VIDEOGAME SELLERS TARGETED FRAUD info on half.com / ebay/ amazon

[quote name='biggie58']Damn this sh*t is crazy. I just got a message from Half saying I just made a sale. Printed the shipping label and everything. Out of curiosity just to see where it was, i searched the address on google. Then i saw this thread. thank god, i would've been out a game. anyway the account this assh0le used was bjornemand. thanks to whoever started this thread. peace.[/QUOTE]
Awesome. Glad to see this thread helped at least one person avoid fraud. :applause:

This thread reminds me why I stopped using eBay. I refused to use Paypal because I didn't trust it at all, and leaving eBay was an easy decision once they required the use of Paypal for everything. I now use Amazon and it's been wonderful.
 
Tammy Roy
618 Pear Street
Carterville, IL 62918

Half.com account: alvaa01

Got me for two $30+ games a week apart. Just got the half.com notice after shipping the second game this morning. Sigh.

One thing I've noticed, the scammers on half.com really seem to love sealed copies of Heavenly Sword and other high dollar PS3 games. They never target the cheap stuff.


I always use delivery confirmation on half.com by the way, so I will fight them on this. The last time I got scammed, they took the money out of my account, even after I sent them the tracking number 5 different times. Eventually, they refunded it back to me. Hopefully, I won't have to go through that again, but I think half.com policy is to try to screw you with the chargeback even when you have a tracking number.
 
[quote name='Rictor']Tammy Roy
618 Pear Street
Carterville, IL 62918

Half.com account: alvaa01

Got me for two $30+ games a week apart. Just got the half.com notice after shipping the second game this morning. Sigh.

One thing I've noticed, the scammers on half.com really seem to love sealed copies of Heavenly Sword and other high dollar PS3 games. They never target the cheap stuff.


I always use delivery confirmation on half.com by the way, so I will fight them on this. The last time I got scammed, they took the money out of my account, even after I sent them the tracking number 5 different times. Eventually, they refunded it back to me. Hopefully, I won't have to go through that again, but I think half.com policy is to try to screw you with the chargeback even when you have a tracking number.[/quote]

Since you just shipped out with a DC#, couldn't you contact USPS and attempt a package intercept?
 
I remember when it was easier and safer to sell online like 4-5 years ago....*sigh*

Thanks for the info though, I was planning on dumping some stuff, so now I'll be more wary of who wants to give me their money :/
 
Wow. I sold Mario Kart Wii to alvaa01 over the weekend, via half.com. Lucky for me I was out of town and couldn't ship until today, otherwise I would have been screwed as well.

BTW, I just put "alvaa01" into google and CAG is the first link it pulls up. Nice.
 
cheers everyone for this thread. i've been selling stuff on half for years and didn't think this kind of stuff was possible. haven't been screwed yet, but i'll definitely be on the look out for it now
 
Here is a list of addresses where they have the items shipped. If anyone else has the same problem it would be nice to compile a list (here) we can reference to avoid shipping items to these 'buyers'.

Tammy Roy
618 Pear Street
Carterville, IL 62918 (thanks Rictor)


Thank you both. This is the only reason I even registered on this forum. Just today, a month and a half after I sold a game to this exact same address (different name) i received a chargeback dispute from half.com. Thank god I held on to the confirmation number this long.

Can't half.com just to a little G*DD@MN homework? It took me five minutes to find this thread and see that the same address was still being used for this scam.

This isn't the first time this BS has happened to me, but it is the first time I had a confirmation number. I'm done with half.com.

DON'T SHIP to Pear St. Always get shipping confimation.
 
By the way, the new name with old address is:

Buyer: carlachicago
Shipping Address: T Edwards
618 Pear Street
Carterville, IL 62918
USA
 
tonybestbuy

Anthony Vecchio
P.O. Box 1643
La Fayette GA 30728
United States

He tried to scam me out of a sealed game a while back, seems to be working some type of switch scheme where he will occasionally request a refund due to items not arriving as described. In actuality this person will send back a different (worse condition) copy of the game won or attempt to pressure the seller to give a full refund while threatening negative feedback. I got my first and only negative in 10 years on eBay from this dick, I'd recommend blocking him.

Check his negs given and negs/false positives received here:

http://toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=tonybestbuy&Dirn=Received+by&Many=ON&FPos=ON
 
I got my money back on half, after pointing them to this thread. I googled/street viewed the house. Just imagine all the games he scammed in that shack. I told Half he needs to be hit credit fraud, theft, or something, cause it's illegal. I can't even leave negative feedback. They gave me some shitty ass excuse.

Maybe him(T Edwards) and the charge back team are in cohoots?
 
[quote name='SuperPhillip']Would you receive payment via Paypal if it's someone trying to pull a fraud on you?[/QUOTE]
Yes, because they can easily dispute it with PayPal and get their money back.
 
