Anybody in San Jose want to kick a dirtbag's ass for me?
 

Some dirtbag in San Jose has bought a bunch of iPhone 6's and Xboxes and PlayStation 4's on eBay with my account. They changed the shipping address to theirs but left my name and phone number on the shipping info. They weren't able to use my PayPal because the password is different but the stolen PayPal accounts of others were used. I got a call from a woman who had her bank account cleaned out who thought I was the bad guy. That was fun.

I spent an hour talking to an Indian woman at eBay security who told me I needed to contact the sellers myself!?!? I did it as a courtesy to the sellers but I thought that was pretty freaking ridiculous.

I talked to PayPal to verify my account had not been accessed. The PayPal ladies said that I was in the minority in having a different password for my paypal account and that lots of people had their accounts compromised that way.

I talked to a woman at the San Jose police department and told her thousands of dollars of stolen property was being delivered there today, tomorrow, and the next day. She said due to budget cuts they no longer had a fraud department and that all of their officers were now out on patrol. But she was nice enough to transfer me to a voicemail box to leave information about this case. She told me that I should contact my local police department here in Florida and tell them about it because they might care more. Never mind the fact that none of this fraud and none of the stolen goods or the bad guys are in Florida.

So do any of you vigilantes in California have an interest in paying a scumbag a visit? The address is a unit in a commercial strip mall on a busy street corner. Maybe you will end up with a Xbox or an iPhone 6 out of the deal, hahaha.

why not call the shippers??

I know a few fine gentlemen that would do this for a fee. Not sure if the fee is worth it for you though.

You'd have to have a name and/or picture of the person though.

I sincerely hope you know what you're getting into though lol.

I contacted the sellers and told them to recall their packages if at all possible. I went to the tracking numbers I was given in each of the cases but it would not allow me as the "buyer" to change the destinations or send them back.

I went to the local police department where I live and filed a report with all of the details I had. Nothing will likely come of it, but if anyone comes looking for me thinking I'm a baddie then I'll at least have something else on my side.

The lady from eBay called me back just a bit ago and said that the sellers had all been officially notified.

I find it vaguely amusing that nobody really seems to care, but you...

Not in a "I'm laughing at SixShooter" kind of way, but a "Someone is getting free shit and nobody cares" kind of way.


'MURICA.

I understand why'd you be pissed, but at least it was not charged to you.

I am with you on this one. So the scammer learns that you just need to reside in a big city where they don't have time to track you down. Then you can steal and order all the free crap you want.

It's too bad. However, I am glad this post wasn't about your Miata getting taken or something of that manor.

Post the address.

/poker face

Did you try the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department?

I did not. But I will. Thank you for the suggestion.

And while nothing was actually stolen from me, something was stolen from someone by a scumbag who should have to answer for it. "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke

I am somewhat surprised at the lack of interest by the local PD. I thought they genuinely liked catching bad guys on occasion.

Nah, they don't.

They like harrassing people for front license plates and window tint and setting up random street side smog check stations and other idiotic things like that.

Catching bad guys is too much work

Attachment 124259

Maybe a call to the nearest FBI office? As it's a federal crime they may be more interested. Making the 'big score' kind of thing.

Edit: San Jose

1919 S. Bascom Avenue
Suite 400
Campbell, CA 95008
(408) 369-8900

Counties: Monterey, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and San Benito

110%.

Someone has to be down to scope this place.

so tempting. :rofl:

Too far away... else I would.

Good luck with the outcome!

Call the seller and have them give you the ID's or serials of each unit they sold... then call Apple and tell them. Apple should be able to put a service denial on each unit so that the first time they try and access a network, they're deactivated. At least I think I remember them being able to do that. Turns them into paperweights. Joe Perez will probabaly know about 100 different ways around that shit though.

Not that it would be help, but it would rank high on harassment factor- The media (local tv station) might be interested if you had solid details. They love internet fraud stories.

CrimeReports Map

that's bordering on an unsavory crime area. whoever is going to bust balls is probably going to not want to assume the extra risk.

The remaining officers are busy running speed traps, shooting dogs and electric drill wielding women, and beating up people who resist arrest by turtling up.

:laugh:

I did a Judo tournament in San Jose once... bunch of scrubs.

WHERE HE AT YO!?!? WHAT YOU WANT? BROKEN ARM/S? CHOKED OUT?!? BOTH?? YOU NAME IT BRO!!!! (just get me a plane ticket back out there)

Damn, looks like a total fiasco. Here's to unplanned medical issues to deserving individuals.

I don't understand why cities don't hire private investigation firms to do the menial shit, instead of relying on a monopoly run by government union members.

Local PD detective here in Florida advised me to contact the FBI and file a report yesterday, which I did. Still haven't heard shit from San Jose PD.

As the trail starts to grow colder...

Your tax dollars at work... :jerkit:

"I don't understand why cities don't hire private investigation firms to do the menial shit, instead of relying on a monopoly run by government union members."

-Every libertarian ever.

Agreed, btw.

Good thing they served up the yada yada above after you submitted the complaint. I wonder which committee wrote that? :jerkit:

OH... and make sure you keep those supporting documents in a safe place.

Ooohh! I got an email! It looks like the FBI is all over this!

they gon break into the thiefs house, disrespect his famiry...

....all because you narkd on them

I'm sure there's no private conflict of interest like there's no political conflict of interest.

Hey imagine if a private security company you hired for say, your mall reacted the way SJPD did, you wouldn't accept that. If multiple private investigation agencies competed for business they would do a damn better job than the SJPD.

Imagine if you gave private businesses a pass the way people do gov't agencies: You ask the mama-san for a slender blonde girl, and they send up a hairy leather clad bear, and you say "it's OK, I have no choice, it's a gov't program".

