Stolen Incredible Hulk #181 CGC 8.5 - New Bedford, MA 4 4

[jcjames]

On 11/23/2019 at 9:13 AM, RockMyAmadeus said:

Which piece...? I want the amygdala. That's the tastiest...

Has a nice almondy flavor.

 

[fastballspecial]

On 11/22/2019 at 8:53 PM, awakeintheashes said:

If anybody sees an Incredible Hulk #181 CGC 8.5 with the serial number 2059999001 floating around for sale in the New Bedford, MA area, please let me know. I have contacted many of the local comic book stores and posted about this on Facebook and in the eBay thread here. 

A police report has been filed, but who knows how much that will do.

Thanks in advance for keeping an eye out and for any reports of it being offered for sale.

I am hearing that Paypal sided with you now? Please give us the details.

 

[theCapraAegagrus]

Yes, please update us if true.

[awakeintheashes]

14 hours ago, fastballspecial said:

I am hearing that Paypal sided with you now? Please give us the details.

 

Sorry for the delay in posting on this. Work and life have been a little crazy.

eBay initially sided with the buyer and refunded him $4,600. I appealed the decision, filed a police report and uploaded the documentation to eBay. About 48 hours later, I receive an email from eBay letting me know that they have sided with me on the appeal and will not be seeking reimbursement from me for the $4,600 they paid out to the scammer/buyer. The guy still got his money back and gets to keep the book, but at least I'm not out $4,600.

On the topic of the police report - I received a phone call from the New Bedford PD yesterday morning. This situation is developing and I will provide updates when/if there is anything to share.

Edited December 4, 2019 by awakeintheashes

[theCapraAegagrus]

[mattn792]

Holy , eBay used their brains!!  Great to hear you aren't out the cash. 

[aszumilo]

5 hours ago, awakeintheashes said:

Sorry for the delay in posting on this. Work and life have been a little crazy.

eBay initially sided with the buyer and refunded him $4,600. I appealed the decision, filed a police report and uploaded the documentation to eBay. About 48 hours later, I receive an email from eBay letting me know that they have sided with me on the appeal and will not be seeking reimbursement from me for the $4,600 they paid out to the scammer/buyer. The guy still got his money back and gets to keep the book, but at least I'm not out $4,600.

On the topic of the police report - I received a phone call from the New Bedford PD yesterday morning. This situation is developing and I will provide updates when/if there is anything to share.

That is truly awesome.  Hope they nail the scumbag.

[wolverine180]

6 hours ago, awakeintheashes said:

Sorry for the delay in posting on this. Work and life have been a little crazy.

eBay initially sided with the buyer and refunded him $4,600. I appealed the decision, filed a police report and uploaded the documentation to eBay. About 48 hours later, I receive an email from eBay letting me know that they have sided with me on the appeal and will not be seeking reimbursement from me for the $4,600 they paid out to the scammer/buyer. The guy still got his money back and gets to keep the book, but at least I'm not out $4,600.

On the topic of the police report - I received a phone call from the New Bedford PD yesterday morning. This situation is developing and I will provide updates when/if there is anything to share.

Absolutely amazing news. I am very happy for you and glad that at least you are not s.o.l. that has to be a big weight off your shoulders. It sounds like you are still dealing with things, but at least that is resolved. Congrats again. I also hope you continue to work with police to bring scumbag down. 

[thehumantorch]

6 hours ago, awakeintheashes said:

Sorry for the delay in posting on this. Work and life have been a little crazy.

eBay initially sided with the buyer and refunded him $4,600. I appealed the decision, filed a police report and uploaded the documentation to eBay. About 48 hours later, I receive an email from eBay letting me know that they have sided with me on the appeal and will not be seeking reimbursement from me for the $4,600 they paid out to the scammer/buyer. The guy still got his money back and gets to keep the book, but at least I'm not out $4,600.

On the topic of the police report - I received a phone call from the New Bedford PD yesterday morning. This situation is developing and I will provide updates when/if there is anything to share.

Wonderful.  Please keep us in the loop.

[RockMyAmadeus]

11 hours ago, awakeintheashes said:

the $4,600 they paid out to the scammer/buyer. The guy still got his money back and gets to keep the book, but at least I'm not out $4,600.

 

That's great news. Let's hope the police catch this guy, and he's forced to pay eBay back.

Terrible policy in the grand scheme. Letting scammers get away with grand theft will just encourage more of it.

eBay is intent on burning itself to the ground.

[Oskywalker]

Happy to read that man. I hope police catch this guy.

Cheers!

[awakeintheashes]

9 hours ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

That's great news. Let's hope the police catch this guy, and he's forced to pay eBay back.

Terrible policy in the grand scheme. Letting scammers get away with grand theft will just encourage more of it.

eBay is intent on burning itself to the ground.

