CS3 rip-off

[Jred]

Originally Posted by Fireball

Well the guy sent me a copy of the money order he's sending me for the refund INSTEAD of instantly putting the cash into my paypal account! So I'll be getting that next Tuesday or Wednesday. We'll see!

Are you kidding...just prolonging the scam...

[SpeedRacerSlots]

DO NOT ALLOW HIM TO SEND A MO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I deal with FRAUD all day for my profession!
There are a TON of fraudulent USPS MO's and Western Union MO's out there.
The ONLY time you will find out that they arent worth the paper the ink is printed on, is when your bank charges you for a returned item fee on a dis-honored piece of paper.
Shoot, even BANK Checks, Cashier's Checks.... from fraudsters arent good.
I will go one more than that... they even have counterfeit "GIFT CARDS" and prepaid MC/Visa cards and debit cards.

Bottom line... GET YOUR MONEY BACK THE SAME WAY YOU SENT IT.
If via PP, then get PP.
You tell them that you will gladly return the MO to them when it gets to you ONLY if the funds are back in your PP account.

IF they mail you something, make sure that you will have them send it registered.... then there is a paper trail in case you would like to add USPS Mail Fraud to the list of charges, and I have several friends in key eCommerce Fraud places with the US PO Inspectors offices.

PLEASE let us know what comes of it, and whatever you do... DO NOT let them give you some sob story. YOU are the victim here, not him from his supplier! YOU need to make the demands to get this set straight, NOT let him dictate what he will or wont do.

Good Luck@!

[Fireball]

I've already demanded everything and turned him in to e-bay and the BSA. Just waiting to see where it goes from there.

[hotshot38]

Not only that, the Money Order will probably be for MORE than what you paid for, and he'll ask you to return the extra..thus hitting you with a double whammy. Scammers will try to draw it out as long as possible to let the trail go cold, AND once they have a person on the hook, will try to squeeze even more money out of them.

[Fireball]

Well I got the money order yesterday, took it to the bank to see if they could tell if it was a fake, they called the 1-800 number for Western Union and just got an automated call stating it wasn't "on hold or had a stop payment" on it which doesn't tell me anything. They said they could hold it for 3-4 days just in case but by then my case will have been decided by E-bay so instead I sent it back to the buyer certified mail so I have a signature. I again e-mailed him and stated what I had done and that I will ONLY accept a credit to my paypal account. He keeps telling me he's a new seller and can't do that, thus the money order.

I've already sent it back so I guess I will have to stick to my guns and wait for a decision from E-bay or hope that he eventually credits my paypal account.

[Jim Victory]

Your depending too much on e-bay and paypal to find a solution to your problem. If the guy is crooked then they are not going to be able to do much for you since the money is probably no longer accessable.

I would have taken the M.O. to Western Union and cashed it. If they checked it and found it was fraudulent you could have then added additional pressure through law enforcement. If it wasn't fake you would have your money, cash, and the matter would have been settled.

By sending it back you have no proof of its validity and he has tracking info he can send to paypal showing he reimbursed you. Paypal and e-bay will dismiss your claim because you have no way to prove he didn't send you a fake M.O.

[SpeedRacerSlots]

Did you make a front and back copy of the MO?
And it doesnt matter if he is a new PP User.... ANY user, even with a brand spankin new, never sent anyone anything account has the ability to hit the "SEND MONEY" tab and shoot it to you in a matter of minutes.

[Fireball]

Yes, I made a copy of the M.O. And I got another e-mail from him yesterday stating he would credit my paypal account now. We'll see!

[Jusselin]

fireball not sure if you recieved it but i sent you a pm

[dixonduke]

The curiosity is getting the better of me. Were you ever made whole?

[sklittyu]

I bought photoshop off eBay last year, and when I received it the copy was on a writable cdr (I never put it in my computer because of copyright) notified eBay pay-pal and adobe that he was selling this copy and pay pal made me pay for shipping back took them two times (they do not hold the $ or did not at the time had to pull it from his account somehow) just to get my $ I paid minus the shipping I had to pay to send it back (which I don't know why I had to since he was selling illegal goods) took months to straighten out and the guy was still selling on there (the same software) and I had to report each one he had on there just to get them to pull those sells who knows if they were ever suspended I even reported it to the FBI copyright fraud (or something like that found it through ebay)

[Fireball]

Update: After receiving the money order back, he finally credited my paypal account after 3 weeks of wrangling back and forth! Lesson learned. Bought CS3 through Amazon instead. Uploaded perfectly.

[dixonduke]

i am shocked that you actually got your money back. glad to see it worked out for you in the end.

[DSL_PWR]

I just bought a perfectly sealed shrink wrapped CS4 Extended for $250 with no issues. You just have to talk to the seller, look at their feedback, ask for actual date/time stamped pictures of the software you are buying and then make sure that is what you get. A serious seller will give you the info you request without hesitation or frustration. They want you to be happy and have a good sale just as much as they do.

[Jusselin]

glad everything worked out