Amazon Marketplace scam « alex.moskalyuk

Amazon Marketplace scam

I always liked Amazon Marketplace more than eBay and have probably sold a dozen or more of books from my apartment just this year. Generally it provides a pretty good environment and is reasonable hassle-free for sellers and buyers. The Marketplace account is tied up to seller’s checking account, so at least Amazon has some data on the seller, they process all the payments, so no chance of ending up with reversed PayPal payment or fake Nigerian cashier’s check, they also enforce shipping costs, inflation of which is so typical of eBay.

So browsing their electronics top-sellers, I come across this nifty item – Samsung HP-R5072 50″ Widescreen Flat Panel HD-Ready Plasma TV, which generally sells for $4,000 to $5,000 and above. Now, if you look further into Amazon Marketplace section, you will find a bunch of Marketplace sellers selling the item for $650-900, which is a rather hefty discount. Now, we all know that LCDs are kicking plasma’s proverbial backends, but come on, that’s a pretty hefty discount for a best-seller item on Amazon.

Thankfully, a post from FatWallet explained the tactics:

Why going off Amazon Marketplace through Western Union is a no-no

I am glad I did this search before sending the money using Western Union as this scamer’s instructions were, here is my story: I find in the Amazon.com Marketplace a guy that sells an X2 Infocus DLP Projector for $550 plus $10 S&H, very appealing; I place my order asuming Amazon.com will charge my VISA Card and forward the money to this “Emanuel” guy as they have done it with my previous purchases from the Marketplace. The day after I place my order I get an email from Amazon.com that reads:

“We’re sorry, we’re unable to complete your order from an Amazon Marketplace seller enjoythegroove1@hotmail.com. We have canceled this transaction and you have not been charged for the order.”

I emailed “enjoythegroove1@hotmail.com” and asked him why he had cancelled the order. He immediately replys:

“Sir the offert is avaible.But if you want to buy the projector you must send me your full name and address so i can call to Amazon center to approve the transaction.After that you will receive an email confirmation from them with the all shipping details and payment method. Please email me asap with your full info!”

I sent him my full name and address and then I did get 2 (TWO) identical emails from Amazon (since when Amazon.com sends the emails twice?) saying that the item was sold to me and telling me the payment instructions. They were asking me to pay via Western Union Wire Transfer (I thought Amazon.com was supposed to charge my Credit Card!!!) I even chatted with the guy on the yahoo Messenger he told me he was in London, so I asked him where the item was, he told me the projector was in the United States, in the Amazon warehouse. What the heck!!?!?!?! Does this guy think I’m stupid? I went on with his game and decided to do a Google search on this BASTARD, I found this Forum and was stunned to realize I was not the first one. So please be careful when buying in Marketplaces like Amazon or eBay, ALWAYS use Amazon itself or PayPal when paying for goods. that way you’ll be protected. OOh by the way, that email “from Amazon” asking me to send money through Western Union to:

Emanuel Derich
449 Luton Rd
London NW109PT
United Kingdom

also totaled $550, as I was chatting with the guy I asked him what about the S&H??? He said it was included. Yeah Right! When I completed my purchase in Amazon when I placed the order Shipping was $10 making a total of $560, and now this new “Amazon” email doesn’t say anything about shipping ??!?!?!? That was stupid very stupid my Emanuel friend. I hope you read this and are behind bars when you do it. Have your mother send you wire transfers!!! As*sho*e! I hope this comment was useful for other people to keep them from doing business with this kind of guys.

Posted Thursday, August 18th, 2005 under Gadgets, Internet scams, Money, Technology.

Enzo Ferrari

I agree completely. I have been scammed several times from the Amazon Marketplace and will NEVER be using it again! The latest one was from a seller called “ItgSalesRep@aol.com”. They not only ripped me off on the shipping charges, but sent a product that had nothing in common with what it was described as other than the colors and yes, they were cables. The sell had the gaul to reply to my complaints with the old “It is similar to what you ordered” (A TOTAL LIE). You would think people would have some degree of respect to the buyers but some of the people on Amazon Marketplace are shady scam artists looking to do nothing but steal money from people. I guess people thrown out of the used car sales business have finally found a new home to rip people off with.
Rodrigo

Hi
Very good information, thank you. I was in the same situation, but with a Canon 5D, the discount from the seller was too good to be true. This time is a guy from Italy and he is asking me to send him the money via MoneyGram to the name of Stefano Georgian. The e-mail that I recieved looks like it is from Amazon, that even included a fax number 1-510-380-7123. The e-mail says exactly what you mention in your e-mail but with different item (the seller is funfinity and he is using AOL too.
Ed Gillett

Yup, add another one onto the Stefano Georgian pile, this time with a Canon 400D for £190, supposedly As New ex display.

Authentic looking amazon email, but too many things wrong with it, and yes, never send via MoneyGram.

As the old addage goes “if it looks too good to be true, it probably is”.

Have to say it’s the first time I’ve been suckered into on Amazon Marketplace though.

The item had dropped off the face of Amazon.co.uk too
Hitesh

I almost got duped into this guy Stefano Georgian and his AMAZING OFFER of a PS3 60GB for £225 on Amazon too.
Again, an authentic looking email from Amazon arrived in my mailbox asking for payment to be sent via Moneygram and how its covered under their A to Z Safe buying guarantee program. See below:

Sent from: marketplace.orders@europe.com
Greetings from Amazon.co.uk

Your seller is unable to use the usual credit card payment, due the fact he can not receive international funds to credit card. That is why we asked for a MoneyGram Money Transfer. You have to pay for the transfer with cash at a local MoneyGram agency. Please note you will have to pay the MoneyGram fee from the total amount. This order is covered by Amazon’s “A-to-z Safe Buying Guarantee Program”, this transaction is safe. Did not found your order because there is no order. An order number will be automatically assigned once we receive and verify your payment (just like in the credit card order – once you fill in your credit card details and your card is charged you receive the order).
Once the payment has been placed you can reply this email with the payment details (or send a scanned paper from MoneyGram), or fax us the details (you should have the fax number on your order). Once we receive your payment details, we will notice the seller to start the delivery process. Please note we will not release the payment details to the seller, only after you will contact us to confirm us you have received, inspected, and agree to keep the item.

