How Fraud is allowed on Ebay. The Case of Seller digitalting0303 Who Uses Private Auctions To Evade Detection
Posted by flashchiptutor on July 7, 2009
Do you wonder how fraud is permitted on eBay? How it is possible for those who wish to cheap and fraud buyers, get away with it? Recently SOSFakeFlash Published on a documented seller, digitalting0303. There is a lot of money made in selling false capacity MP Players, Usb flash drives and memory cards. digitalting0303 is a perfect example of how it is possible and how such sellers continue on eBay.
With permission from SOSFakeFlash we are reprinting their article, published on July 4th, 2009:
digitalting0303 , registered in Hong Kong, is a seller of fake (false capacity) usb flash drives, memory cards and is now offering MP Players! This seller defies eBay and is very skilled in fraud. The only thing digitalting0303 is interested in, is your money. This seller was caught by SOSFakeFlash in October 2008. Soon eBay suspended this id. Nothing was done to contact the buyers of the fake 32GB flash drives eBay to warn people about these dangerous usb flash drives that would lead to data loss.
Members of the FrankenFlash Project, patrol for sellers suspended. Why? As soon as the suspension is over they return to their old ways. The profit is good and they do not care what happens to you or your data. On June 15, 2009 SOSFakeFlash issued a new alert: digitalting0303 Ebay Fake Flash Seller High Alert Devious – Hong Kong digitalting0303, learned from his previous mistakes and began using private auctions to avoid detection (eBay Private Auction Listings – eBay Fake Flash Sellers Prefer – Victims Learn The Meaning The Hard Way – A Guide ).
This way, digitalting0303 could continue in selling fake flash items and avoid detection. digitalting0303 demonstrates just how easy it is for a fraudster to use eBay!
If you are a victim of digitalting0303, you have a choice to make. Let this seller continue to harm others and keep your money or teach him a lesson. The choice is yours. See: Escalation In False Capacity USB Fake Memory eBay! SOSFakeFlash News July 3rd, 2009
Do not expect eBay to do anything about digitalting0303. Do not forget they enjoy the fee’s they collect from these fake flash sellers. These scam artists are only stopped by victims. Will digitalting0303 be allowed to continue? You have the power to decide.
Use the tool: http://www.toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=digitalting0303&Dirn=Received+by make sure to leave negative feedback immediately, even before you file with PayPal. If you left positive, do follow up feedback stating the truth about what you discovered. Feedback remains forever. Chose your words carefully.
Leave the calling card of “SOSFakeFlash” and “H2testw” in your feedback to help others. Do not change your feedback to get a refund – you will only create more victims.
Just how bold is this fraudster? As this article is being written there are 60 fake usb flash drives, 40 MP Players and 10 memory cards offered.
Just added to the fake flash offerings:
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Scott said
Actually digitalting0303 has had the account suspended by ebay in thelast day or so. Granted I got my fake 16Gb SDHC card a day ago and subsequently lodged for a refund through Paypal.
If I don’t get a refund granted then I shall just get my bank manager to organise a refund through my credit card off paypal.
Not a large sum of money but it is the principle that counts.
gry said
I’m exactly in the same situation. I’ve recieved a fake 32GB SD card from this user. Now i try to get a refund.
chipsmore said
Can you check this ID on ebay? –>upcomingtrend.
I just know about this page and had bought one 16gb pendrive and it’s on the way to deliver it.
But when I read the ebay feedback profile negative comments, looks like many customer complaint it was fraud. It only has 2gb capacity but he/she sold as 16gb. Can you check this ID and do something on eBay before many customer falls into this trap!!
BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU PURCHASE FROM upcomingtrend in ebay!!!
fightflashfraud said
Hi chipsmore,
We already have a post about this seller on the fightflashfraud blog:
http://fightflashfraud.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/2321/
This is where most of the posts about suspected (but not proven) fraudsters go. Once we have the evidence to prove our suspicions (test results etc from buyers) the seller will go in the sosfakeflash database and an alert will be issued there.
One thing you can do to help bring down a fraudster is to warn three or four buyers. Ask them to test their memory items with the free program h2testw and report in with details of the purchase and test results to sosfakeflash so that the seller can be added to the database.
If each of those you warn then warns three or four others and so on then momentum will gather and the seller will end up being suspended once enough people have claimed refunds, reported the seller to sosfakeflash etc etc.
KittyFireFlash said
An alert was issued on upcomingtrend on June 15th, 2009 at SOSFakeFlash. See: http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/2009/06/15/upcomingtrend-ebay-fake-flash-seller-alert-china/
Anyone who wants to know about confirmed fake flash sellers on eBay should visit http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/
There is a list of fake flash sellers along with the counts against them. The alerts show all the models sold by the seller too.
All you need to do, chipsmore is type the ebay sellers name:
upcomingtrend
into the seach box. You can check the current total against a seller by consulting the latest fake flash sellers list. See the http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/category/fake-flash/ebaysellers/negative-fb-tool/ category to get the latest list.
Visual Ideas said
any feedback on this eBay seller? tjffkuu
fightflashfraud said
There is a post about this seller on the fightflashfraud blog.
TxCharlie said
I bought two 32GB flash drives from tjffkuu.
Both of them were actually 4GB. He gave me an immediate refund and agreed not to sell any more flash drives when I complained.
He currently has zero items for sale – I am waiting to see if he posts any more USB flash drive auctions before I decide whether I will give him a neutral or a bad rating.
I haven’t decided if he is a victim himself or not. He was very nice in his communication, but was very concerned I would give him a bad rating.
TxCharlie said
This crossed my mind: Perhaps the Chinese Embassy should be alerted frequently that you are sending out media news releases.
The Chinese government is very sensitive to consumer fraud that gives them a bad reputation, believe it or not.
Remember the Chinese company that sold bad toothpaste? Well, China executed the President of the company for allowing that.
But I think they will ONLY respond if there’s bad publicity.
fightflashfraud said
Don’t be fooled by politeness, a refund and no current listings. Generally the fraudsters in China are very polite and will often refund quickly if they think it will avoid a neg which would warn other buyers. Seller tjffkuu has sold 675 fake flash drives in the last 30 days alone – yet there is not a single negative comment for this seller yet.
The hundred percent positive feedback the seller currently has will inspire confidence in other buyers and create more victims. There is no doubt in our minds that this is deliberate fraud as the fakes are all private sales whereas the earphones sold by tjffkuu are not private. The use of private sales is an indicator of deliberate fraud. Help your fellow ebayers – leave a neg for the seller and be sure to point buyers in the direction of sosfakeflash and the h2testw program.
If you did not yet report in to sosfakeflash with test results please do so by going to the report a fake tab there.
TxCharlie said
You were right – I see a bunch of new feedback for private actions. I posted “Fraudlent drive reports fake size in Windows XT. Google “H2testw” to test yours.”
TxCharlie said
He offered to give me another $50 refund if I “revised” my negative rating, so I wrote him this… Yes, I really am
======================================
“I must have forgotten to tell you… I am a former Police Officer.
I will do as you ask ONLY if you tell all of your customers how to test their drives, and send a refund to them if they are bad.
They MUST write me and tell me that the items they received were either good, or that they got a refund from you.
Sorry, but I see that you’re still holding private auctions – So I also insist that you make all of your auctions PUBLIC so that I can see what you are selling.
Thanks”
Randy said
digitalting0303 is “no longer a registered user”. Did Ebay close this seller down on has the seller moved on to another account until things cool off?