I fell victim to a scam

Sorry to hear of your misfortune ... I really like this site for the Non-ebay atmosphere. I hope the bas##$ds are caught and prosecuted.

Looks to me like you might call Visa and explain that you made payment and never received your goods. In a way ... your Visa account was jeopardized. There are some card issuers that go above and beyond this "Zero Liability" to cover ALL on-line purchases. If you do get ripped ... check around and find a card issuer that will cover ALL on-line transactions and setup an account that you can tie to Paypal. Maybe your card issuing bank has this kind of protection already.

I checked VISA's policy on-line and picked this out ...

=======================================================

Zero Liability has you covered

* Worry-free shopping
* Ultimate security
* Complete fraud protection

Owe nothing on fraudulent transactions

Visa’s Zero Liability policy means 100 percent protection for you. Visa’s enhanced policy guarantees maximum protection against fraud. You now have complete liability protection for all of your card transactions that take place on the Visa system. Should someone steal your card number while you’re shopping, online or off, you pay nothing for their fraudulent activity.

If you notice fraudulent activity on your card, promptly contact your financial institution to report it. It is important to continually monitor your monthly statement to identify any unauthorized transactions.**

Visa’s Zero Liability policy took effect April 4, 2000, and is a great improvement on the previous policy. The former policy required that you report fraudulent activity within two business days of discovery. After this two-day period, you could be held responsible for up to $50 of the unauthorized charges. With the new Zero Liability policy, you’re no longer required to report fraudulent activity within two days and you’re not responsible for any fraudulent transactions made over the Visa network.

The Zero Liability policy covers all Visa credit and debit card transactions processed over the Visa network—online or off. The only transactions not covered under the Zero Liability policy are commercial card, ATM, and non-Visa-branded PIN transactions.

For transactions on other networks, the liability decision is left to the financial institution that issued your card. The issuer has the option of extending the same protections afforded by Visa's Zero Liability policy.

Good luck man,

I dont know if you guys have ever read Slashdot but they posted a thread where an Ebay theif tried to ripoff a PC geek (I use that term because I am one) with an elaborate scam the geek saw right through it and posted to Slahdot.

The crook had setup a fake escrow service so he could receive the goods and never make payment. The geek was selling an Apple Powerbook. In the next week he had literally thousands of geeks all over the world helping him out. He sent the guy a modified box ... then he had hackers with cameras acrross the street in England where the package was delivered ready to shoot pictures of the guy getting his $300 empty box filled with rocks or something - I cant remember.

He really screwed the guy - by claiming the boxes value at $2500 and he had to pay customes to get it ... everyday we watched for more posts. It was so great - never did get a picture of the guy and the address the box was delivered to was an Internet cafe.

I will try to find it ... I think we all could use a laugh.

Mike