Any Houston US Post Office employees on here? Or know someone that is? Help with a fraud situation!

[snichols28]

Looking for any help! The situation...

I'm in Colorado. I have a ton of family in Texas but not near Houston. Someone in Houston purchased two pairs of these shoes from me on eBay - $310 each so $620 total. Brand new, in the box!

The purchaser, "Lane Corrington", receives both of the shoes I sent him to the address that was "verified" through PayPal. He then opens a case with eBay stating the shoes he received are not the shoes he paid for. He uploads this picture to eBay stating these are the shoes he received from me. I immediately called eBay to tell them he is 100% trying to fraud me! They agreed with that and agreed that the pictures he provided are definitely different shoes. They say they need the purchaser to send "the shoes" back to me and to then call them when I receive the return.

eBay then instructs him to return "the shoes" to me. A few days later I receive these shoes from the person.... not even the same as he posted to the eBay claim he started!

I immediately uploaded this new picture to eBay and then immediately called them again. They again agreed that these are even different than the purchaser's original claim. They said they need to reach out to the purchaser for an explanation and they will give him 48 hours to respond and if he doesn't respond they will close the case and not reimburse him for the purchase because he's committing a "fraudulent return" (in their words)

In the mean time I am sending messages to the buyer on eBay (so eBay can see that I'm trying to communicate with him and he's not responding to me) and emails to his Gmail. ...of course no response to any of them!

I call eBay today to tell them it has been 48 hours and I need to know if he responded to them. They say no, he hasn't responded, and that they need to close the case and refund the $620 to the buyer. Seriously!?

So, here I am, a 15 year user of eBay, 2500+ feedbacks, with 100% feedback rating and a "purchaser" that just joined eBay 13 days ago that has obviously pulled a scam, and they are just taking the $620 from me and giving it back to the purchaser... seriously?!

So, I'm wondering if anyone on here works at this Houston Post Office that I originally shipped the items to. ...or, if you know anyone at the Post Office you can put me in contact with? (This is the address that the items were delivered to which looks to be the actual Post Office) Weird thing is, I previously have shipped stuff to an actual Post Office address but it's always addressed to someone and an associated PO Box. This shipment had no PO Box, just the name of this "individual" and the Post Office address. I don't understand how this person would have picked the package up! ...and if so, are there cameras? is it an employee? It's driving me nuts!

I shipped package to:
Lane Corrington
701 San Jacinto Street Suite #149
Houston, TX 77002

I have a police report from my local agency, they are going to send the report to Houston PD. I'm hoping someone from Houston PD calls me tomorrow but who knows if they will even have someone go to the Post Office.

Can anyone help?! I'll make sure it's worth your time. We have good amazing beer over here in Colorado and I wouldn't mind one bit sharing some with you

If anyone can help over there please let me know. I'll be so grateful!

Steve
nichols.steve@gmail.com
970-443-1651

 

[GeorgeS]

This is why you a) open a small account to link to PayPal, and b) remove PayPal proceeds immediately upon receipt.

eBay is prowled constantly by scammers and thieves.

 

[Southpaw]

Can't find a LANE CORRINGTON as having a TX DL or registered vehicle, but that doesn't mean it's not licensed or from another state. Nothing else in anywhere else I looked. However, the address is a post office. Maybe call the local number in the link below and ask for LANE and see what they say. Maybe he works there or maybe it's a fake name of someone there. Sorry that isn't much help.



https://tools.usps.com/go/POLocatorDetailsAction!input.action?locationTypeQ=all&address=77002&radius=20&locationType=po&locationID=1380564&locationName=SAM+HOUSTON&address2=&address1=701+SAN+JACINTO+ST+STE+149&city=HOUSTON&state=TX&zip5=77002&zip4=3629&tollFree=800-ASK-USPS® (800-275-8777)&fax=&tAddress=&tAddress1Ams=&tAddress2Ams=&tCityAms=&tStateAms=&tZipAms=&tCarrierRouteAms=&latitude=29.7575&longitude=-95.3612529&sWithin=20&&&&&&&&&

 

[EZ-E]

I work with a lady who's husband & uncle work for the post office in the Houston area... not the one San Jacinto St. though. I told her about your situation, she is going to talk to her husband & see about a # to the fraud investigators for USPS. Once i get that info i will post back up.

 

[baboon]

Gmail accounts tend to be a warning of a scam IMHO!