Thank you for shopping with us.

Amazon..co.uk
Earth’s Biggest Selection

Buyers beware!!
http://E-bay Trina

Can’t believe what I am reading! My son has just sent £425.00 to this guy (via a bloke called Tim Caresma – is this an anagram of Scamer!) foe a laptop he saw on e-bay. The deal was done outside of ebay through Square Trade. E-bay say they can’t help, the Police say they can’t help because the address for this bloke is in Italy, Moneygram say they can’t help as the money has been cashed!! Has anybody tried taking this further or are we just screwed ???
Stefano Georgian needs to be stopped – AS SOON AS…..
Bethan

Stefano Georgian is a hideous, despicable person. I have also just fallen victim to his very clever scamming on Amazon marketplace. I believed I was buying a Nikon D80 and am now several hundred pounds poorer. Amazon and Moneygram are unable to help me – I don’t consider myself to be a naive internet buyer but his emails (supposedly from amazon) looked absolutely 100% convincing. PLEASE DO NOT SEND THIS MAN ANY MONEY VIA MONEY GRAM
Tichi

I have done the same- I sent money via Money Gram transfer to this man Stefano Georgian. He was supposed to be eBay representative. Luckily the transfer was held, so I got my money back. I wrote to the person who was selling me Nikon D200 camera, and I was told to sent money to some other guy called
Stefano George
via Serafico 126
Roma
00142
Italy
Obviously its his new name. Today I was looking at Gumtree website and I found exactly the same advertisment concerning Nikon D200 + accessorieses. So he is trying to find his new victim!!! Beware!!!
Jennifer Criscuolo

I have experience the opposite scam situation. I’ve sold used computer games to people who receive them and claim that they never received them. After a certain amount of time they can file a claim and get a full refund – so they get a free game and the seller is out the money, the game, and the shipping expenses! I don’t think I’ll ever sell on Amazon.com again.
curlykale

Hi, he’s called George Stefano now and he’s offered me a Nikon D300 for £610!!
He goes under the name of warehouseoutlet. This is his latest email asking about the email I got from Amazon(which was extemely well done and has lots of links to Amazon)

Hello,

did you received the order confirmation from amazon
please check your email because it was sent

thank you

On Sun, Jun 29, 2008 at 4:40 AM, warehouseoutlet.sale@gmail.com wrote:

ok
i will start your order and amazon will contact you with the invoice after,
let me know when you got it

thank you

I have sent an email to Amazon as it is 00.23 am.

NEVER EVER PAY ANYTHING BY WESTERN UNION OR ANY OTHER MONEYGRAM!
Ethan

Amazon.com says on EVERY marketplace page to NEVER USE WIRE TRANSFERS. People should heed that warning, Amazon isn’t saying this just for kicks and giggles. Stick to Amazon Payments, if he scams you there’s always A-to-Z’s.
Ethan

Here is the exact words when you buy stuff from the Marketplace:
“Always pay through Amazon.com’s Shopping Cart or 1-Click. Your purchase will be protected by the A-to-z Safe Buying Guarantee. Never respond to requests to send funds via wire transfer. Learn more about Safe Online Shopping. ”

So I really can’t sympathize for people that went ahead and used them, you would think something was up when he declined using Amazon Payments.
Catherine

OMG!! Just put this email address(warehouseoutlet.sale@gmail.com) into google and found this site. I too look to have been scammed after years of no problem with ebay – I suppose the lap top (money gram £189) might still arrive (?) but given there’s been NO contact from him since I said I’d sent the money I very much doubt it – and the email he sent was worded exactly as the one above. My only defense is that I did hold back (couldn’t understand why Amazon wouldn’t let me put the lap top in my shopping cart) until I had the ‘official’ order from them. What a bastard. Wish he was explain to my 13yr old whats happended to her pressie. For info the name and adress is still Georgio Stefano, Via Flaminia 16, Roma. I should have known better.
Nigel Thomas

I saw a marketplace offer of a Nikon D300 for £500. I only enquired as to condition etc. when I got the offical looking ‘Amazon’ email, asking for Moneygram payment. The reply to address was info.pcrus@gmail.com

A subsequent email contained “i can not use the usual credit card payment, due the fact i can not receive international funds to credit card. that is why Amazon request a Money Gram payment. if you have any questions about payment reply the order to talk with Amazon Payments.”

This time the address was
First name : Catrin
Last name : Moran
Address : Via Mosca 58
City/State : Rome
Postal Code : 00142
Country : Italy

I haven’t sent any money,of course. I think I might string him along for a while, asking even more ludicrous questions as I go along.
http://alexdarcy.co.uk Alex D’Arcy

Hi, so very glad I found this thread to confirm my suspicions about a dodgy Amazon deal. The seller used excatly the tactics described here when I tired to purchase a Sony Vaio Laptop for what seemed an unsually low price. They sent me a very official looking ‘Amazon’ email and requested that I pay my money transfer via Moneygram, also included in the email was the assurnace that I could secure my payment by faxing (?!) the details to Amazon using a supplied number, it is now obvious that this would have gone straight to them and they would still have pocketed my cash.

