A Brunswick County woman is out $4,000 after she says she was scammed while buying a car on the internet.
She may never see her money again, but wants to make sure you do not fall for the same thing she did.
It all started last month when Christle Canipe started birthday shopping for her daughter, Tressa.
Canipe said, "Well, I've been looking for my daughter a car, she's turning 16 May 1, and I went to Craig'slist, and I found a 2004 Jeep Wrangler on there."
The Jeep was listed for $4,000 -- an amazing deal, at less than half of the Kelly Blue Book value for that model. The seller explained in e-mails that she was going through a divorce, and just wanted to get rid of the vehicle quickly.
"I e-mailed and asked her where can I come look at the vehicle, and she said that she's out of town because her and her husband separated, and the jeep was in stock where it could be shipped out," Canipe said.
She asked repeatedly to speak to the seller over the phone, but she would only respond by e-mail with details on how to finance the vehicle online, through eBay Motors.
Then Canipe started getting e-mails she thought were from eBay, giving her directions for sending a moneygram to an agent in San Jose, California, where eBay is headquartered.
Canipe wired the money weeks ago, and someone picked it up, but the Jeep never arrived.
NewsChannel 3 called eBay to find out where Canipe's money went and were told the man the moneygram was addressed to, never worked for them -- and the woman Canipe knew as the seller is nowhere to be found.
Canipe has since filed a report with the Boiling Spring Lakes Police Department, but investigators are less than optimistic about recovering her money.
Boiling Spring Lakes Police Chief Emmett Ballree said, "You're also dealing with the internet and there's no internet police. Realistically I think it would probably be a long shot."
Chief Ballree says an e-mail address and the name of a man Canipe wired money to, is not a lot to go on. He says his department doesn't have the resources to send an investigator to California, to try and find her $4,000.
Ballree said, "We're talking about internet fraud here, which is very prevalent and getting bigger every day, and unfortunately something we never dealt with in the past, but even the smallest towns and agencies have to start learning how to deal with it because we're seeing it more and more."
As for Canipe, this single mom may have just learned a very expensive lesson.
"Depressing," she said. "Makes me sick, I can't sleep good at night thinking about it. I don't trust nobody else on the internet, if you can't see it, can't touch it, don't buy it."
A spokesperson for eBay Motors advises consumers to stay alert when interacting online, just as they would in the real world. They say to never pay with cash or instant cash transfer services, such as western union or moneygram. And if you're buying a car through eBay Motors make sure you're using the eBay Motors web site, not going through e-mails where someone could be using the eBay Motors logo to make themselves look legitimate.
I know how you feel ....I
I know how you feel ....I have two small children and I work part time for AT&T.I was looking for a little money on the side and fell victim to a Mystery shopper job ....To make a long story short I had recieved a check for $1,875 which $200 was my pay and $1400 I was to wire transfer back to them to evaluate the customer service of the money gram transaction ! In the end the check was bad and out of my own stupidity I sent the money before the chack cleared ! And now they don't answer the phone !!! I share your pain !!!!I found out the check was bad today = (
Things like this shouldn't happen
This is one of those stories that you read and wonder why! I have never and never intend to buy anything from Ebay. Some people do and have not problem, but I always wonder - when you are buying something major like a vehicle, ATV, or even a home, why would you buy anything that you haven't seen? These are major purchases and should be thought out carefully and with much looking around. This lady learned a valuable lesson - if it looks too good to be true, it probably is!!!
my sister recently wrote an
my sister recently wrote an email to someone selling a car on craigslist and the lady replyed in the exact same way as this lady mentions. She will not tell her how many miles are on the car, says that she is going through a divorce and to send the money through ebay. Watch out cause it looks like she or he, whatever it is, is also "selling" other cars as a coverup. The one that my sister was looking at was a honda accord. Now this person keeps emailing her telling her to send money to her ebay account and that she will pay for the shipping......
This money went to
This money went to California in what was obviously a fraudulent transaction. The BSL police are out of jurisdiction, I think. Sounds like a Secret Service or FBI intervention to me. I feel bad for the lady and her daughter--they don't need the destructive comments some of y'all are posting here. Just learn from their experience, don't buy big ticket items blindly and that will help shut down the crooks.
Melonie about your loss of money
Melonie,
Contact Ed Carter at the BCSO, tell him a friend of his recommended that you tell him everything and show him the e-mails. There is tracability with e-mails and even the money that was transferred.
Im sorry for your loss. I wish you the best in recovering your money.
