Question
EBay scammer mixes baby formula scheme
(from the San Jose Mercury News)
By Mike Cassidy
Mercury News
Of all the scoundrels on the Internet, few are lower than the baby formula scammer.
Yes, baby formula scammer -- as in taking advantage of sleep-deprived parents and their hungry (and therefore cranky) infants.
It happened to Rob Jaworski, who lives in San Jose's Cambrian Park neighborhood, and an army of others who discovered they could save a bundle by buying Enfamil online.
``It turned out that my wife one day started poking around and found that there is a lot of formula that is traded on eBay,'' he says.
Jaworski, who worked for years at Netscape and America Online, thought of the Internet as a friend, a useful tool, something to be celebrated -- not feared.
So he and his wife bid on a few cans here and there. In January, Jaworski was laid off, which left him much more time to concentrate on his 6-month-old daughter and her formula needs.
He became something of a baby formula day-trader. He'd study the various can sizes, the number of cans and the shipping deals being offered by different sellers.
``I had my calculator out and I would figure out how much it would cost me per dry ounce,'' he says.
Anything in the 60 or 70 cent range, he'd pounce on. Once the price hit 85 cents, forget it.
``We were saving anywhere from 20 to 50 percent.''
Which is saying a lot for a product that often tops $1 an ounce at the supermarket.
It was a beautiful system, until the February day Jaworski bought $107 worth of formula from an eBay seller who went by ``pezsaver.''
``That one was going to keep us going for a little while,'' he says of the order. ``It was just never showing up.''
Then he heard from a guy in Seattle who explained that he knew of several others who had been stiffed on formula by pezsaver. And those names led to other names. Soon e-mails were flying back and forth and being copied here and there.
It was a mess.
So, Jaworski started a Yahoo group for those who'd been scammed by pezsaver. The group became something of a digital neighborhood watch. They swapped stories. They helped each other get refunds through eBay's partner PayPal.
And they began tracking pezsaver -- tracking him to Crete, Neb.
Bonnie Pawlowski -- a group member who paid for about $95 worth of formula that never came -- had researched pezsaver's selling history on eBay and carried on an extended e-mail exchange with him.
``It's not like I have all this time,'' says Pawlowski, an accountant from Troy, Mich. ``I just needed to show this guy that you just don't do this.''
She turned her information over to Sgt. Ron Koch of the Crete Police Department.
``Her starting this, and all the information she provided, was fantastic,'' Koch says.
Koch has a suspect, but he says while it's easy to track the formula auctions to a particular computer, it's harder to prove exactly who used the computer to create the phony auctions. The investigation is ongoing.
For its part, eBay says fraudulent sales comprise only a minuscule percentage of eBay transactions. And, says spokesman Hani Durzy, the way the formula-fraud-fighters came together illustrates one of eBay's benefits: It builds community.
That may be, says Jaworski. But for now, he says, he has a new place to buy formula.
``At the store.''
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I searched for the seller 'pezsaver' and got "User ID invalid."
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I noticed that too. I expected to find the user NARU. eBay's response is interesting.
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Baby formula from eBay? I've had no experience with formula at all...wouldn't it be sort of risky to buy it that way? I assume the powder is sealed well in the cans? It would still make me nervous.
In any case, I hope they "get" the scammer.
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Interesting how in this case of vigilantism, eBay says:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>And, says spokesman Hani Durzy, the way the formula-fraud-fighters came together illustrates one of eBay's benefits: It builds community.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
and yet in a NY Times article about online auction vigilantes, eBay's response is:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
Rather than embrace these virtual posses, eBay discourages them, occasionally going so far as to suspend the vigilantes' accounts.
"We love it that people want to help, but there's a right way to do it and a way that isn't constructive or in the interest of a good community marketplace," said Rob Chesnut, eBay's vice president for rules, trust and safety. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> For its part, eBay says fraudulent sales comprise only a minuscule percentage of eBay transactions. And, says spokesman Hani Durzy, the way the formula-fraud-fighters came together illustrates one of eBay's benefits: It builds community.
That may be, says Jaworski. But for now, he says, he has a new place to buy formula. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Add to that the other people in that group that got scammed, and you have a whole bunch of folks who aren't coming back to eBay because eBay turns a blind eye on sellers who are thieves, but who are paying lots of listing fees.
800 pound gorillas make big smells.
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Like others here, I tried the user ID and got the same thing.
Why would they make the user ID invalid?
Maybe the story got the user ID wrong.
I also went to Yahoo and did a groups search for PEZ, ebay ripoff, pez scam, and pezsaver, and didn't come up with anything http://community.here.com/infopop/em...n_confused.gif
I would like to point out that the people that run ebay are hypocrites...examples below http://community.here.com/infopop/em...n_rolleyes.gif
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Rather than embrace these virtual posses, eBay discourages them, occasionally going so far as to suspend the vigilantes' accounts.
"We love it that people want to help, but there's a right way to do it and a way that isn't constructive or in the interest of a good community marketplace," said Rob Chesnut, eBay's vice president for rules, trust and safety. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Now this...
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>For its part, eBay says fraudulent sales comprise only a minuscule percentage of eBay transactions. And, says spokesman Hani Durzy, the way the formula-fraud-fighters came together illustrates one of eBay's benefits: It builds community. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
ebay doesn't give a rats ass. They are just trying to limit the bad PR http://community.here.com/infopop/em...n_rolleyes.gif http://community.here.com/infopop/em...n_rolleyes.gif
Jamie http://community.here.com/infopop/em.../icon_cool.gif
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Yahoo groups can be set up as "private" and if so, they won't appear in any searches or lists of group names. People wanting a scammer not to find out what they know and what they're planning might well do it that way, plus there might be issues of slander or possible outright illegal retaliation being debated.
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>For its part, eBay says fraudulent sales comprise only a minuscule percentage of eBay transactions. And, says spokesman Hani Durzy, the way the formula-fraud-fighters came together illustrates one of eBay's benefits: It builds community.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Fraud builds community.
Nice spin by Hani Durzy. Kevin Pursglove would be proud.
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Python,
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Yahoo groups can be set up as "private" and if so, they won't appear in any searches or lists of group names. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I'm an idoit http://community.here.com/infopop/em...n_rolleyes.gif
I should have known this. I run a group for my film production company that is private http://community.here.com/infopop/em.../icon_razz.gif
Thanks!
Jamie http://community.here.com/infopop/em.../icon_cool.gif