The whole thing did seem very odd and as I was not happy about sending and unsecured payment decide to google the address of the seller:

First name : Catrin
Last name : Moran
Address : Via Mosca 58
City/State : Rome
Postal Code : 00142
Country : Italy

that search led me here
http://None Alexander

Yep they tried to scam me aswell, and as I knew it was a scam I kindly replied that the computer was so cheap that I could fly down to Italy myself and pick it up on a cheap ticket and I would pay him in person, eagerly awaiting the reply now

Oh scammer email was: colanders.shop@gmail.com , the item was a 2.5 ghz Apple MacBook Pro
dave

i also almost got scammed buy catrin moran he was on amazon market place, but strange he left after a day, he had tvs and ps3 going for £192 which seemed very cheap ,i ordered one from amazon but got an email saying he was no longer using market place but i could still get the ps3 by sending the money direct using western union or moneygram,
i had a few emails supposedly from amazon saying he is a genuine trader using market place since 2002, but no i rang amazon and they said all items through marketplace can be ordered then and there through the web site and not some dodgy email sent by a fraudster
so if you see anything advertised that seems too cheap to be true its because it is its a scam
Dan

Sadly catherine i appear to have been caught out by the same person, by the time i realised i had be taken for a ride it was to late. The Police don’t seem to bothered about it nor does amazon.co.uk as the buyer still posts items on amazon.co.uk. I shall never be using ebay or amazon.co.uk ever again. An expensive lesson learnt.
Terence Coupe

Hello

Unfortunately I too, was scammed by Catrina Moran, Via Mosca 58, Rome, Italy 00142.

£516 for a ficticous Nikon camera – 8th July 2008 – Amazon Marketplace

Regards

Terence Coupe
Foolish One

Yup, I’ve been had as well on a camera. Will be contacting Amazon tomorrow but don’t expect anything pbut to be politely told to go away.

You have to send the money to :
First name : Catrin
Last name : Moran
Address : Via Mosca 58
City/State : Rome
Postal Code : 00142
Country : Italy
mike

Just been fleeced by the lovely Catrin for her/his advertised ex demo Nikon D80 with a full one year warranty. I am sick i got sucked in with the dodgy emails, sick that Amazon sent my details to a known scammy email address and sickest of all that i will lose all that saved up money now in the hands of some ****!
Amazon, you have helped me **** myself, thank you very much
http://londonsnaps.com mike

further to the above, what does Amazon do to prevent scams like this occuring? I noticed Bethan posting in this thread on June 12th. Like me, Bethan was hoping to buy an ex demo Nikon D80. A full month after and i fall for the scam too. My purchase on Amazon was the first time i had bought (or thought i had bought) from a seller. The few previous buys were from Amazon themselves. I remember seeing positive feedback on the seller Colanders shop but cannot say what time period this feedback covered. This for me is another reason why i won’t absolve Amazon from some of the blame.
Is there not any software in place that checks for similarities in sales? Are the police informed both here and in the countries (Italy) where he/she collects the cash cow? Is there cctv footage available of the culprit collecting the monegram money? Surely there should be some way of matching the amount of the moneygram to the time it was picked up and seeing who is collecting.
I have posted my story at londonsnaps.com/news.htm for the world to see. I know i am letting myself in for a certain amount of ridicule but that is nothing if it brings scammers to justice. Amazon replied promptly to my emails but that was it. It is not good enough to leave us and other future unfortunates in the ‘lurch’. Information on what they are actually doing should be prominent on the site. Suffice to say, i won’t be using Amazon until i see some news about what they have done to catch scum artists

ps thanks for letting me air my grievences Alex
Terence Coupe

Amazon have also referred me to the local Police Station and stated that it is fraud and should be reported. As for the local Police, forget it all they did was provide me with a case number and said that if the scam was £100,000 they might do something about it. As it was only £516 again forget it. So crime does pay!

I believe that Amazon have a duty of care and because they make their profits via people buying and selling, they have a “duty of care” to those of us who have been scammed.

I truste Amazon implicitly and have been dealing through them buying from independant buyers as well as Amazon. Do you think that I am going to buy from them again – NO. I also have told the full truthful story to my family and friends and also have access to a rather large Marketplace in the organisation where I work. That organisation has 60,000 employees plus.

I intend to maximise this publicly to hurt Amazon where I possibly can, the bottom line always hurts big companies.

Their shareholders would also be able to read such comments as are plighted here.

The very fact that Amazon allowed the advertisement to appear on their website must also be an admission of guilt and with current Internet laws being a bit vague, I am almost certain that some kind of lawsuit could be taken against them.

I am not going to rest until I finally get some satisfaction. If we all publicise our cases as wide and as varied as we can so that Search Engines can pick up on them, it will eventually hurt Amazon. Whilst £516 is not £100,000, it represents months of saving to me.

I am even thinking of writing a letter to the Italian Police, in Italian and English to hopefully report that scammer. I am told by my local Postmistress that the receiver of the Moneygram would have had to provide Passport for proof of ID.

You can write to me at terence_coupe@msn.com

Regards to all honest people

Terence
An Honest UK Citizen
Terence Coupe

Just to post an update for those of you who have shown interest in this thread.

I wrote to AMAZON directors indicating the truth about the transaction between Catrin Moran of Italy and myself.

I displayed the AMAZON confirmatory letter and was immediately informed that it was a fake HTML email. I have traded with AMAZON for well over ten years and with each transaction have received the confirmatory email. I honestly could not tell the difference.

I have seen evidence of the fact that the person(s) who scammed me were known to AMAZON.

I was told that there were 1 in 5000 who were scammed and whilst that statistic means nothing without knowing the total transactions, I asked that question and was told that AMAZON despatched 1,000,000 parcels a day. This effectively means that 200 people a day get scammed and yet still no security in place to ensure that sellers are genuine.