Thanks. Believe me, I communicated that to every person I spoke with at eBay. I was told this is not a widespread issue. I was also told this policy was put into place because disputes between buyers and sellers were taking up to 9 months to resolve.

But, as you said, this policy just encourages more people to abuse it.

[awakeintheashes]

No update on the police activity, but I wanted to take a second to say thank you to everyone who offered up kind words, suggestions and helpful intel here in this thread, via PM or on facebook. You all are great people, and I am glad to be part of such a great community.

Edited December 5, 2019 by awakeintheashes

[Donald Jack]

45 minutes ago, awakeintheashes said:

Thanks. Believe me, I communicated that to every person I spoke with at eBay. I was told this is not a widespread issue. I was also told this policy was put into place because disputes between buyers and sellers were taking up to 9 months to resolve.

But, as you said, this policy just encourages more people to abuse it.

It's interesting that the eBay representative mention it's not a widespread issue.  This similar situation happened to a friend of concerning a Tom-Tom GPS he sold on eBay.  The buyer claimed it was broken and wanted to return it, however, all he did was stick a tracking number label on a small letter envelope and eBay stated that the tracking proved he sent it back.  My friend was able to use the weight of the item he sent versus what was returned.  Ebay originally provided a refund to the buyer and then sided with my friend and gave him his money back as well.  In this case the item was only $62, and I assumed it was below the threshold of care (a term I use for when credit card companies will refund a buyers money and not seek reimbursement from the merchant as the cost to do so outweighs the refund).

What is also interesting is during the discussion my friend was told "This happens all the time, usually for larger dollar amounts."

It is so awesome that you got your money back...WELL deserved.  Also sad that eBay is still enabling this type of behavior (I assume in their position of he said/he said, they could end up on the wrong end of a lawsuit from one side and probably figured it was financially prudent to keep out of that).  I hope the police stepping in make a significant difference...gotta change it one buyer at a time.

[Blastaar]

So is it now ebay who is going after this guy since there are out the money? Also...if the comic is found who gets it?

[awakeintheashes]

13 minutes ago, Blastaar said:

So is it now ebay who is going after this guy since there are out the money? Also...if the comic is found who gets it?

I'm not sure what eBay is going to do to him. I know he is still buying from people. I emailed someone who left feedback for him last weekend to give them the heads up about what he did to me. 

I let the police know that eBay decided in my favor on the appeal and is no longer seeking reimbursement from me. The officer's exact response was, "I think the only issue is that you are out the book that we are trying to get back."

[mattn792]

19 minutes ago, Blastaar said:

So is it now ebay who is going after this guy since there are out the money? Also...if the comic is found who gets it?

eBay should certainly be reimbursed the $4600 that they fronted the perp.  The book is an interesting question though -- since @awakeintheashes is technically whole in terms of the sale price, would a judge consider the perp as having paid for the book in full and let him keep it, despite the crimes he clearly committed?  The lawyers can lawyer that out.

[WolverineX]

8 minutes ago, awakeintheashes said:

I'm not sure what eBay is going to do to him. I know he is still buying from people. I emailed someone who left feedback for him last weekend to give them the heads up about what he did to me. 

I let the police know that eBay decided in my favor on the appeal and is no longer seeking reimbursement from me. The officer's exact response was, "I think the only issue is that you are out the book that we are trying to get back."

yeah, not sure what ebay will do... but glad you aren't on the hook.  Too bad it wasn't paypal reimbursing him because paypal is so money hungry and they WOULD find a way to get their money back including freezing his account and stealing from his bank account.  That's a company that doesn't mess around.  

[RCheli]

20 hours ago, mattn792 said:

eBay should certainly be reimbursed the $4600 that they fronted the perp.  The book is an interesting question though -- since @awakeintheashes is technically whole in terms of the sale price, would a judge consider the perp as having paid for the book in full and let him keep it, despite the crimes he clearly committed?  The lawyers can lawyer that out.

Attempted fraud is still a crime. Even if he eventually doesn't get away with it, it's still against the law.

As the always correct Wikipedia says: "The crime of attempt has two elements, intent and some conduct toward completion of the crime."

[Krismusic]

20 hours ago, mattn792 said:

eBay should certainly be reimbursed the $4600 that they fronted the perp.  The book is an interesting question though -- since @awakeintheashes is technically whole in terms of the sale price, would a judge consider the perp as having paid for the book in full and let him keep it, despite the crimes he clearly committed?  The lawyers can lawyer that out.

no I dont think they would let him keep it I would guess the fair thing is to take the money back from the guy court order payment and take the book give it to eBay since they paid awakeintheashes for the book it is theirs now to do what they please maybe sell it back to awake if he wants it back maybe do their own auction or sell it locally to gain back the cash etc.. i am sure they have stuff set up for this if they do ever take someone to court but probably can't be bothered and the book could be awarded to the state? not sure about American laws. but the dude would have to punished for his crime whatever that punishment is for that time of crime such as fraud.