I feel for this woman so I'm
I feel for this woman so I'm going to send her an 8,000 dollar check. All I need you to do is cash the check and keep the 4,000 for yourself and send me the remainder back.
hello.
you are such and amazing person for this right now. My daughters birthday is thrusday and with that money you send me i could get her a vehicle. But i will make sure it clears my bank first. I have learned a valuable lesson. You are a great person.
The same thing happened to
The same thing happened to me online on a deal buying the Brooklyn Bridge. I paid $10,000 for it, and it turned out to be dental work from Brooklyn. I still have it in a glass of water next to my bathroom sink :-(
The only silver lining to my deal is...when my teeth fall out...Polygrip is all I'll need to start seeing my investment returns.
"Jeeze what a Dummy I was too..."
one born every day
The Jeep was listed for $4,000 -- an amazing deal, at less than half of the Kelly Blue Book value for that model.
Ever hear the phrase "If is sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
Police Chief Emmett Ballree = Barney Fife with brain trauma
"Boiling Spring Lakes Police Chief Emmett Ballree said, 'You're also dealing with the internet and there's no internet police. Realistically I think it would probably be a long shot.'"
Hello? I have a news flash for you, Police Chief Ballree! The internet is not some rogue, godforsaken land that knows no law. It's a frickin' communication service, just like a telephone. Do you know what to do in the event of telephone or mail fraud? Then do the SAME THING! Which in your town I suppose is to call the telephone or mail police. Sheesh!
Call the telephone or mail
Call the telephone or mail police. I don't care who you are, that is laugh out loud funny !!
Here's how this should work:
A complete stranger you have never met asks you for $4,000 to pay for a vehicle that you have never seen. What's the correct answer? Anyone? Anyone? Ok. The answer is...
"No deal, Howie! NO DEAL!"
Good grief, woman! It's noble you are telling your story as a warning to others, but honestly, some people are just too dense to get it. As often as these stories get told, you certainly didn't get the message. It's not even a story that even should NEED to be told... all the other red flags aside, this was a NO BRAINER!
WHY?????????????????
why as a woman would you send that much money to anyone. i had that happen to me on craigs list but i did not go through with money.i was buying a house. you will never see your money again and that is so sad. mybe you will learn that you do a hand in hand exchange.sorry for you loss
deals are out there!
There are good deals out there that are for real. Don't beat the mom down for trying to find one for her daughter. Just because someone was scammed doesn't make them stupid - btw - get your spelling right if you want to call someone stupid! What ever happened to helping out your neighbor instead of beating them down? Good luck Mom with getting your money back, I hope you do and the scammers go to jail before they get a chance to scam someone else. Good luck to your daughter in getting a car to drive, I'm sure it is going to be tough with $4000 missing. God Bless
If it were me...
IF you still have the emails..maybe the person wasn't really smart...of course Boiling Springs Lake PD doesn't sound to computer savvy either...however, they can get a warrant and have the ISP give the name of the user the IP is assigned to. That MAY or MAY NOT be a real IP...but it is worth a try...Like I said...if the person was smart the IP is spoofed....or sent from some other account...it will take some investigation and warrants but is doable
buying your child a jeep?
I feel sorry for her misfortune, but along with not being EBAY savvy, buying her daughter a Jeep Wrangler to drive isn't very smart either, They have a terrible crash related injury and death history.
Buying a jeep for her daughter
Rich,
I think the crash rates get worse for any vehicle that you put a teenager in.
I Agree
I agree. Even as I read the process she went through to "purchase" this vehicle, all kinds of red flags were going up in my mind. I feel sorry for her loss, but if you make yourself an easy target, you are gonna get taken advantage of eventually.
Come on lady, read eBay's site info!
This woman did everything that eBay specifically tells you not to do regarding selling or buying anything on their site.
If you are going to be that stoopid then you shouldn't even be allowed to file a police report. Essentially, she gave the money away against better advice. And that is NOT against the law.
She should be charged with frivolous use of county resources.
What???
"Well, I've been looking for my daughter a car...."
Her daughter is a car? I've heard of "My Mother the Car," but her daughter?
Let me try my hand at this "Moidah da King's English" contest...."Either she or the reporter the English book should be looked at."
Howzzat?
Are you for REAL???
This single mom is out $4,000 and all you can do is criticize her grammer. From your comments, maybe you should get out an English book. What a loser.
The reason she is out $4000....
...and her poor grammar likely have a common basis....
umm do you mean " How is
umm do you mean " How is that" flippen genius.
Gosh! Do you think....
...that I may written that on purpose?