With the adverse publicity which ebay had received in the past, they at least, acted upon that. As to there exact requirements for sellers, I would not know, because I ceased buying from ebay as indeed I have with Amazon.

OK so I sent off a moneygram which was outwith of AMAZON A-Z guarantee and as such they have not even bothered to reply to my letters. This to me, displays the arrogance of the company. They make their money through media selling and as such should have secure measures in place to protect both their sellers and buyers. They have a “duty of care”.

I also reported the scam to IC3.gov which is a multi International body who investigate Internet crime.

I thought of writing to the local police station near Catrin Moran to highlight the fact that scammers were operating in their area. I still may do this, but it will be at more cost to me as I would have to write a letter in English and have it translated into Italian to ensure that it would not impede the informatory letter.

What we all combat is that individually we are honest and we expect nothing less from people we deal with. Given the expanse of the coverage of the Internet (worldwide), there must be people who are not honest and would otherwise take what is not theirs without conscience.

Regards

Terence
rupert

Foolish one also, I have just been scammed at amazon using moneygram. Because I had the amazon ‘fake’ email and an amazon fax number 44 871 263 6168 to send it to, I thought it was legitimate, but oh no!

The fake guy’s name is

First name : Georgel
Last name : Stefano
Address : Via Mosca 58
City/State : Rome
Postal Code : 00142
Country : Italy

The fake amazon.co.uk marketplace sellers are:

jeanniestoddart

and

jennysouthward2

Please dont be caught out, like I was.

Gutted
Bryan

Hi, The guy you are talking about just tried to scam me. He offered a PS3 for $240 on Amazon, but then sent an order asking to be paid through money gram. I almost fell for it, but decided to do a search about sending money gram payments on Amazon and found it to be a fraud because he was from Italy. Now he goes by the name Georgel Stefano, I sent a copy of the invoice to Amazon, but I doubt they will do anything because he’s scammed before an is out of the country. He’s still trying to e-mail me to get me to send payment, but I blocked his e-mail address. He’s 100% a scammer.
R Ward

I think this may well be the same bloke.

He’s based in Italy and wanted me to send payment via MoneyGram.

The email really looks like Amazon.co.uk sent it, but there are a couple of typos:

To confirm your payment to Amazon send a fax with your customer recipt from MoneyGram to this fax number : 44 7006 046 171 . Use this secure way to confirm your payment only if you feel unsafe to release the payment details directly to your seller. If you need further assistance contact Amazon Customer Center by Clicking here

By ‘clicking here’ it simply opens up an new message in your email which is addressed to marketplace-orders@representative.

Dodgy.

The name and addess he used this time:

First name : David
Last name : Staned
Address : Via Del Lavatore 18
City/State : Rome
Postal Code : 00187
Country : Italy
Tony V

I too have just been fooled. The Amazon email says it comes from the amazon.co.uk site (just how do they manage to do this?), but again, they try to “do the deal” off of the Amazon site, and asked to be paid by MoneyGram, and I, after a bargain, stupidly feel for it. I feel foolish, but also angry, as thees people actually list their stuff on the site pretending to be someone else. In this case it was Global Gizmos, who DO have a “Marketplace” shop on the site. I contacted him, to ask questions about the TV, through Amazon, and the email , seems to be genuine, so again I was sucked in.
I was asked to send a MoneyGram payment to the following;

First name : David
Last name : Staned
Address : Via Del Lavatore 18
City/State : Rome
Postal Code : 00187
Country : Italy

I have stupidly (in hindsight), done that now, and I as l noticed (too late) that when replying to the email sent that it goes to;
, so, PLEASE, anyone else, DO NOT DEAL with this person! I’ve learned the hard way, and am angry at myself fro being “blinded” by a so called bargain! However, I’m also angry at Amazon for letting these people actually advertise on the site, in the first place, pretending to be someone they are not! It looks like an “Italian job”, and they seem to be making quite a bit of money off people! At least I’m not the only one “caught out”, so it makes me feel a little better, but my money is gone for good, and I’m going to suffer as a concequence.

The thing is, although usually a cautious person, I do like to give people the benefit of the doubt, and trust that people ARE genuine. I just hate living in a world where people are constantly trying to “fleece” you of the little money that you have. If I had the money to actually by “full price” from somewhere like John Lewis, then I would have.It seems to me, it’s the people that can ill afford to lose the cash, that are losing out, and it MAKES ME MAD!!!
Tony V

I didn’t notice the last comment number 26 (I’m going to have to be more careful and notice what is under my nose. I seem to be missing info, which means I need to be a lot more careful).

Yes, so it looks like this bastard is going under a new name now. I did notice at least 4 listings for the same TV within a 48 hour period, which looked to good to be true on Amazon, so there is something “fishy” going on. I never thought I would be one of these people that get caught out, so it’s partly my fault for being complacent. I’ll never buy through Marketplace again, after this.

It’s so annoying that they can actually get their ads even on Amazon in the first place. I’m going to write to Amazon to try and get them to take more responsibility. It’s all very well them not taking notice of what is classed as small scale fraud, but it is fraud, none the less, and with so many people losing out, it’s obviously a very lucrative business for these crooks, running into thousands, if not tens of thousands or more. Even if we are never going to see our money again, they should still be stopped and arrested!
Guy W

Just scammed by the same thug from global gizmos using the e-mail address of globalgizmoz@gmail.com

First name : David
Last name : Staned
Address : Via Del Lavatore 18
City/State : Rome
Postal Code : 00187
Country : Italy
amber

Ship from Address:
First name : Jean Gabriel
Last name : Boltasu
Address : Via Eupoli 139
City/State : Rome
Postal Code : 00124
Country : Italy

Globalgizmos@gmail.co.uk

PLEASE BEWARE> he is selling a smasung 37”lcd for£220 on amazon.
only deals with money mail. I sent an email to the contact centre link on the receipt and it sent back and automatic response……

Your seller is unable to use the usual credit card payment, due the fact he can not receive international funds to credit card. That is why we asked for a Money Gram Money Transfer. You have to pay for the transfer with cash at a local Money Gram agency. Please note you will have to pay the Money Gram fee from the total amount (send amount £226.00 + £24.00 Money Gram fee – total amount £250.00). This order is covered by Amazon Payments, this transaction is safe.

