eBay and PayPal are used by con artists or scammers to deceive people in highly sophisticated ways. Someone who claimed to be from Pretoria cheated an Australian citizen who was trying to sell his Canon camera.
Caimein Bowyer, from Sydney, decided to use the services of eBay to sell his Canon 550D camera. He finally found a buyer named Harry White from the Pretoria West, who had a Boom Street address in Danville. Bowyer thought the deal was a legitimate exchange.
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As Bowyer mentions, this Harry White contacted him through the legitimate eBay site but then switched to a bogus site. Also, he verified payment using a bogus PayPal site. Bowyer was offered $900 (R9 280) for the camera, and White was ready to pay the shipping fees as well, so he accepted the offer.
The transaction was completed. eBay and PayPal sites sent Bowyer emails acknowledging payment from White. Bowyer shipped the camera to South Africa from Sydney.
However, when Bowyer saw the payment did not appear in his bank account, he realized he had become a victim of an internet scam. As soon as Bowyer realized this was a scam, he tried to stop the shipment, but the Australian and South African post office officials were slow.
Bowyer reported the scam to eBay and PayPal. eBay closed White’s account. The package was shipped via the Australian postal services. They found out it was impossible to send the package back, so Bowyer tried the post office in Danville. The latter, according to the e-mails, agreed to send the package back to Bowyer.
Soon, Bowyer received an email from the Danville post office saying that White had intercepted the camera in a different hub and took delivery of the item. Bowyer was unable to locate the swindler.