Do ya, huh?
must remember
You have to explain everything to some people. We call them children or dimocrats. Yes, I meant to spell it that way.
car
You have emails, then you have an IP to trace. Hopefully someone at the BSL police dept. has some computer knowhow. The location of the email IP is simple to get. The local police where the IP is can normally get a warrant for the local cable provider to give them the exact street address where the IP came from. If this is a wide spread scam the FBI may be interested.Now if the IP is in another country, good luck.
CRAIG'S LIST is a bad place.
my mother.
Tried her dern hardest to do something good for me! I am sick of all yall jerk offs who have nothing better to do coment my my mom saying degrading things. And for who ever called her stupid at leat you should spell it right. So maybe your the stupid one. Maybe yall should try to be nice every once in while it might get you friends. Well now you herd from me (her daughter) what bad do you got to say to the birthday girl?
First off, how about using
First off, how about using *Spell Check*.
Secondly, prove you are Tressa :-)
See, internet proof means nothing in some cases. Anyone can write that they are a family member into this forum as you did...and some call it entertainment. Same goes for...is this story about losing $4000 really true??? (15 minutes of fame?)........
Seems evidence of this event is on the side lines/back burner/on the hill/etc.
What was the IP address at Craigslist for this vehicle so the rest of us readers can follow up?
Was the IP address put into your "My Favorites"?
Surely it was for quick retrieval purposes.
So....On to other things now WWAY News........
sorry
TO ALL I NO THAT SOME PEOPLE DONT THINK ABOUT THINGS WHEN THEY ARE TRYING SO HARD TO DO SOMETHING GOOD FOR THEIR CHILD. YES I MADE A BIG MISSTAKE BUT I HAVE NOT ASKED ANYONE FOR A HAND OUT. THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME KNOW THAT A JEEP IS NOT A SAFE VEHICLE FOR MY CHILD. DAS IF YOU CAN CONTACT ME ABOUT THE IP MAYBE I CAN DO SOMTHING MYSELF, THANK YOU. THE OTHERS HAVE YOU NEAVER MADE A MISSTAKE OR DO YOU THINK YOU ARE PERFECT ? I'M THE ONE THAT LOST MY MONEY NOT YOU!
You need a new keyboard.
Honey... your CAPS-LOCK button is broken. Please fix it. It's a bit difficult reading stuff in all-CAPS. Thanx.
Reply to Mel
You need the emails open on your PC and connected to your email carrier. Once there you should be able to "show full headers" on the email, thats what will show you the IP # of the sender. The header is the place on top of the email that shows who its from, the subject etc. Normally we see compacted headers but you want to see the FULL header.
Depending on what email you use there is a different way to see the FULL header. In Yahoo-Mail, once you open the email, at the very bottom of the page there is a button that says "Full Headers" on the right. In Microsoft Outlook/Express, right click the email in the top view pane, you get a drop down menu, hit properties then the "details" tab. Once you see this info the sender IP# should look something like this
65.184.132.000
If you go to this site http://whatismyipaddress.com/staticpages/index.php/trace-email-source-IP-address
It helps you track down an email IP# etc, better than i can online. You can also get YOUR IP# there so you know what your looking for on the emails you got. From there a police person would have to get in touch with the Internet Service Provider and get a street address.
I can not believe that the POLICE are that ignorant there. Have you asked them if they have a cop that has any computer experience or can they find someone. The internet is not anonymous and there is a trail to the a$$ that ripped you off, it just takes someone with a little computer brain to get it. You may want to go above them, like call the SBI. Ask questions.
There are laws to protect you from internet fraud. Dig into it, do not let these creeps get away with it. I am sorry that this happened. I am a Mom too, I know how you feel.
First
You need the emails that were exchanged. The POLICE will have to get a warrant and serve it to the ISP the IP is registered to requesting the name of the individual the IP was assigned to on that date and time. You cannot do anything on your own...you can find out what ISP the IP belongs to by going here and typing in the IP http://www.arin.net/whois/
To get the IP you need to look at the headers of the email and look at the received from lines...some of those lines can be spoofed, but the IP is in there.
Sorry, that this happen to
Sorry, that this happen to you, it also happened to me I lost 2500.00 last year on Ebay..I learned my leason too will never buy another thing off the internet
Gues4/24
Duh!! If its too good to be true, and you cant talk to the seller, and not even see the vehicle... I mean, Come on.. "Heres your sign"
Even though I do feel sorry
Even though I do feel sorry for the woman who lost her money, there should have been red flags that something was up when she wasn't allowed to see the car before purchase. If it smells fishy, it's probably a scam.