And why do statists say "monopolies bad" but any gov't agency, which is a monopoly, is OK?

Hire these guys from Russia. They can do it for you.


KMag

I hear they upgraded to teletubby costumes now

"YOU SCAMMED THE WRONG TELETUBBY, FOO"

Humm... I was going to be in San Jose this weekend.

Unfortunately, this chain of events is all too common and criminals know it. Our local law enforcement folks are so unequipped to deal with any kind of fraud that involves a computer, so they just ignore it and pretend like it never happened. Paypal will get money back to the people whom it was stolen from, the vendors already got paid, your account gets reset and the oxygen thieves get some free iPhones and XBones. As it was said before, local PD don't give 2 shits. FBI or Sheriffs Dept on the receiving end is probably your best bet.

This. Microsoft, Sony and Apple all have mechanisms in place to blacklist devices from their services. Unfortunately you have to convince the seller to start this process because technically its the sellers merchandise that was stolen and you have no control as a 3rd party. They already got paid for their junk and paperwork just costs them time and money, so don't expect them to move quickly on this.

Does it matter if the iPhonie 6 Plus is jailbroken, because at least one of the descriptions I bothered to read said it was.

What is so sad is that we, as a people, have relinquished our rights to many forms of online privacy in the name of allowing the Feds to hunt down criminals and yet they don't really expend any effort doing that.

A colleague of my wife has been traveling extensively in the past few weeks for business. He was detained by the TSA at the beginning of this week because he was flagged for extensive recent air travel. He was brought to a room and interviewed. They asked him about the purpose of recent travels. They asked him which hotels he used in each place and what credit card he used. Without asking him to disclose his credit card number, consent to a search, or obtaining a warrant they were able to pull up his card numbers and complete purchase history to determine he did, in fact, stay where he had claimed on every occasion.

I'll spare you the eulogy for the 4th Amendment and just say that if they are going to have that much private personal information at their fingertips, at least expend the energy to catch a couple of bag guys every once in a while instead of meddling with frequent flyer business executives.

I take it you never heard anything else about it?

Since no LEO's wanted to do their job. You should have bought a plane ticket, rented a car, drove to the address, and waited for the UPS guy. When he arrives it'd be easy enough to jump out and say, "Yeah, I'm Steve, I can sign for the deliveries, thanks." And then bring your free stuff back home.

That would be the one time the FBII guys would show up.


Besides, it would really look like I actually set the whole thing up to defraud people which is no bueno.

Lol, yeah I guess that would be tough to explain if anyone did show up.

I find myself in an ironic position in that I am now currently about 20 minutes from the location in San Jose and with access to various and sundry handheld ballistic lead expulsion devices.

However I am not in a position to help out because I am not a vigilante and have other priorities here--as you may have seen in the pictures thread.

Incidentally, I handed over some privacy to TSA and gave them money so I could be part of their known traveler program. Because my time is often more valuable than my privacy, I decided this was a fair exchange. This week in particular it was quite relieving to spend less than 5 minutes from the time I walked in the airport doors to the time I was standing at my gate.

If I was a terrorist, or had something to hide, this would be the only way I'd travel as well.

Wouldn't it be far easier to mail an auto-destructive package to the address? Less personal risk involved I would think.

Personal risk is key to getting 72 virgins.

Which would be great unless it gets there on the day the douchebag's daughter gets the mail.

Well, something less felonious like asking each of you to take a dump in a box and mail it to him could be fulfilling in its own special way. Return addresses with names like "Electronics Depot" or "Order Fulfillment Center" could be a nice touch.

It seems to me that the douchebag's daughter getting the package could have much farther reaching implications than if the douchebag himself got the package. There's much more emotion tied to the idea that a thief could cause a loved one harm. If it's just him that gets it, it will be simple vengeance. If it's his daughter, then mail frauds nationwide might be somewhat deterred:

ABC News at 6
Reporter: A little girl suffered severe trauma and is in critical condition tonight because she opened a mail bomb addressed to her father. ABC was able to get this *exclusive* interview from her mother tonight.

Mother (in "hell hath no fury" mode): I told Jerry to quit buying iPhones with other peoples credit cards - he's been stealing that stuff for years, and I told him it was going to come back and haunt him! Not look, my daughter's in the hospital, and the police have taken his ass to jail!

Reporter:Officers say a suspicious package with no return address was delivered to this front door, the same front door that had been receiving packages daily for at least two weeks. When officers entered the house, they found boxes stacked to the ceiling with new iPhones, XBoxes, and Playstations. High ticket items that could fetch cash premiums. The husband, Jerry, is now facing charges of fraud and identity theft. The origin of the suspicious package is still under investigation.

I do not condone violence of any kind except that which is reasonable to protect or defend life. I also do not condone vigilante-ism. Pro-tip: after you call the FBI with the address, call San Jose's ABC affiliate.


This is genious - make sure to put it in a sealed bag, and glue the outside of the bag to the inside of the box so that when the box is opened, the bag is also ripped open.

Alternatively, if you don't feel like pooping in a box, dump a protein shake or two in the sealed bag. Wait 2-3 days before sending it. Once it arrives at the perps address, it will be the foulest smelling thing this side of a medium sized seemingly isolated villiage in Liberia.

Put your empty iPhone 6 box inside the big sealed bag too, filled with a few rocks for weight, and sealed in it's own plastic bag, that way if the bag doesn't open when he opens the box, he still has to get through the deathly smell to get to your empty box.

Oo, I like this! Fooger gets it :bigtu:


:bowrofl:

Put in a little note that says, Welcome to Ebola!

That will get his head spinning.

I am willing donate feces to this project.

I hope they are actually at the address where these packages are being delivered, rather than stealing the mail as it shows up.