Lessons Learned the Hard Way

Mav, I suspect your cops will find a fake address. This guy (or group, maybe) is a pro.

Here's something odd. When you run an e-Bay search on that user name without the number (albertocesa) you get these close matches.


albertmesa( 2 ) 1 year 7 months Spain
albertocds( 6 ) 3 years Italy
albertocella( 73Feedback score is 50 to 99) Go to member's eBay Store 1 year 8 months Italy HONEY DANCE Danza&Fitness
albertomesa( 0 ) 1 year 2 months Spain
albertacasa( 0 ) 1 year Italy
alberto.ces( 0 ) 1 year 4 months Italy
albertoaesu( 1 ) 1 year 9 months Spain
albertocara( 0 ) 1 year 5 months Italy
albertocas( 0 ) 1 year 6 months Netherlands
albertocasan( 0 ) 9 months Spain
albertocasi( 4 ) 1 year 8 months Italy
albertocasta( 0 ) 1 year 1 month Italy
albertocecca( 8 ) 3 years 6 months Italy
albertocen( 0 ) 1 year 2 months Italy

If you run other names the same way (alphonsocesa or johnnycesa or joeycesa) you will also get a bunch of close matches, but never will you get so many with zero feedback.

Zero feedback is a clue, I think.

I'm not sure what to make of it, but it could be that the same people have established a lot of scam usernames and didn't even bother to make them sound different.......probably because none of them can be traced to the people who set them up.

I'm just guessing here, of course.

If the police can't find an address, maybe there's a computer fraud division that can do a more sophisticated investigation somehow. The correct people at e-Bay might also be interested in the investigation, as this is bad for their business, too.

There are also forums at e-Bay where I suspect there would be people who would be quite knowledgeable about things like this.

At any rate, you are to be commended for your efforts to help a friend across the sea.

It surely is a sorry situation when there are scammers like this out there.
 
he he I have already been up to the address given. I actually went up there and there is nothing. But I have his email address and all indications are that he is in the UK. One of Tiscalis checks when opening an account is that the address be verified. What I do know is that a recent bill has been paid. And the address for the email address is in the UK. But with the Data Protection act restricts me from getting it myself. But the Police can and will.

I have emailed him.. and have had both a delivery and a read receipt. So he is in the UK..he aint answering his mails but that does not matter. I hope he is sh!tting himself everytime the door rings.

I have informed the UK ebay where the auction was placed and the police are in contact with them. Hopefully there will be some positive news on Monday/Tuesday next week.

I feel for John and I hope that I can help in some small way.........

Cheers for your help tho.. its very much appreciated.
 
Well, that sounds great. I sure hope the cops can nail him. That's a large enough amount of money that one would think he could face some pretty serious charges. Good luck.
 
Why would you bid on an item when the seller has (0) feedback? I would not bid on anything worth over $20 unless the person has more than 50 feedbacks with a 99% good rating.
 
Some of us like to live dangerously. Sometimes you can get good deals when you buy from low feedback or no feedback buyers because they have to let things go cheap to get started.

And this was clearly a deal too good to pass up.

The better question would be, "Why send money by Western Union as payment?"

And the answer is that the buyer wasn't familiar with the danger in that process.

So, we all learn to be a little more careful and try to help each other out as best we can.

I never buy unless I can pay by credit card through PayPal. Then you can always do a credit card chargeback to get your money back.
 
Maverick4546 said:
he he I have already been up to the address given. I actually went up there and there is nothing. But I have his email address and all indications are that he is in the UK. One of Tiscalis checks when opening an account is that the address be verified. What I do know is that a recent bill has been paid. And the address for the email address is in the UK. But with the Data Protection act restricts me from getting it myself. But the Police can and will.

I have emailed him.. and have had both a delivery and a read receipt. So he is in the UK..he aint answering his mails but that does not matter. I hope he is sh!tting himself everytime the door rings.

I have informed the UK ebay where the auction was placed and the police are in contact with them. Hopefully there will be some positive news on Monday/Tuesday next week.

I feel for John and I hope that I can help in some small way.........

Cheers for your help tho.. its very much appreciated.
Click to expand...

Any news on this?
 
He is "due" to be arrested. The police have his name and address. They will let me know when this has been done. Just a bit of a long process thats all but then thats the British Police system
 
As usual good thing come to those who wait. Hopefully, the British Police system takes a long time to take that rouge to trial once the have him in custody.

jb4570
 
Rocinante said:
The better question would be, "Why send money by Western Union as payment?"
Click to expand...