You have to send the money to :
First name : Jean-Gabriel
Last name : Boltasu
Address : Via Eupoli 139
City/State : Rome
Postal Code : 00124
Country : Italy

Once the payment has been placed you can reply this email with the payment details (or send a scanned paper from Money Gram), or fax us the details (you should have the fax number on your order). Once we receive your payment details, we will notice the seller to start the delivery process. Please note we will not release the payment details to the seller, only after you will contact us to confirm us you have received, inspected, and agree to keep the item.

Thank you for shopping with us.

Amazon.co.uk
Earth’s Biggest Selection

after speaking to amazon, they confirmed this has not been sent by any of their emails. . . and they strongly advise not to use moneygram for market place orders!
bader alwazeer

First name : Jean-Gabriel
Last name : Boltasu
Address : Via Eupoli 139
City/State : Rome
Postal Code : 00124
Country : Italy

same for me …

guys we all have the same problem but where is the LAW>>???

police didnt help me..amazon.co.uk didnt help me..moneygram didnt help me too

they stole 581 pounds from me for canon 50D which will never arrive

they took the money and now nobody wants to help me

i think its amazon.co.uk problems if they didnt already but a fake products online then nobody will fall into the scamming :S

i hate amazon.co.uk and i hate global gizmo seller …i dont belive that he still selling online through amazon market place even after i reported the issue to amazon.co.uk :S:S:S
SEM

I was also very nearly scammed by this guy:

Payment Address:
First name : David
Last name : Staned
Address : Via Del Lavatore 18
City/State : Rome
Postal Code : 00187
Country : Italy

Half way through my emails with him, he said:

Hello,
i received an email stating that they put my name wrong. Please note that the correct name is Jean-Gabriel Boltasu. Sorry about this minor issue, but it was not my mistake, they said the system crashed or something. I wait your email regarding this email.
the name and address for payment is:
First name : Jean Gabriel
Last name : Boltasu

I also found this article warning people of this kind of scam:

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/2008/04/10/warning-over-web-shopping-84229-20742790/

The quote from Amazon in the article is:
“If you get an e-mail which appears to be from Amazon that says the seller can’t accept that method, you know it’s false because Amazon will never ask you to pay by any other methods.”
N. Morris

Yep, I’ve now been conned. Bought a £380 ex demo Sony Bravia TV from a Marius Popoiu from Italy via a money gram from globalgizmos@gmail.com on Amazon marketplace.

To all of those people out there who have been conned by this person from Italy can we not get together and take some action.

Yes, I’ve lost £380 (a lot less than some of you I know) but I now feel angry that he is still getting away with it having read all of the above messages.

Maybe we could all put some serious pressure on Amazon to change their policy as they continue to allow this prat to advertise and trade.

Does anybody have any information about where we stand legally?

I’ll take this all the way if we have to.

N. Morris
Dick

he also goes under the name Alan Georgio. I made enquiries before even purchasing. My belief is that if anything is too cheap to be true then it’s probably a scam.

If you send a query before purchase you get form responses like this.

“hello,
the camera is new ( it’s an ex demo therefore it has hardly been used and is as good as new it just had to be listed as ‘used’ as the box has been opened ),UK model, factory sealed ,comes with 12 months extended warranty, receipt ,all manufacturer supplied accessories.
the price is 270£ and if you want to buy send me your full name and address because i will transfer your details to Amazon for start the shipping , this will take 48 hours
Regards,”

He also uses known website addresses created to fool you into thinking that the seller is valid. For instance his email address was ‘sales.netlinkofficesupplies@googlemail.com’ so I Googled and found their website. I then phoned them and asked about the Amazon seller and they replied that the account was false. They were aware that there was a scammer at work as I was not the first to call that day.

ALWAYS check before purchase and NEVER pay via wire transfer! ALWAYS pays using Amazon’s payment method and NEVER fall for those scam emails!
John

A friend of mine emailed me about a cheap Nikon D90 available through amazon marketplace so I decided to pursue it, being fully aware that it may be a scam, but confident that I would be protected by amazon’s A-to-z Safe Buying Guarantee Protection if things went sour. So I placed the order only to find out that there were geographical restrictions with regards to my address. So I contacted amazon via email to express my concerns that this was probably a scam. This is their reply:
“Dear Customer

Thank you for contacting Amazon.co.uk Marketplace.

I’m sorry to hear that you have been unable to place an order for the camera from a third party seller. All Amazon.co.uk Marketplace items must be paid for through our website using Amazon Payments.

If the website won’t accept your address, it means the seller of the item will not ship to your address and it will not be possible to complete your order. I would advise trying another seller to see if they will deliver to your address”.

This auto generated email did not impress me so I sent amazon another email:
“You appear to have missed the point of my comment. The third party seller, Global Gizmos, is based in the UK and yet do not allow UK buyers to purchase their products, so why advertise on amazon.co.uk. This is both misleading and not a bone fide offer.As such I would expect you not to allow this company to advertise their “wares” through your website.”

Once again their reply did not impress:
“Greetings from Amazon.co.uk

Thank you for contacting us–I’m sorry for any concern caused by this error message while placing the order on our website from one of our merchant.

