraud form to fill out but don't expect anything to come from it. It's just a formality.

Your best bet is contacting the police department in the guy's town. Doesn't matter if it's $50 or $500, ripping you off like that *IS* a misdemeanor and the police have to look into it no matter what.

The exact same thing happened to me several years ago. I sent someone a $70 money order for a Virtual Boy store display unit that they were selling on a Usenet newsgroup. Guy stopped responding to me after he received the money order so I contacted the cops in his area. Spoke to a detective, and even though he said he usually just deals with scams and frauds where hundreds of thousands of dollars are involved, he said he'd have to look into it anyway because it was still a misdemeanor.

So long story short, I get my VB display unit in the mail a few months later along with a long handwritten letter of apology from the asshole who tried to scam me. Turns out the detective paid him a visit and scared the living shit out of him. Someday I'm going to frame that letter. :lol:
 
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