My 16 yo daughter and I were shopping for a car. We visited USAA and she checked carsforsale, finding a single owner Honda Pilot, owned by "1st Sgt. Lucille Travis, " who was "being deployed to Afghanistan" from a base in AK. The vehicle was supposedly in Washington state. She/he sent Carfax report and photos. The transaction was to be done by Amazonfps, which I knew to be a legitmate and handy way to do business with a stranger. I used my USAA credit card, which I felt offered another layer of protection. The amazonfps link was sent to my daughter, who I allowed to conduct the transaction. The scammer had created a dummy amazonfps page, and further directed that the money be sent through Western Union to "agents" Larry Roberts in Columbia, S.C. And David Pratt in Irmo, S.C. Confident in the Amazon name, we proceeded. Law enforcement has been useless from the federal level down: the FBI refers to local law enforcement, which did not respond for more than two weeks to my report and calls. Columbia/Irmo, S.C. Where the money was picked up, says we have to contact our local PD. Local PD says it is not their jurisdiction. I paid a certified internet investigator $100 (emailfinders) and the name and residential address of the individual possessing the email went to a print shop in a strip mall in Woodbridge, VA. The IP address goes to Aurora, IL. Emailfinders (which is related to peoplesearch) grudgingly refunded my money. Western Union has refused to reveal the precise locations where the funds were picked up. Those locations have the ID (fake or not) and a video tape of the transaction. I am convinced this can be solved, but no one will help. I also note that there are related complaints on scambook. If we could pool our data, should help. It is a lot of money and it will be a long time before my daughter has a car.
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