Please note that some parts of our store update more frequently than others, on occasion a used item may already have been purchased by the time a prospective buyer attempts a purchase. In this case, one of several error messages may be displayed.

While the item that caused the error message will not be available to buy, you’re certainly welcome to go back to our web site to see if any other listings for that item are available for purchase.

If you have any further questions do not hesitate to contact us”

So it appears that amazon are not concerned about scammers using their website to rip us off. Which is disgusting imo and totally unacceptable. Needless to say I did not follow this order through but a close friend of mine did and before I knew it they had sent a moneygram for a Nikon D80 . . . you can all guess the outcome. Amazon themselves are fully covered of course by quoting their A-to-z Safe Buying Guarantee Protection – cavet emptor as they say
Stephen King

Oh my god! I too have just been scammed via amazon.co.uk marketplace. I wish i had come across this website sooner. There appears to be a common trend here, the scammer is located in Italy, Rome. He appears to use a google mail account as contact and have the ability to send a authentic confirmation email from a @amazon.co.uk account. How i have no idea. Another common trend is that you contact customer services via a link at the bottom of the page that opens a compose email box with the address; marketplace-orders@…………

I was scammed by orginally sending an email from amazon.co.uk to inquire about the product. However, the marketplace in questions seemed authentic and i thinking he must have been able to hack into this account and post the fradelent item. Or the marketplace is a front and this person is letting him post fraudelent items. Anyway, i could go on for ages about this. But the key information you after is the scammers details. Here they are;

First name : Robert
Last name : Adam
Address: Via Sacco Pastore 13
City: Roma
Zip Code: 0040
Country: Italy

Email: James Owen Store (salesbaby2@googlemail.com)
Fax number used:44-7006-099-780
Fake customer services email: Amazon.co.uk (marketplace-orders@live.com)

My final thought is that amanzon.co.uk are not totally without fault here. There must me more that they can do!!!!
Phil

I’ve been scammed, I’m very very cautious when it comes to the internet but when they sent the ‘Amazon’ email I fell for it. Just can’t believe it as its look genuine, after working in a retail shop for 3 years and knowing about things like this and then getting scammed I feel embarresed I even knew that it seemed wrong. But anyway…. heres the ‘persons’ address

Ship from Address:
First name : Florin Fanel
Last name : Mocanu
Address : Via Sistina 157
City/State : Rome
Postal Code : 00187
Country : Italy

seller globalgizmos@gmail.com
vadeva

My experience is similar altough this time they hijacked a legitimate seller at Amazon, firstaid4sport. Among first aid kits, ankle support etc where a bunch of very cheap “demo” cameras listed. Wierd, but i asked about the camera anyway, got some decent answers, told them i was interested and then got this Amazon looking mail requesting moneytransfer with MoneyGram to a guy in Italy! So i just did not bother more with them. I notified Amazon and firstaid4sport, which got their site fixed, no more cameras there.

I later found these cheap cameras again, on another apparently hacked Amazon site. It seems Amazon has some security issues.

Oh, by the way, i just got a mail from sales.firstaid@googlemail.com:

Hello,
my name is Andreea , i am the sales manager.
there was an easy car accident and Paul Pardo was involved. Currently he is at hospital , and i will take care of this transaction for a speedy deal.
So what you have to do is to change the money gram name into :

First Name : Andreea Ramona
Last Name : Focsa

And the same adress.Let me know if you have additional questions.

Regards ,
Andreea
Sales Manager
http://Amazon Jool R

I too have just NEARLY been scammed by the following having ordered a 37″ Ex demo Samsung TV:

First name : Florin-Fanel
Last name : Mocanu
Address : Via Del Corso 55
City/State : Rome
Postal Code : 00186
Country : Italy

I received various “authentic” emails just like the posts above and very nearly came to parting with my cash but when I spoke to the local Post Office they said “are you sure it’s going to Amazon” and I thought I would look for any “scams” on google before parting with my cash and found this website! How lucky am I I agree with the above surely Amazon should be able to do something about this!
MICHAEL MCCORMACK

I have just been scammed too. I wish I had found this website sooner.
I ordered a 60GB Playstation 3 Console from an Amazon MarketPlace Seller, PrezzyBox. I tried to order through amazon.co.uk but for some reason amazon wouldn’t allow me to order the console, I then contacted the seller, and they asked me to email my full name and address to them and they would contact amazon. I was then told to send money via a moneygram, which I did stupidly. The emails all seemed real and I feel like an idiot for not realising that amazon don’t deal with moneygrams.

The sellers details were:
First name : Florin-Fanel
Last name : Mocanu
Address : Via Del Corso 55
City/State : Rome
Postal Code : 00186
Country : Italy

I have since recieved another email, saying that amazon had the names wrong and that I need to change/re-send the moneygram to the name:

First name : Andreea-Ramona
Last name : Focsa

I have also contacted amazon and MoneyGram to see if anything could be done about this. I am now unsure whether to reply to the email from the seller and confront them, but I dont feel this will get me anywhere.
Any advise anyone?!
Phill Ramsay

Hi

Another similar experience from me to. I saw an ex display 46″ Sharp Aquos for around 550 quid, I sent the seller an e-mail through amazon asking them about delivery/warrenty.

I got an e-mail back saying they could put the order through marketplace for £470 plus £10 delivery. This made me start to wonder as the TV’s list price is closer to £1300, bargain of the day if true.

I sent a few more e-mails to clarify a few things, saturday delivery etc and for each i got a pretty speedy response but one thing I did notice was that the spelling and grammer (even though my own isn’t that brilliant) was pretty poor.

The seller said if I gave him my name and adress he would start the transaction, not much he can do with a name and address so I sent them across and a few hours later I got an e-mail, as with most of your cases, asking for payment to be submitted through moneygram. This instantly rang alarm bells with me so I went cold on the whole sale.