[quote name='scrubious']Here is a list of addresses where they have the items shipped. If anyone else has the same problem it would be nice to compile a list (here) we can reference to avoid shipping items to these 'buyers'.

Tammy Roy
618 Pear Street
Carterville, IL 62918 (thanks Rictor)


Thank you both. This is the only reason I even registered on this forum. Just today, a month and a half after I sold a game to this exact same address (different name) i received a chargeback dispute from half.com. Thank god I held on to the confirmation number this long.

Can't half.com just to a little G*DD@MN homework? It took me five minutes to find this thread and see that the same address was still being used for this scam.

This isn't the first time this BS has happened to me, but it is the first time I had a confirmation number. I'm done with half.com.

DON'T SHIP to Pear St. Always get shipping confimation.[/quote]

I hate this address. Why in the hell will half.com/ebay allow shipping to that damned address. They recieved a free new 50 dollar game from me (they finally took the money from me the other day). Everyone that has dealt with this address needs to contact the sheriff's department listed earlier in this thread.

If (a big if) I start selling on half/ebay again, I'm not only going to use the post office (rather than the mailroom at work) to get delivery confirmation, but I'm googling every address to make sure I won't a case of Tammy Roy'ds
 
This is a little suspicious. Two different people in 2 different states ordered sealed DS games from me and sent me the same message:

"Given the cost of this item, would you please request
delivery confirmation on this package at the post office and email me the
number? Thank you."

One is in Pecatonica, IL and the other is in Warren, OH.

Hmm...mystery solved. Looks like a dropshipper account. http://forums.ebay.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2000588575&rw=true&anticache=1241394324777

Not illegal/scamming, I guess, maybe a little unethical that they sell games they don't have and then purchase them from half.com sellers.
 
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[quote name='Rictor']This is a little suspicious. Two different people in 2 different states ordered sealed DS games from me and sent me the same message:

"Given the cost of this item, would you please request
delivery confirmation on this package at the post office and email me the
number? Thank you."

One is in Pecatonica, IL and the other is in Warren, OH.

Hmm...mystery solved. Looks like a dropshipper account. http://forums.ebay.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2000588575&rw=true&anticache=1241394324777

Not illegal/scamming, I guess, maybe a little unethical that they sell games they don't have and then purchase them from half.com sellers.[/QUOTE]

He's been a faithful buyer of mine as well. I never give him the free delivery confirmation, though - I always request that he PayPals me an extra 75 cents per order if he'd like the delivery confirmation.
 
Geez, I'm glad I only (sold) textbooks on half.com; I recently sold some ancient book (I forgot to deactivate my 4 year old listings!) for mere dollars there and froze all my listings shortly after.

I actively sell on Amazon and rarely eBay, and was considering listing back on half.com...but with all the troublesome buyers, I guess the risk isn't worth it since I rarely sell games under $40. :cold:

This thread's a cornucopia of bad buyers...thanks to all contributers for the advice.
 
Hey, gang. Could I have some assistance?

I'm curious about someone who just bought my game for 25.00. It was the Buy Now price while the game had no bids and was at 15.00. This buyer is in California, so I wanted to know if he might be a scammer.

If so, what can I do right now to protect myself? I'm still new at selling, so I'd love some help please. Thanks!
 
[quote name='SuperPhillip']Hey, gang. Could I have some assistance?

I'm curious about someone who just bought my game for 25.00. It was the Buy Now price while the game had no bids and was at 15.00. This buyer is in California, so I wanted to know if he might be a scammer.

If so, what can I do right now to protect myself? I'm still new at selling, so I'd love some help please. Thanks![/quote]

Yeah, that sounds kind of fishy. Google the address and see if it brings up any complaints like listed in this thread. Check his feedback and see if anyone put negative feedback in the positive feedback (ie DIRTY F-ING CHARGEBACK SCAM DOUCHE!). If neither of these come up and you send it it, get delivery confirmation and put the delivery confirmation slip somewhere where you can find it over the course of the next year.

I contacted the chargeback division telling them about this thread and got a semi-automated response irrelevant to my complaint. I think half.com doesn't want me to sell on half.com.
 
[quote name='62t']T Roy new account is starpumaa.[/QUOTE]

hmm the new account is no longer a registered user
 
[quote name='62t']hmm the new account is no longer a registered user[/quote]

That means they have moved on to the next user ID. Once ebay/half finds out it is a fraud account, they deactivate it. I have noticed it usually takes 20-30 feedback transactions in 1 day for them to catch it.

Rant:

I started this thread because I started noticing fraud accounts before ebay did and I figured it would be more effective to post the addresses than the user IDs. (since the addresses are being reused). Of course I cleared it will Cheapy before I posted the thread!

