Scammer pbasofin - UPDATE - it gets weird - even a shot of their subdivision
roadrunner
Posts: 28,371 ✭✭✭✭✭
I recently have been scammed out of my first ebay transaction ever.
While I haven't given up hope, I figure the odds are 1 in a million to recover anything. The item was paid by personal check and has cleared my bank of course. I am taking actions with my bank and with the local post office, but expect little there. While this may not be Savannah, the Sav. Scammer certainly comes to mind. One thing that struck me as slightly odd about the transaction is that the seller emailed ME in a somewhat "rushed tone" to let them know when payment was sent.
If any locals to the southwest Atlanta area know of this area, any intel would be appreciated. At least it would be nice to know if this is a residential address or an empty apartment building.
ebay seller: pbasofin - 100% FB (until now)
transaction amount was over $2000
phone number provided by ebay 831-612-8977 (out of service)
__________________
seller: Sharon Cherry
7181 Boulder Pass
Union City, GA 30291
__________________
ebay # 280163853840
auction link
roadrunner
While I haven't given up hope, I figure the odds are 1 in a million to recover anything. The item was paid by personal check and has cleared my bank of course. I am taking actions with my bank and with the local post office, but expect little there. While this may not be Savannah, the Sav. Scammer certainly comes to mind. One thing that struck me as slightly odd about the transaction is that the seller emailed ME in a somewhat "rushed tone" to let them know when payment was sent.
If any locals to the southwest Atlanta area know of this area, any intel would be appreciated. At least it would be nice to know if this is a residential address or an empty apartment building.
ebay seller: pbasofin - 100% FB (until now)
transaction amount was over $2000
phone number provided by ebay 831-612-8977 (out of service)
__________________
seller: Sharon Cherry
7181 Boulder Pass
Union City, GA 30291
__________________
ebay # 280163853840
auction link
roadrunner
0
Comments
MSN maps shows a residence in fairly new looking developmnet.
That's all I got.
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
roadrunner
They might be able to answer your questions.
Will’sProoflikes
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
-Paul
<< <i>Looks like a hijacked account to me. Sorry for the bad news. >>
Ditto. Sorry.
good luck, Brian
bob
The seller had feedback back in March-May 2007 but it was as a buyer. Would appear that more DD should have been done, though if it's from getting IP addresses and the like, I'll need some massive re-training. I've dodged a few scammers over the past 5 years when things didn't feel right. And I also figured that given enough time, I would eventually run across someone who wasn't legit. My ebay % profit margin for the past 5 years just took a solid re-adjustment.
to those capable of sending trojan horse viruses and the like, here is the email address of the scammer:
pbasofin@gmail.com
roadrunner
Greg
<< <i>seller: Sharon Cherry
7181 Boulder Pass
Union City, GA 30291
>>
address photo
Jim
Carla & Sharon A Cherry
7181 Boulder Pass
Union City, GA 30291-5184
(770) 306-2714
If the address is residential, and there is a current tenant, it's a least a start.
roadrunner
It doesn't look good from what I have seen. I recently purchased a 1909 S VDB off an unknown (to me) dealer up in NJ. I paid with a personal check $5k+ and got the coin. I have to say I will probably never do that every again. I will stick with PayPal where at least I have a little recourse, not much though.
Best of luck.
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
Also. Maybe a highjacked account? No activity for the last 5+ years
Recipient of the coveted "You Suck" award, April 2009 for cherrypicking a 1833 CBHD LM-5, and April 2022 for a 1835 LM-12, and again in Aug 2012 for picking off a 1952 FS-902.
Sharon Cherry living there. I just spent 30 min on the phone with her.
Next info shortly.........
Sharon Cherry did indeed sell the coin but she hasn't been paid either. She says my check arrived to her address and she endorsed it over to Mike Marketing, LLC and wired the funds via Western Union! It seems she recently took some internet training through them to be some sort of sales manager. During the spiel they convinced her to give them some items to sell on ebay. They shipped out the $20 Lib I bid on. This whole scheme has few tracks though she does have a real address for them somewhere among her emails.
So the seller on ebay is not her, but a Mike Marketing, LLC.
The woman sounded to be in her late 50's, or even 60's.
I believe the story as it is too convoluted to be anything else.
She had been calling and emailing MM for the past week to try and find out where her money is. Ironically she had the darn money right in her hands! I advised her to get in touch with Western Union, local police and state's attorney. If she's lucky she can regain contact with those people 1 last time and not let on.
So what is this now? Wire fraud? Is Western Union the one to go after to track this down? Did they do anything wrong? It appears not. Sounds like a case of inter-state fraud, something for the FEDs or State's Attorney. Uhh...legal minds - opinions?
roadrunner
I doubt the seller will ever see her coin OR her money again.
What will they think of next?
http://www.careerone.com.au/jobs/job-search/scam-warning/
Good luck.
http://myworld.ebay.com/crazyslasher27
Looking for someone to appraise a stamp collection I recently acquired. Please PM me if you can help!
