I just handled a case of eBay buyer fraud as an eBay seller. I mailed a handbag to the buyer. The buyer claimed she received a pair of jeans. The FedEx delivery photo and the buyer's photo show the package box was not tampered with. The buyer admitted she cut open the top, and when she did, the top was intact. Thus the buyer is the only one who could have swapped the bag for the jeans. She exploited eBay's return process. eBay ruled in her favor, issuing her a refund after she mailed me the jeans. I appealed through return abuse, submitting evidence of financial mail fraud, including all the case IDs of all the channels where I reported the crime. eBay ruled in my favor, returning the refund to me.
This apparently is a prevalent eBay buyer fraud scheme, often operated by criminal rings. They target low value items in large quantity. Because each item is of low value, it goes through automated process in the system, which allows them to exploit it for their financial gain. eBay sides with buyers more than with sellers, apparently, as buyers are the ones holding the purse strings.
I reported the financial mail fraud to FedEx and USPIS. FedEx issued me a check for the package lost. I declined the check because the package was not stolen. I asked them to investigate the fraud. Have not heard back from them.
After eBay issued the buyer refund, I became officially the victim of financial fraud with the ball now in my court. I reported the fraud to FBI IC3, FTC, my local police department, and the buyer's local police department. Once I filed the case with my local police department, they will need to do something about it. In this case, they will hand over the case to the buyer's local police department. I have not heard back from FBI IC3 and FTC. I suspect they would look for bigger patterns among the cases submitted.
During this period of two months, I periodically sent the buyer updates of all the channels where I reported the crime, sending her every now and then the sentencing guidelines of financial mail fraud in her state and at the federal level, suggesting plenty of DNA evidence inside the jeans pointing to the owner, and enlisting all the evidence pointing to her being the fraudster. I never accused her directly of any crime, but all paths lead to her.
In my last message to her on eBay, I sent her this message: I told her in no uncertain terms that my local police department will soon hand over the case to her local police department. I have spoken to a senior officer at her local police department and will follow up diligently with them to ensure they take action. The police station is only 3.8 miles away from her residence, so she can expect a knock on the door from the police anytime to help with the case. We are closing in on the criminals.
I do not really care about the amount she tried (now unsuccessfully) to defraud me. I care about being defrauded even though I never fall for it. I consider this battle beautifully won.