A Calgary man is one of 1,000 Canadians who have been scammed on eBay through a tactic known as hijacking, and the RCMP says the online auction service is not co-operating with their criminal investigations.
Shaqir Duraj, a Calgary bakery owner, won an eBay auction for a car in early October. He thought he was dealing with a reputable seller with a 98 per cent customer satisfaction rating.
Duraj, a refugee from Kosovo who started his life in Canada with $75, has purchased costly items from eBay before, including one of the big ovens in his bakery.
But six weeks later, there's no sign of the car or the $20,000 he wired to the alleged seller.
When Duraj complained to eBay, the company wrote him a letter saying someone had temporarily taken over, or hijacked, the seller's page, and that he would have to contact police and the FBI.
About 1,000 Canadians have reported being victims of a similar scam since 2000, said RCMP Cpl. Louis Robertson of the criminal intelligence and analytical unit of the Canadian Anti-Fraud Call Centre.
Robertson said eBay is trying to hide the problem and has not returned any of his phone calls.
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Shaqir Duraj, a Calgary bakery owner, won an eBay auction for a car in early October. He thought he was dealing with a reputable seller with a 98 per cent customer satisfaction rating.
Duraj, a refugee from Kosovo who started his life in Canada with $75, has purchased costly items from eBay before, including one of the big ovens in his bakery.
But six weeks later, there's no sign of the car or the $20,000 he wired to the alleged seller.
When Duraj complained to eBay, the company wrote him a letter saying someone had temporarily taken over, or hijacked, the seller's page, and that he would have to contact police and the FBI.
About 1,000 Canadians have reported being victims of a similar scam since 2000, said RCMP Cpl. Louis Robertson of the criminal intelligence and analytical unit of the Canadian Anti-Fraud Call Centre.
Robertson said eBay is trying to hide the problem and has not returned any of his phone calls.
Full story
How have you been scammed? Tell us how you've been duped or alert us to a scam that you fell for.
More...