Just think about what these scammers steal a year doing this just on 1 ID per day with 30 transactions. 30*365 = 10,950 trans per year at $30 average = $328,500 /year. That's assuming they only use 1 id per day. If they use 3 a day that is almost 1 million dollars in fraud per year.

This could easily be prevented by ebay/half updating their registration database and requirements. end rant.
 
got a chargeback from an ebay member that bought a hotel for dogs blu-ray from me. auction ended 5/4/09 i got payment on 5/9/09 and saw the dispute in my paypal account on 5/21/09. reason was for unauthorized payment or some bs. first chargeback i ever got in my life. i made sure to google his addreess before i shipped out and nothing came up. address was confirmed and he even sent an email aplogizing for not sending payment promptly. i thought everything was legit. i responded to paypal with the delivery confirmation number showing the item was delivered. not sure what else i can do at this point. what do you guys think is going to happen with this?

ebay id: bestthings772

Michael Currie
424 Pine Road
West Palm Beach, FL 33409
United States
 
UPDATE: I was informed by amazon.com's customer service that...

Amazon.com does not consider USPS delivery confirmation (even with the stops you can view online) as "tracking" for a package. DC is not enough to win a dispute according to the rep I talked to. They suggested UPS. (I requested a call when I sold a high end item).

Has anyone had an amazon dispute before? Was DC enough "tracking"?
 
[quote name='slowdive21']UPDATE: I was informed by amazon.com's customer service that...

Amazon.com does not consider USPS delivery confirmation (even with the stops you can view online) as "tracking" for a package. DC is not enough to win a dispute according to the rep I talked to. They suggested UPS. (I requested a call when I sold a high end item).

Has anyone had an amazon dispute before? Was DC enough "tracking"?[/QUOTE]

You need signature confirmation according to Amazon.
 
[quote name='slowdive21']UPDATE: I was informed by amazon.com's customer service that...

Amazon.com does not consider USPS delivery confirmation (even with the stops you can view online) as "tracking" for a package. DC is not enough to win a dispute according to the rep I talked to. They suggested UPS. (I requested a call when I sold a high end item).

Has anyone had an amazon dispute before? Was DC enough "tracking"?[/QUOTE]This is how I got banned from Amazon. Sold a Digital Devil Saga 1 before it was reprinted for $80. Delivery confirmation showed it as delivered. Buyer filed a non-received dispute and Amazon ruled against me. I was out the game, $80, and then they banned me. Good times!!

Now I'm selling $5000/month on eBay and Amazon doesn't get a cent of it.
 
If DC is not enough I will never sell on Amazon, 15% fee plus $0.99 and I'm sure they don't credit you enough back for shipping to ship UPS or USPS with Signature Confirmation
 
[quote name='YoshiFan1'] I'm sure they don't credit you enough back for shipping to ship UPS or USPS with Signature Confirmation[/QUOTE]

They don't. For games the shipping credit is $3.99, $6.99 for expedited. I sell with DC anyway, I guess I'm lucky but I've never had a problem.
 
This is by no means a new scam. I was moving 20-30 products a month on half.com about 4 years ago, basically paying my rent for myself through the whole process. Then all of the sudden I started getting nailed with chargebacks for items not delivered/unauthorized accounts/insufficient funds (odd how that didn't show up BEFORE half/ebay took the payment)/etc...

I'm really skiddish so far with Amazon. I set up a new checking account at a different bank and will be keeping said account at a bare minimum to avoid fees. There will always be a bunch of jerks out there doing this kind of thing, unfortunately the only way to protect yourself is to keep your online inventory pretty low and make sure you sweep your account very often.
 
I sold a $34 game to:

Buyer: dyh888
Shipping Address: Jen Peace
618 Pear Street
Carterville, IL 62918
USA

Paid for the shipping label, but received the email saying "Unauthorized Funds" before actually shipping the game. What should I do? Do I still ship the game? Do I ship an empty envelope? Or do I issue the refund and lose out on the shipping cost? Will half.com reimburse me the shipping cost if I issue a refund?
 
[quote name='Cuksis']I sold a $34 game to:

Buyer: dyh888
Shipping Address: Jen Peace
618 Pear Street
Carterville, IL 62918
USA

Paid for the shipping label, but received the email saying "Unauthorized Funds" before actually shipping the game. What should I do? Do I still ship the game? Do I ship an empty envelope? Or do I issue the refund and lose out on the shipping cost? Will half.com reimburse me the shipping cost if I issue a refund?[/QUOTE]

I believe there's an option within paypal to request a refund from the shipping company (UPS or USPS). I have done it before, as long as you don't actually use the shipping label. It took a few seconds to put in the request, but it took about 2 weeks for the USPS to actually put the funds back in my account.
 