 

[EZ-E]

Gmail accounts tend to be a warning of a scam IMHO!

i have a gmail account

Funny thing about emails... i deal with customers on a daily basis that still have AOL accounts.

 

[baboon]

i have a gmail account

Funny thing about emails... i deal with customers on a daily basis that still have AOL accounts.

On most of the NFA scams I have ever seen Gmail is a common thing. Got a buddy who still uses AOL e-mail account said he hasn't paid AOL in years.

 

[MTA]

Imagine spending $300+ on shoes

 

[baboon]

Imagine spending $300+ on shoes

Especially ones made in china!

 

[Mowingmaniac 24/7]

avoid e.b.

I've never had anything to do with them and never will.

They're not a gamble I'm willing to risk.

 

[pronstar]

This isn’t the first I’ve seen of eBay, and PayPal, siding with scamming buyers.

The seller takes too much risk, so I rarely use either.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[MTA]

You need to call ebay back and raise hell

 

[SQLGeek]

Gmail accounts tend to be a warning of a scam IMHO!

Lol. That's all I use. I change ISPs too often to use an ISP account and I am too lazy to setup my own domain. AOL accounts are just another web based mail like gmail these days.

This isn’t the first I’ve seen of eBay, and PayPal, siding with scamming buyers.

Same. eBay and PayPal, in general, are not your friends.


OP, I'm sorry this happened. I hope you get it worked out through a mail fraud investigation.

I would start here:

https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/contactUs/filecomplaint.aspx

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Sorry I can't help.
Some people are a$$holes.
Hope he gets what is coming to him.

Welcome to the Forum !

 

[karlac]

Lol. That's all I use.

Yep, me too ... and gmail allows both Pop and IMAP setup.

Ran a dedicated email server for years back in the mid 90's - 2005, until security got to be just too much of a hassle for a smaller company.

email, the Achilles heel of security when it comes access/logins ... hack your email account I'm more than half way to having the keys to most folk's internet kingdom.

Using services like gmail and yahoo, you effectively have the ability to have much more security/hack protection, and triple that if you use 2FA for access to the account.

You just need to know how, take the time to learn ...

 

[snichols28]

This is why you a) open a small account to link to PayPal, and b) remove PayPal proceeds immediately upon receipt.

eBay is prowled constantly by scammers and thieves.

That would be a good option if I was interested in only selling one or a couple of items. If an instance like this came up, I closed my stuff, and disappeared, eBay for sure would shut my account down and prevent me from further selling.

I can definitely see that I will no longer sell more "expensive" items on eBay as I'd assume that's what scammers are usually targeting. The 4800+ other items I have sold on eBay have usually been $55 or less, probably a lot less of a target to scams. Fortunately this is the only time this has happened to me. I am lucky for sure!

 

[snichols28]

I work with a lady who's husband & uncle work for the post office in the Houston area... not the one San Jacinto St. though. I told her about your situation, she is going to talk to her husband & see about a # to the fraud investigators for USPS. Once i get that info i will post back up.

You're great. Thank you for the time! I did make an online report to the USPS Fraud department but I'm sure they get hundreds, if not thousands, of reports per week. My chances are slim, I understand

 

[lightflyer1]

As an experienced EBay seller I am surprised you sold high value items to a newbie without doing some investigating first. Checking the address would have sent red flags up.

I had a buyer do this to me with PayPal once and it was a royal hassle but I eventually won. Good luck!

 

[Sam7sf]

Imagine spending $300+ on shoes

This. Lol yeah it sucks op got ripped, but wtf? Seriously what in the f?

 

[Wiliamr]

You can try the Postal Inpsection Service...

Home > Contact Us > Phone Us


Phone Us at 1-877-876-2455

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service likes to keep its customers satisfied, and a new call center helps them do that.

Customers and USPS employees nationwide now can dial one toll-free number, rather than looking up individual phone numbers, for the Postal Inspection Service’s many locations.

Callers can reach the appropriate Postal Inspection Service office by dialing 1-877-876-2455 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in all time zones, and selecting from these options:

1. Mail service issues [callers are then directed to 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777)]
2. Emergency situations (24/7 assistance)
3. Mail theft or identity theft issues, call 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777)
4. Mail fraud issues
5. Postal Inspection Service customer support

Option No. 2, Emergency situations, is automatically routed to a special operator for assistance if a call is made after business hours.