The question that comes to my mind is, doesn't Western Union have some kind of fraud investigation unit??? Something like the Post Office has??? :confused:

This is international, right??? Someone in the US Federal system must take some notice of this...this sounds pretty crazy, but have you thought of contacting the FBI??? They have agencies in every major city...Tell them the guy sounded like he had an Arabic accent... :rolleyes:
 
chickentrax said:
The question that comes to my mind is, doesn't Western Union have some kind of fraud investigation unit??? Something like the Post Office has??? :confused:

This is international, right??? Someone in the US Federal system must take some notice of this...this sounds pretty crazy, but have you thought of contacting the FBI??? They have agencies in every major city...Tell them the guy sounded like he had an Arabic accent... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

LOL...Trax,

WU could care less....they already made their money...same for ebay.

The only thing WU did for me was give me the FBI cyber fraud squad link. A report was made with the FBI. That information was given to the British PD by Mav. We just have to wait for the sloooow wheels of justice to kick in and run that guy over. I'd love to see the look on his face when they knock on his door!!!!!

jb4570
 
jb4570 said:
LOL...Trax,

WU could care less....they already made their money...same for ebay.

The only thing WU did for me was give me the FBI cyber fraud squad link. A report was made with the FBI. That information was given to the British PD by Mav. We just have to wait for the sloooow wheels of justice to kick in and run that guy over. I'd love to see the look on his face when they knock on his door!!!!!

jb4570
Click to expand...

John at least it sounds like they are doing something! Hopefully it all works out in the end!
No more western union though!!!!
Best of luck...
 
jb4570 said:
I'd love to see the look on his face when they knock on his door!!
Click to expand...

Tell them he had a knife...several of them... :p

Let them kick the door in... :D :thumbup:

(Heh...A British "Doorkicker Six"...pointy helmet, flak jacket...and an FAL!) :eek: :D :cool:
 
Thanks Jim.

Only problem that it was a WU transaction. So Ebay wont help. But the scammer has had his Ebay account banned. He will never be able to use Ebay or Paypal again as he had a paypal account registered at the same address.

Next thing would be the arrest and the Police will tell me what court he has to go to. And I am going to go no matter what and no matter where in the UK it is.
 
Hey, sorry to hear about your bad luck, here's something for what it's worth, my brother in law is a probation officer and when they get slow, the county sends them out on cases like this. He was telling me about how he jumped over the counter at a local Starbucks with his gun drawn and arrested the coffee jerk behind the counter for selling non-existent cameras on ebay. He said the guy was NOT expecting that and not expecting to get caught, said his eyes got REAL big and he started bawling like a baby on his way to jail. Yeah, they're going after them, but not very often. Good luck!
 
His time is running out..... good. At least he wont be able to con another knife nut and more importantly a mate from on BF
 
Isn't it about time for those slow rolling wheels of justice to roll over this guy?

Here in the nursing home.....most of us have some time constraints before we die or simply forget what the hell this was all about.

:D
 
Rocinante said:
Isn't it about time for those slow rolling wheels of justice to roll over this guy?

Here in the nursing home.....most of us have some time constraints before we die or simply forget what the hell this was all about.

:D
Click to expand...

Yes it is about time.

And the wheels are rolling. I have spoken to the Police today and they will be going around to his home to arrest him and confiscate his PC equipment. But although this is a "violent" crime against one of our mates here it is not a violent crime in itself.

But the pattern will be..

He gets arrested.
He gets bailed to appear in court.
He then gets sentenced ( I will be there taking pics if I can and laughing my fu***** head off)

If he breaks bail then he will be found and then held in police custody until he gets another court date. Then he will have even more problems and hopefully a custodial sentence.

Before you say it.. I know that this does not get John his knives or his money back. But the chances of that where slim anyway. When I started this and travelled up to Peterhead I thought there was a chance that I could get John his knives and or his money back. When it became apparent that the guy was a complete fake then I had to turn to the law to carry on the fight.

At the end of the day I have done all that I can to get this guy nailed.

He has no Ebay account
He has no Paypal account
He has the long arm of the law grabbing after him.

If it was an ideal situation...

I would have made the 800 mile round trip. Got to his door. Flattened him. Then taken the knives and some money to pass back to John (JB4570) and his wife for the trouble of going through this.

Oh yeah and I would have got John a set of human knee bones that he could have turned into a set of scales for a 110.:D :D :D :D

But whats happened is better than nothing.. and I *know* that John is happy with other 'bonuses' that have come about because of this...:thumbup: ;)

So ok its not a totally happy ending.. But JB4570 is happier than he was when this problem started (I hope)

But Justice will be done.

And one bonus from all this

I have found a great friend in John that I would not have had if this had not have happened. I doubt I will ever meet him. But we talk a lot more privately.

And if I can help any of the other people who frequent these forums then I will gladly and with no hesitation.
 
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