[quote name='Cuksis']I sold a $34 game to:

Buyer: dyh888
Shipping Address: Jen Peace
618 Pear Street
Carterville, IL 62918
USA

Paid for the shipping label, but received the email saying "Unauthorized Funds" before actually shipping the game. What should I do? Do I still ship the game? Do I ship an empty envelope? Or do I issue the refund and lose out on the shipping cost? Will half.com reimburse me the shipping cost if I issue a refund?[/QUOTE]

Here's an interesting story...I just received the "chargeback" email from Half.com and here is who the buyer was:

Buyer: starpumaa
Shipping Address: T Roy
618 Pear Street
Carterville, IL 62918
USA

Something fishy going on at the above address me thinks. I have replied to Half.com and have told them about this odd coincidence. I did not include delivery confirmation (will from now on though...jeez), and would normally own any mistake that I honestly made, but this just doesn't smell right. These scammers are scum of the earth and I'll be damned if they're going to screw me out of my $36 bucks for Killzone 2!
 
Everyone who's been scammed should contact the Carterville, IL police department and point them to this thread. The more, the better. At the very least they should send someone to check out that address.
 
[quote name='poseidon108']Here's an interesting story...I just received the "chargeback" email from Half.com and here is who the buyer was:

Buyer: starpumaa
Shipping Address: T Roy
618 Pear Street
Carterville, IL 62918
USA

Something fishy going on at the above address me thinks. I have replied to Half.com and have told them about this odd coincidence. I did not include delivery confirmation (will from now on though...jeez), and would normally own any mistake that I honestly made, but this just doesn't smell right. These scammers are scum of the earth and I'll be damned if they're going to screw me out of my $36 bucks for Killzone 2![/QUOTE]
IF you read through the other post this guy been making/hacking accounts and using them to buy stuff.
 
this thread was made in july 2008 and the illinois guy is still scamming people, does this guy have a basement full of stolen merchandise or something? what a cooke.
 
Wow. I just searched "starpumaa" on google and found this thread.
I'm in the process of being scammed by this mother right now.
I sold him skate 2 for $40 on half.com and he just filed a chargeback. I'm pretty sure i got delivery confirmation but never punched in the number.. so i have to search all over my house and try to find it :/
Is there anything i can do if i dont find it?
 
[quote name='troublebreathing']Wow. I just searched "starpumaa" on google and found this thread.
I'm in the process of being scammed by this mother right now.
I sold him skate 2 for $40 on half.com and he just filed a chargeback. I'm pretty sure i got delivery confirmation but never punched in the number.. so i have to search all over my house and try to find it :/
Is there anything i can do if i dont find it?[/QUOTE]

you are screw if you cant find it
 
So, I sold my PSP to this "Tammy Roy" at 618 Pear St Carterville IL. Today, I receive an email from half.com telling me that a chargeback has been filed. Luckily, I sent with UPS and have the tracking information. Does this guarantee my win in the case?

I did a WhitePages search on the address and came up with:

Jeffrey Nicks
618 Pear St
Carterville, IL 62918
(618) 733-4096

Andrew Tholen
618 Pear St
Carterville, IL 62918
(618) 985-3731

Sandra L Williams
618 Pear St
Carterville, IL 62918
(618) 733-4508

All three numbers are disconnected.
 
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Your Tammy Roy has a new name:

Buyer: ctgeorge99
Shipping Address: Jeck Main
618 Pear Street
Carterville, IL 62918

Just got taken for $25 and Halo 3. I'm guessing there's not shit I can do about this either, right? At least Amazon would go to bat wit the sellers rather than just taking the money immediately. The thing that really pisses me off about this is half.com never sent me the Unauthorized Funds email. If I hadn't logged into eBay about a week after it was posted, I'd never have seen it. Furthermore, the date they put it to my eBay account was one day before I shipped. So, I could have prevented this whole damn thing if they'd actually sent me an email. Luckily (I guess,) I've got way too much going on right now to stew about this, but I think I'm done with half.

Seriously, the fact that this is the fourth name address this person is operating with has to count for something, right? You'd think they'd notice a pattern here.
 
Got scammed today by "starpumaa" for PS3 Resident Evil 5. Looking everywhere in my apartment for the delivery confirmation number. Let's put an end to this, once and for all.
 
[quote name='oldboy313']Got scammed today by "starpumaa" for PS3 Resident Evil 5. Looking everywhere in my apartment for the delivery confirmation number. Let's put an end to this, once and for all.[/QUOTE]

Be sure to post his address on here. If you look at his eBay feedback he's scammed many people by filing charge backs.
 
[quote name='Rozz']Be sure to post his address on here. If you look at his eBay feedback he's scammed many people by filing charge backs.[/QUOTE]

Starpumaa is Tammy Roy. He's already listed on this forum. I'm so pissed off with half.com right now, it's not even funny.
 
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