Hundreds Ripped Off By eBay Seller Alisher71 in $100,000 Scam

[mandy]

It is the biggest eBay scam ever, with more than $100,000 stolen from innocent bidders all over the continent, KMBC's Lara Moritz reported.

Danielle Stange said she was ripped off and has no way to get her money back

Stange said she got back on eBay and saw that complaints canceled out the previous compliments she had seen.

"He had gotten more than 100 negative feedbacks from people with the same experience as me. They'd sent in money, had gotten confirmation of the payment, but had not seen any of their items," Stange said.

full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/kmbc/20051222/lo_kmbc/3137157

82.3% of their 600+ buyers thought they were good sellers 
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=alisher71

More info is available at the "Alisher Sucks" blog set up by the latest victims of eBay's failure to police its site 
http://alischersucks.blogspot.com/

[mandy]

An update on this story:

Many of the buyers who lost money are blaming eBay for allowing this to happen.

In response, eBay spokesperson Chris Donnelly said they only "provide the space. How people come together and trade on the space is really up to those individuals."

Even so, eBay does rank sellers by feedback. Alisher71 had a positive record for the last two years.

Donnelly says feedback is "not the only thing they ask people to look at because no one parameter is going to capture everything. Some of the other things we recommend you look for in sellers is what kind of return policy they have, what kind of payment do they accept."

full article: http://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readarticl...cleid=5334&z=3&p=

[amy]

eBay spokesperson Chris Donnelly said they only "provide the space. How people come together and trade on the space is really up to those individuals."

If I took that attitude with my customers' safety I'd be out of business.

If people want to commit fraud on eBay's site it is up to the individual to decide.  If sellers want to accept an online payment service other than PayPal eBay will make the decision.  Also up to eBay to decide: shipping times in listings, linking to your web site, etc    :

[xppman]

If I took that attitude with my customers' safety I'd be out of business.

You know it. I hope ebay will be soon. I still see top players being indicted.

[Angel]

In response, eBay spokesperson Chris Donnelly said they only "provide the space. How people come together and trade on the space is really up to those individuals."

They just keep playing that "only a venue" thing.  It's gonna come back and bite them on the ass one day, it's just a matter of time 


Angel 

[mandy]

Another update:

Michele Simmons is staying on top of the international effort to locate two alleged criminals who fled the United States with nearly $100,000.

For Simmons, of Binghamton, her involvement in the case is personal: She lost $250 to alleged defrauders Alisher Mardonov and Shahnoza Khakimova when she sent them a money order in exchange for an iPod. Simmons won a bid on eBay for the gadget...

Simmons is one of more than 500 victims of the couple...

As someone who has bought and sold items on eBay for nearly 10 years, Simmons said she trusted the couple's ranking because she too used to be a power-seller,..

She would like to see eBay change its policies...

In the meantime, Simmons and more than 500 eBay bidders signed an online pledge to never shop on eBay again. The site is at www.fightbackfraud.com

full article: http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.d...00332/1001

[Kristijntje]

Another related story:

Two former Naples residents are suspected of making Christmas unhappy for more than 500 eBay customers, chiseling them out of more than $100,000 and failing to deliver the merchandise ''won'' in online auctions at the end of last year.

It's one flavor of Internet crime that Sen. Burt Saunders, a candidate for attorney general, says the state needs to crack down on...

In addition to Khakimova and Mardonov, he wants to hold online auction companies accountable as well.

''If your business model depends even in part on criminal activity, then you must make adjustments to remain within the law if you and your company are abiding and abetting criminals,'' Saunders said...

full article: http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll...010/NEWS01