From Chris Renaud - Please Read and Respond

chrisrenaud · March 30, 2004 8:54AM

I received the email below (which I will copy in after I have typed my message) and I really am skeptical (I am a cynic by nature). My first instinct is to believe this is a fraud perpetuated by someone trying to say they work for the government with a number of somewhat innocent sounding questions trying to get info from me that they can use to steal my money - but I could be wrong. So if people could please read the text of the email below and let me know if they have received the same email. If they have and they think it is a fraud, or if they have not, I ensure everyone I have the will and means to pursue such a fraud to make sure that the person sending me the email is sorry - sorry for this long message but I frequently try to use my own funds to punish people who try to abuse the hobby; well, in any case, here is the email that I received today:

Fussell, Victoria L <VLFussell@uspis.gov>
Sent : Tuesday, March 30, 2004 11:09 PM
To : <ctkowal@netscape.net>, <onelord1@cs.com>, <tolykjb007@yahoo.com>, <iidmx187ll@aol.com>, <barrybondssf@cs.com>, <dugout23@aol.com>, <jeff.c.battistoni@espn.com>, <bmsportscards@aol.com>, <leedouglashooks@hotmail.com>, <vinny66si68@cs.com>, <medicaltranscriptionguide@yahoo.com>, <mickey007mantle@cs.com>, <dslsports1@aol.com>, <chey258@yahoo.com>, <jpntiff@hotmail.com>, <cfo_media_most@hotmail.com>, <signexp@signexpress.org>, <sins@hackermail.com>, <baseballheroes1@cs.com>, <joiler@devtiger.com>, <smcloansmb@cs.com>, <butctebo@aol.com>, <ndirishfans@msn.com>
Subject : Federal Investigation of Ebay auction of sports memorabilia

| | | Inbox

Dear EBay Customer:

The United States Postal Inspection Service is conducting an official investigation concerning the auction of sports memorabilia by sports-world-inc or allnetallday. You have been identified as a successful EBay bidder of this company between July 2000 and March 2004. In order to continue our investigation, we need your assistance.

1) Did you purchase and receive your merchandise?

2) How did you purchase it? (Check, Money Order, Paypal, etc.)

3) How did you send your payment? (US Mail, FedEx, etc.)

4) Was the merchandise what you expected?

5) If you did NOT receive the merchandise, was your money refunded?

6) If your money was refunded, How was your refund sent? (US Mail, FedEx, etc.)

7) Do you have documentation of your transaction?, such as:

- emails between you and the EBay seller

- original/copy of your check or payment receipt

- copy of your mailing/shipping documents

IMPORTANT: If your transaction with this company resulted in non-receipt of your merchandise AND the loss of money, it is critical to our investigation that you furnish information of your transaction(s) immediately by accessing the Postal Inspection Service website and filing a Mail Fraud Complaint:

https://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/MailFraudComplaint.htm

If you have any questions please call me at (415) 778-5921 or email me at VLFussell@uspis.gov. If you call, please leave your phone number, the best time to reach you and indicate your time zone.

Thank you in advance,

V. L. Fussell
U.S. Postal Inspector
San Francisco Division
P O Box 882528
San Francisco CA 94188-2528

jrinck · March 30, 2004 9:02AM

I don't know. It looks legit. Have you called the phone number? Talking to someone and asking the right questions is a great way to ascertain someone's intentions.

shouldabeena10 · March 30, 2004 9:18AM

From a quick read it looks legit to me too.

But before I did anything, I'd call information and get a real phone number to the Postal Inspectors Office, call it and ask for this guy by name (and title). If he did send it to you as part of his investigation, I'm sure he'd be able to look it up on his list. Of course, if he didn't send it to you... I'm sure he would be more than interested to find out who did. The Postal Inspectors can play hard ball... when they want to.

Mike

Buckwheat · March 30, 2004 9:20AM

Sound legit to me. They are not asking for passwords, etc. And you can go to USPS site to give your info. I agree that calling to confirm is a good idea.

KING KELLOGG · March 30, 2004 9:38AM

Hey Chris...

This similar thing happened to me about 10 years ago (before all the email rage...). My recomendation is to call the phone number and talk directly with Fussell. You can also go to your local (Main Post Office) Post Office and have the inspector meet you there. Even if they are out of the S.F. office.......

Beleive me... If you're name popped up on a P.O. inspectors list..... It's serious...(for the seller..not for you...)

Email if you need any more info on how this works... emards4457@msn.com

Larry

Gatorbait · March 30, 2004 10:02AM

interesting that a postal inspector would use email on such a serious subject............

jdalymgd · March 30, 2004 10:19AM

Looks to be legit. If you go to the regular post office site and go to the area to file a mail fraud complaint the addresses match up.