Russ, NCNE
It sucks to be stupid (not her, me)
roadrunner
<< <i>she's going to owe you 2,200.00. >>
Without a doubt. You will be made whole. She will have some leg to do before she is made whole, if ever.
No doubt I was dumb, and she dumber. Though I'm not sure if she would be legally on the hook considering it was not her auction and not her coin. But she does run a nice money laundering operation.
roadrunner
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Carla is another elderly woman who first answered. I'm going to guess that they are sisters or close relatives living together, possibly retired. I doubt they have $2200 sitting in the bank or even own their own, but I'm game to get my $$ back.
I get the hint TomB.
roadrunner
she is the registered user.
you mailed payment to her.
she endorsed the check that was made out to her.
what she did with the check or money after that is her problem.
she owes you 2K.
Also to add to Clay's post. You can probably file that in your local court and don't forget to add any fees or expenses you've incurred also including the filing fees for the suit.
Steve
as for the seller of this coin... yikes, what an idiot. this country
is quite full of them now days.
edited to add: looking at the seller's feedback i would have never
bid seeing they were inactive as a seller for many moons. alarm
bells went off as soon as i saw that. plenty of coin dealers to buy
from on ebay without bothering with stupid people.
The auction was fronted by the scammers (per her story though).
And the contact email address & phone # was the scammers. The scammers put in her address in the ebay records - not their own.
She gave the scammers her address obviously and they used it.
She hadn't done any auctions since the spring she said. She got the reference for Mike Marketing via Craig's list. Yeah Craig!
Anyone seeing a 1903-s PCGS MS64 $20 Lib for sale on ebay should do a double take.
Thanks for the help tonight in nailing down the facts. Getting the real phone number was sweet. I didn't even think of rechecking figuring the address was bogus. I was very polite to the lady and said nothing threatening or even that it was her problem. She's still looking for her $220. Very polite and informative talk.
roadrunner
That's how you have to play it to get your funds back. Your immediate recourse is to file criminal charges against her. You can let her know that she can wire you the funds through a bank, no Western Union on this one and give her a same day deadline, get it done a couple of hours before close of business at your bank. If she says she can't get it don't wait, file the charges.
Fighting the Fight for 11 Years with the big "C" - Never Ever Give Up!
Member PCGS Open Forum board 2002 - 2006 (closed end of 2006) Current board since 2006 Successful trades with many members, over the past two decades, never a bad deal.
it's her grandson or some other relative running the scam, but she's in on it.
who would ever suspect a little old lady.
get a rope.
hi, i'm tom.
i do not doctor coins like some who post in here.
i do not think you can comprehend how gullible some people are.
i can truly believe this woman was manipulated via email/phone
by a scammer. you spam a million email addresses eventually you
will find the one in a million idiot with no real street sense.
no offense roadrunner, but bidding 2000 bucks on a coin from a
seller like this was just as gullible, eh?
in no way did this person strike me as an owner of rare coins. the
person struck me as a little old lady with a hijacked account.
on using it.
1. Her ebay account (ebay said it came back to her and her address)
2. Check was mailed to her (in her name)
3. She cashed the check making her responsible for the transaction, period.
Thats where everything else comes in and is not your problem. I don't doubt she was scammed, but what if she is trying to scam you again? Make you feel sorry for her so nothing ever happens. She made $2k and smiling all along.
If criminal charges are sought, it may bring to light the big picture. If she was a middle person, it may make the police get to the bottom of it.
does this lady have muliple accounts?
the one of pbasofin only shows your feedback and no items sold in last 30 days
True, the seller had no recent activity, last was in May. But with 39 FB's over several years, they were not an active player. For myself, I have gone months between wins on ebay, it doesn't mean I'm inactive though. And for 5 years, my FB count of 116 or so is not very high.
fc, the ebay account was that of the scammer. I'm not sure what they were doing with it, but they certainly could have loaded it up with higher powered coins and faked "sales" amongst themselves to build a track record. I have purchased a number of coins with no problems via sellers who shouldn't have had them based on first impression. But like anything, if you play ebay long enough, you will get burned. There's nothing to prevent a scammer from making a perfect track record and then taking you out. But I did say I should have done more due diligence on the is one and was stupid.
Further sticks and stones aren't required at this point. I get it.
Mea culpa and mea stupido.
At this point I'm not sure if I can avoid a more-improved scam down the road....as they only will get more sophisticated.
roadrunner
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i thought i remember having to put in a cc to create an ebay
account. it seems to me it is sharon's account...
someone had to create it with a legit cc right?
i guess i misread who owned the account?!?
confusing crap in this thread. i feel bad for you. if it was me i would
be cussing up a storm ready to send that address a big crap in a box. my crap. spring loaded to shoot all over when you open it.
OK......I'm getting madder......and wiser. Maybe her son Mike
"Marketing" Cherry bought it for her.
roadrunner