I have sent an e-mail to Amazon to make sure this is a fraud, pretty sure but want to see what amazon say. The e-mail address that came through for the payment was – pay-protection-orders@live.com

The links on the e-mail also look a bit dodgy, i looked at the properties and they seem to take you to either yahoo or live pages, nowt to do with amazon!

The Sellers details are as follows:

When I first saw them on Amazon they were trading under barkbeds

The subsequent e-mails have been coming from David Turcu – cenorokuk@yahoo.com

Although I don’t have his adress I though I would still post as this sellers details are different to the others and if he is a scammer I dont want others getting fooled by him.

Even though I haven’t sent payment the seller claims to have sent the Item, I am interested to see how this pans out!

Hope everyone gets there issues sorted!
Zaeem

Hey folks, just saw something similar on amazon yesterday. Seller selling ex demo lcd tvs for super cheap. They had good grammar but e-mailed from an address other than the seller’s registered address. Item wasnt listed anymore this morning so i re contacted seller and they said the listing was finished but item still in stock.

Seller asked for name and shipping address. I rang amazon support and they said a categoric NO as to seller asking for details outside of amazon.

The REAL seller e-mailed me a couple of minutes after saying his account was highjacked and he had never sold lcd tvs ever! Thank god for my cautiousness.

Also i googled the fake seller’s email name and it was the name of an american model!

Buyers Beware!
mark

Could someone please tell me if this guy is genuine or not.

first name-cristian-ioan

surname -name-Ilie
address-viale belfiore 15
city-Florence
postal code-50144
country-Italy

Thanks.
To Michael Macormick

I managed to get a refund by going back to the local post office after sending the moneygram. I explained it was a fraud, they rang moneygram directly and got me a refund plus refund of charge. I also got the second e mail asking to change name but ignored it. Id pursue via post office and see if you have any luck
Tony V

Hi all,

Just an update on the scam situation. I was just looking at the Amazon UK site today, and came across a Company selling very cheap electrical goods calling themselves “Play-UK” , which are selling, for instance a 42″ Panasonic Plasma, that retails at around £1200, for £620 plus postage (very suspicious).

I tried going through to the “checkout page” (because I was curious), and found I got an error message telling me it “couldn’t deliver to my address”.

The Company are supposed to be selling from within the UK, and there ARE restrictions to sending to the UK mainland only. I live in the S.E. of England, which is not on the “excluded” postcode list, so it’s extremely suspicious!! (I also tried with a 32GB ipod touch they are selling, and got the same error message).

I would summize that because I was caught out once before, that my name/address is on some sort of “blacklist” with this crook. The seller has only an 86% success rating, and their seem to be quite a few unhappy customers leaving feedback to say what a lousy Company they are to do business with.

Even if they are a legit Company, Amazon should remove any seller when they drop below a certain feedback level, as far as I’m concerned. If they are under 95% for a 12 month period, I’m always suspicious about dealing with them, as there are usually problems I could do without.

Most of the time, if it looks too good to be true, it is! It’s a sad fact of life that in this World you have to be extremely suspicious of people at all times.

I would also say to Mark (43, above), that if they’ve got an Eastern European name (sounds Romanian), and they want you to send money to Italy by Moneygram, then of course it’s a scam.

I will ONLY buy from people in the UK in the future, and even if it’s coming from within the EU, and the seller IS legit, if anything goes wrong with the transaction, it’s going to be such a hassle to deal with, that it isn’t worth any savings you might make.

I’ve heard that this particular scam is being carried out by Eastern European crooks, through Italy, so any mention of an Italian address (usually in Rome) should set “alarm bells” ringing.

I would say if you are not sure then you should take the following things into account:

1/ If it’s at a vastly discounted price, then it’s probably too good to be true.

2/ If you send the seller and email and they ask for your name and address, then you know it’s a SCAM, as Amazon will give them this information, they shouldn’t NEED to ask you for this information!

2/ If they send you an email, that looks like an official Amazon one, then check it out THOROUGHLY! Check the email address it was sent from as well as it’s usually NOT an Amazon one. Contact Amazon UK directly, if you are not sure. It is a hassle, but it’s better then losing several hundred pounds!!

3/If they want you to pay by Money gram (probably to an Italian address), then it’s a scam. You should NEVER deal outside of Amazon payments.

I never thought I would be caught out, so I got complacent. Don’t let yourself get fooled by these bastards, they only want to part you from your money!!
Dante

I got scammed by the same guy from no 40. buying the 80GB ps3.

The sellers details were:
First name : Florin-Fanel
Last name : Mocanu
Address : Via Del Corso 55
City/State : Rome
Postal Code : 00186
Country : Italy

and i also got the resend of the email afterward with the “correct” name

First name : Andreea-Ramona
Last name : Focsa

I am out a good bit of money. now I’m unsure of what to do next about this. because obviously confronting the ‘seller’ is going to be no use.
Trevor

I had someone try this scam on me. Here is the transcript:

———————-

Hi, I might be interested in the LN55A950 you have for sale …. Do you have any credentials or more information about the item? Does it have a warranty? Why is it mint, but not new? Thanks

———————-

Hello,
the Samsung LN55A950 55″ 1080p LCD HDTV with 120Hz refresh rate and LED backlighting is new (it’s an ex demo therefore it has hardly been used and is as good as new it just had to be listed as ‘used’ as the box has been opened), US model, sealed, comes with 24 months Samsung US warranty, receipt, all manufacturer supplied accessories. the total price is $1,920 + $110 for delivery. if you want to buy send me your full name and address and i will contact Amazon asap to process your order. i will ship from Italy, delivery will take 4 – 6 days by airmail international. my return policy is full money back in 30 days or replace the product if its faulty.