Paul

packCollector · March 30, 2004 10:30AM

postal inspector contact

just put your zip ans it will give you the office to contact to see if this is legit

chrisrenaud · March 30, 2004 10:42AM

The reason I think it is a fraud is that I may be perceived as a significant investor and cards and someone who thinks they are really clever might take advantage of that - I will have my lawyer or one of our security people who use to be a detective who works for our company (I know it sounds weird we have such a person, but we are not a really small company) and they can check it out legally (i.e., when they call it really means something legally rather than when I call) and see what happens - will keep people posted but for now I have to state my opinion despite everyone else's advice that this is not legit

downgoesfrazier · March 30, 2004 10:57AM

CR,
...if you have your own dick, why pose the question here? If you're smarter than us answer it yourself. I have to side with gatorbait, however. Email seems a strange place to "meet".

dgf

WinPitcher · March 30, 2004 11:01AM

Chris do you remm ever buying from that company?

Virtualizard · March 30, 2004 11:04AM

Chris,

I remember several posts of yours in the past 2 years or so where you suggested that you would take action against people who took advantage of our hobby. Have you had any results in any of these endeavors? I'm just curious if any progress has been made to clean up the hobby by those that have the means to initiate actions, legal or otherwise.

JEB.

johng · March 30, 2004 12:48PM

Chris

The PO Box that they provided is definitely for the US Postal inspector's office. You can go to www.usps.com/websites/depart/inspect/ then do a search on that Zip code. Call 415-778-5800 , which is the main number of the San Francisco branch, and ask for Victoria Fussell. If she answers, then I would just ask her to elaborate on the email she sent. That should give you enough information to proceed. If it is ligit, and Victoria Fassell is ligit, and she knows about the email, I would not ignore it. Also, I would not contact her by email because I have not seen the "uspis.gov" extension, and would not immediately trust that. It might be ok, but I just have not seen it before.

Also, that is a very impressive 1971 Topps set that you put together!

Good Luck

John

marty · March 30, 2004 1:37PM

Have you contacted eBay?

mudflap02 · March 30, 2004 2:47PM

I am working for the post office right now (until I graduate), and let me assure you that the Postal Inspectors are NOT anything to be taken lightly, not so much for you as for the seller. They are legitmate police and really know what they are doing. It is pretty much drilled into all the employees how powerful they are (almost like the Gestapo or something), but the important thing to remember is that if you're not doing anything wrong, they are a great ally to have on your side. I think this is just an example of them trying to be thorough with their investigation and any email or contact info that traces back to the PO or PI's is pretty much guaranteed to be legit. My 3 cents

Machodoc · March 30, 2004 3:16PM

King -

"before all the e-mail rage"? Is that simliar to the "telephone rage", or perhaps the "TV rage", or maybe the "newspaper rage"? Hmmm...

Maybe you meant "before the graded card rage...."??

Steve

pc · March 30, 2004 4:01PM

what's the difference between telephone and email contact?
W-R-I-T-I-N-G.
email is safer and provides a written trail.
i received two phone calls on this subject
and the calls were legitimate.i was on a buyer's
list but never met the reserves although ebay
reported winning bidders (without taking note
of a reserve) for postal investigative follow-up.
the woman that contacted me seemed to be filling
out forms and didn't know anything about the goods
or any perceived value.maybe email IS preferable.

mexisar · March 30, 2004 5:31PM

I received a somewhat similar email, but mine was from ebay

also looks weird, but then I saw that i did buy from
7. orlandographs orlandographs@aol.com Orlando Bloom

<<
From Pub-StopFraud Wed Mar 24 14:45:06 2004
X-Apparently-To: ********@yahoo.com via web40407.mail.yahoo.com; Wed, 24 Mar 2004 14:53:27 -0800
Return-Path: <stopfraud@corp.ebay.com>
Received: from 67.72.12.29 (EHLO neutron.corp.ebay.com) (67.72.12.29) by mta147.mail.scd.yahoo.com with SMTP; Wed, 24 Mar 2004 14:48:27 -0800
Received: from [10.244.16.32] (HELO SJN-EXM-02.corp.ebay.com) by neutron.corp.ebay.com (CommuniGate Pro SMTP 4.1.6) with ESMTP id 4925952; Wed, 24 Mar 2004 14:45:09 -0800
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content-class: urn:content-classes:message
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C411F1.A788DF46"
Subject: Internet Auction Fraud - DVDs & Sports Memoribilia
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 14:45:06 -0800
Message-ID: <9491DDCB88AE2F40952F397C97967AEFD9C976@sjn-exm-02.corp.ebay.com>
X-MS-Has-Attach:
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Wrom: AFXISHJEXXIMQZUIVOTQNQEMSFDULHPQQWOYIYZUNNYCGPKYLEJGDGVCJVTLBXF
To: "Pub-StopFraud" <stopfraud@corp.ebay.com>
Content-Length: 3625

eBay, Inc.

