I saw a add on Cragislist for a Yamaha YZF R1 priced & ready to sell at $3900.00. I contacted the seller, Cindy Davis, & wanted to know why the price was so low. She replied that she had just finished her divorce with her husband & needed the money not the bike.
Everything seemed okay & secure. She wanted to go throug E-bay buyer protection so that we were both "protected".
I got the payment instructions via e-mail. So, I went to our local MoneyGram location, & wired $3900.00 to a E-bay customer service agent named Brian Chang. Cindy said that after he received the money he would okay her to ship the bike to me. She said she would handle the shipping & that I would have 5 days to inspect the bike, & if I decided I didn't want it she would send her shipping company out to pick it back up.
A day & half later I received a e-mail from E-bay customer support saying that they had a man in their files with the same name that was a previous client that had fradulent activity in his record. They said that in order for me to complete the transaction, I needed to wire an additional $3200.00 for a "safety deposit". They also threatened that if I did not wire this money immediately that they would alert the proper authorities & have me investigated. They also said that I could cancel the order & have my $3900.00 refunded to me.
So, I promptly canceled the order & of course my money hasn't been refunded to me. All e-mails also stopped that evening when I canceled my order.
My wife did a reverse address look up for both Cindy Davis & this Brian Chang. Number one, the address for Cindy Davis doesn't even exsist in Florida. The address for E-bay is however the real address for one of their customer support field offices, but there is no agent there by the name of Brian Chang.
I've contacted my bank & filed a complaint with the IC3 department of the FBI. I also contacted MoneyGram to alert them of these two indiviuals & file a report with them. I hope they can help in some kind of recovery.
Word of caution for internet purchases: If it sounds too good to be ture, it is.
Please, don't fall for these ridiculous scams.
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