Many Thanks

———————-
Hello,

I don’t see the item listed on Amazon anymore. I’m concerned about purchasing an item of this value without doing it through proper channels so that me, as a buyer, is protected. Is there a reason you removed it?

———————-
Hello again,
the Samsung LN55A950 55″ 1080p LCD HDTV with 120Hz refresh rate and LED backlighting is still available for $1,920 + $110 delivery. i would need your name and address so i can contact Amazon and ask them to setup an order for you, and for delivery purposes. i had to inform Amazon about who is my buyer. after that they will contact you for payment and delivery.

Many Thanks
———————-
Bob

Ive been scammed as well.Amongst other orders I received this email,looks like any other from Amazon

Thanks for your order,
We want you to buy with confidence anytime you purchase products on Amazon.co.uk from international sellers. That is why we guarantee purchases from Amazon Marketplace, Auctions, zShops, and Merchant sellers when you use Amazon Payments. The condition of the item you buy and its timely delivery are guaranteed under the Amazon.co.uk A-to-z Guarantee.

Ordering Information:
Order Grand Total: £230.00
Order Summary:
Delivery Details: sales.marketplace@gmail.com

Subject: Samsung LE32A436T – 32” Widescreen HD Ready LCD TV – With Freeview [Electronics]

Delivery Method: Standard Delivery
Subtotal of Items: £210.00
Postage & Packing: £20.00
——
Total for this order: £230.00

Dispatch estimate for these items: 20 November 2008 1 “Samsung LE32A436T – 32” Widescreen HD Ready LCD TV – With Freeview” [Electronics]; £210.00
Sold by: sales.marketplace@gmail.com

Payment Details:

The seller requests to be paid via MoneyGram® Money Transfer.
To submit the payment with MoneyGram Money Transfer you have the following option:
Pay for the transfer with cash at a local MoneyGram agent.
Click here to locate the agents in your area.

To confirm your payment to Amazon send a fax with your customer recipt from MoneyGram to this fax number : 44 7006 046 970 . Use this secure way to confirm your payment only if you feel unsafe to release the payment details directly to your seller. If you need further assistance contact Amazon Customer Center by Clicking here

Once the payment was sent, provide the following information:
1) Reference Number (MoneyGram Reference Number):
2) Sender name :
3) Sender address :
4) City where you sent the money from:
5) Amount sent:
Then wait for the confirmation that the payment was received. After that you will receive the tracking number for your product.

E-mail Address: sales.marketplace@gmail.com

Ship from Address:
First name : Cristian-Ioan
Last name : Ilie
Address : Viale Belfiore 15
City/State : Florence
Postal Code : 50144
Country : Italy
Payment Address:
First name : Cristian-Ioan
Last name : Ilie
Address : Viale Belfiore 15
City/State : Florence
Postal Code : 50144
Country : Italy

——————————————————————————–

Where can I get help with reviewing my order?

Please Contact Amazon Customer Center by Clicking here

Amazon.co.uk
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Prefer not to receive HTML mail? Click here
Albert

I too have been corresponding with this Cristian-Ioan Ilie scammer dude mentioned above. It became very clear from the get-go that it was a scam, but I was intrigued so I’ve been exchanging e-mail with him for quite a while now (still am!). This time he hijacked the legitimate vendor ThinkButton and uses the e-mail marketplace.button@gmail.com. That’s the part I find most fascinating and that amazon should find most worrisome!!

I too reached out to amazon to see if there was anything they could do, but they don’t seem to be in any hurry to act. I wish there was a way to send some kind of bogus “tracer” moneygram such that when a person tries to cash it the cashier gets alerted and can take a picture, call police, whatever. There’s got to be a way!!

Sorry to hear about all of you who fell prey to this. Looks like he’s made a tidy profit… I would absolutely love to see this guy’s ass nailed to the wall!!
beth

I was also scammed by Cristian-Ioan Ilie in Italy.
Has anyone contacted the Italian police to get this guy?
Extremely upset and feeling stupid.

Shipping Details: marketplace.button@gmail.com

Subject:

Nikon D90 DX 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S VR DX Nikkor Zoom Lens [Electronics]
Shipping Method: Standard
Subtotal of Items: $620.00
Shipping & Handling: $20.00
——
Total for this Order: $640.00

Delivery estimate: December 2, 2008 – December 4, 2008
1

“Nikon D90 DX 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S VR DX Nikkor Zoom Lens” Electronics; $620.00

Sold by: marketplace.button@gmail.com
Payment Details:

The seller requests to be paid via MoneyGram® Money Transfer.
To submit the payment with Money Gram Money Transfer you have the following option:
Pay for the transfer with cash at a local Money Gram agent.
Click here to locate the agents in your area.

To confirm your payment to Amazon send a fax with your customer receipt from Money Gram to this fax number : 1-928-752-1238 . Use this secure way to confirm your payment only if you feel unsafe to release the payment details directly to your seller. If you need further assistance contact Amazon Customer Service by Clicking here

Once the payment was sent, provide the following information:
1) Reference Number (Money Gram Reference Number):
2) Sender name :
3) Sender address :
4) City where you sent the money from:
5) Amount sent:
Then wait for the confirmation that the payment was received. After that you will receive the tracking number for your product.

Seller E-mail Address: marketplace.button@gmail.com

Ship from Address:
First name : Cristian-Ioan
Last name : Ilie
Address : Viale Belfiore 15
City/State : Florence
Postal Code : 50144
Country : Italy
Payment Address:
First name : Cristian-Ioan
Last name : Ilie
Address : Viale Belfiore 15
City/State : Florence
Postal Code : 50144
Country : Italy

Where can I get help with reviewing my order?

Please Contact Amazon Customer Center by Clicking here