2145 Hamilton Avenue

San Jose, CA 95125

Hello,

The eBay Trust and Safety Law Enforcement Team has been contacted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service concerning a former eBay User that is under investigation for their activities on eBay.

This investigation is not complete at this time, and your cooperation will be appreciated. Please keep in mind that these are allegations only, and that no charges have been filed nor should you draw any conclusions as to the outcome of the investigation.

If you WON an auction posted by these User(s) through eBay, Purchased an item offline, or Purchased additional items; AND if payment was sent and the item was NOT received, NOT as advertised, or a refund was NOT issued, then the US Postal Inspection Service would like your assistance in their investigation. We would like to hear from you if you have not received your product no matter what your loss.

Here is a list of the Name(s) and User ID's that are currently under investigation:

1. caliautoman caliautoman@yahoo.com Lourie Palmer

2. celebritygreatfotos azgrapher2003@yahoo.com Lourie Palmer

3. chicagosportsgraph florida32821@aol.com Thomas Maddux

4. dvdconnect4u2004 dvdconnect4u2004@yahoo.com L. Palmer

5. iwillsell4u2003 iwillsell4u2003@yahoo.com Bobby James

6. jesvivo jesvivo@yahoo.com Jessica Vivo

7. orlandographs orlandographs@aol.com Orlando Bloom

8. sackingzguy sackingzguy@aol.com L. Palmer

9. www_fanfestautograhs_com davestieb37@yahoo.com Dave Stieb

10. dvdwholesalez florida32821@aol.com Thomas Maddux

On behalf of eBay, please take a moment to log onto the Postal Service's website at www.usps.com and click on the Postal Inspectors badge. Next, click on Mail Fraud and finally, click on File A Mail Fraud Complaint.

Your information will be helpful to the Postal Inspectors who are actively conducting the investigation.

Regards,

eBay/PayPal Trust and Safety Fraud Investigations Team

Remember:

eBay will not ask you for sensitive personal information (such as your password,

credit card and bank account numbers, Social Security numbers, etc.) in an

email.

***For those that used money orders, checks and the like, you may file a fraud

claim under eBay's standard purchase protection program.

http://www.ebay.com/help/confidence/isgw-fraud-claim-instructions.html.

This program covers purchase up to $200 (minus a $25 processing fee). Here

is the link where you print a copy of our claim form:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/frs-claimform.html.

*** If you sent payment to this seller via PayPal, your auction may be

eligible under PayPal Buyer Protection for up $500. Please visit the PayPal

website for additional information concerning PayPal Buyer Protection.

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_pbp-info-outside

ZodiacMindwarp · March 30, 2004 10:44PM

To all,

Victoria Fussell is indeed a Postal Inspector working in the San Francisco division. The phone number she listed in her e-mail checks to the internal directory that the Postal Inspectors have access to. She has been an inspector for somewhere between 8 and 10 years. The e-mail suffix "uspis.gov" is legitimate. It stands for United States Postal Inspection Service. The only thing I didn't find out (that I might have been able to) is what her middle initial stands for. I verified this information from a senior postal inspector working in NYC.

Michael

sixdart · March 31, 2004 12:11AM

chrisrenaud · April 2, 2004 3:30AM

Just an update on this matter, and I spoke to Victoria re this matter which is one of these guys (who I think I posted about a long time ago) where he offered in his ebay offers that if you bought the card, crossed it over to another service, and did not get your money back than he would give your money back - which of course was a scam because he then claimed that you did not send in his card to be crossed, etc.

Well this is a card I bought to test his claim, and he must have pissed off some other people as well, but the bottom line is that the guy who did this is in jail now and she is gathering evidence re using the post office for fraudulent sales.

CON40 · April 2, 2004 3:37AM

chris;

That is very good news! It is nice to know Uncle Sam takes this fraud seriously. I'd love to kow how long he got away with it (and how much he sold) before he got pinched.

Thanks for the update. It's my first post on your thread, but I have been reading it. Nice to kow it was a legit inquiry.

Tipem · April 2, 2004 5:07AM

GOSH,

Something good from the Post Office.

How can that be??????????????

Vic ( one happy postal employee)

murcerfan · April 2, 2004 5:11AM

Vic,
technically......... does that makes you gruntled ?

Tipem · April 2, 2004 5:17AM

Murcerfan,

I ALMOST wrote that!!!

Great minds must think alike.

Vic

gemint · April 2, 2004 7:28AM

Yes the Postal Service does come through from time to time. The scumbag who ripped me off a few years ago was arrested and prosecuted thanks to the postal inspector. He is now serving two years house arrest and had to pay $40k in restitution to his victims.

In fact, I'd say that the postal authorities take more action in these matters than eBay does (which isn't saying much).

From Chris Renaud - Please Read and Respond

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