Looking for opinions

[Fredrik]

The from field in emails are just like the "from:" on the backside of an envelope, you can put anything there. You need to look at the email headers to check where the emails actually originated. I would guess that it is actually the seller that has been compromised.

[watchintime]

Thank you all for the advice and insight. Spoke with the seller a few times today. He and his bank are looking into this as fraud. He asked me to send a notarized letter stating I never recieved the wire transfer and that I don’t have a bank account with Wells Fargo which I happily did. We both believe it is a fraud case but not sure how the hacker was able to make it look like me and me to never receive the emails in my account.

[Valle de Joux]

Originally Posted by watchintime

I had an odd experience today and was just looking to get some thoughts on what I should do. I sold a few watches to a trusted seller and received a check in the mail to help fund a larger purchase. I have used this seller multiple times in the past and have done transactions like this where I have received a check in the past as well. Today he calls and says I had emailed him to wire money to my account and that I would shred the check and was upset that I cashed the check. I tell him that I never sent those emails and no money was wired to any account I own. He tries sending me a copy of the email thread to me, I can see that there appears to be a correspondence but not what was said. All I can see is a header to the message and the sellers signature but none of what is typed. It is my email address in the header but I never sent them nor can I see the messages in the sent mail folder in my account.
I guess I am just looking to see if I should get an attorney or police involved or wait for the trusted seller to do something.

Thank you for reading all of this and I appreciate all your insights

NEVER accept a check in the future for any watch dealings?

[77T]

An odd case that I can’t recall seeing before on TRF.

If the trusted TRF dealer’s email account was hacked, how would the hacker come up with an account number at Wells Fargo that also matched the OPs name? I get how easy it is to set up an account to have funds routed into. But you still have to match the OPs name or the ruse falls apart. That’s a lot of work in a short period of time if all the hacker had was access to the dealer’s email account.

[tbonesteak]

Originally Posted by 77T

An odd case that I can’t recall seeing before on TRF.

If the trusted TRF dealer’s email account was hacked, how would the hacker come up with an account number at Wells Fargo that also matched the OPs name? I get how easy it is to set up an account to have funds routed into. But you still have to match the OPs name or the ruse falls apart. That’s a lot of work in a short period of time if all the hacker had was access to the dealer’s email account.

Good post, I asked this earlier.

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by Valle de Joux

NEVER accept a check in the future for any watch dealings?

the check appears to be the only thing about this whole situation that worked as planned. OP sold the watch and cashed the check

[jimcarver]

Originally Posted by Valle de Joux

NEVER accept a check in the future for any watch dealings?

Why? Had the OP not been paid by cheque it is unlikely the Trusted seller would agree to make a second bank transfer until the matter was resolved. The OP worse off, at least he has the funds cleared.

[77T]

Originally Posted by tbonesteak

Good post, I asked this earlier.

Sorry I missed seeing your post, I would’ve agreed with it. My TapaTalk had been acting up on the iPhone yesterday.


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[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by 77T

An odd case that I can’t recall seeing before on TRF.

If the trusted TRF dealer’s email account was hacked, how would the hacker come up with an account number at Wells Fargo that also matched the OPs name? I get how easy it is to set up an account to have funds routed into. But you still have to match the OPs name or the ruse falls apart. That’s a lot of work in a short period of time if all the hacker had was access to the dealer’s email account.

Originally Posted by tbonesteak

Good post, I asked this earlier.

You’re assuming the name on the WF account was the same as the OP. If it were a business name on the account it would be hard for the buyer to know it was a ruse.

[77T]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

You’re assuming the name on the WF account was the same as the OP. If it were a business name on the account it would be hard for the buyer to know it was a ruse.

But the name, business or personal, would still need to match that which was written on the check, don’t you think?

Otherwise dealer would know it was a ruse.


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[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by 77T

But the name, business or personal, would still need to match that which was written on the check, don’t you think?

Otherwise dealer would know it was a ruse.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I don’t know about that Paul. I wired money to a TS account that didn’t sound like his name. But, I initiated the transaction through his site and was confident I was dealing with the guy. I trusted him and all worked out fine.

In this case, the buyer thought he was working with a trusted client. Why would he question an account name?

Otherwise, I agree that it would be pretty fishy for the OPs name to be on a scammers WF account.

[77T]

Remember that the OP was selling to the dealer. And they had previous transactions that went smoothly. If the name(s) didn’t match even those prior deals, it should have been a red flag for the dealer.

After all, the dealer had already mailed a check. I have sold here and elsewhere - under these circumstance, I would have waited before wiring duplicate funds to the OP since “the check was in the mail already”.

Anything is possible though - this is still odd to me


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[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by 77T

Remember that the OP was selling to the dealer. And they had previous transactions that went smoothly. If the name(s) didn’t match even those prior deals, it should have been a red flag for the dealer.

After all, the dealer had already mailed a check. I have sold here and elsewhere - under these circumstance, I would have waited before wiring duplicate funds to the OP since “the check was in the mail already”.

Anything is possible though - this is still odd to me


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Agree. I would have called and asked for the check back before I wired money. A change in routine practice is a red flag. Resolving that would have been enough of a priority for me to pick up the phone.

[77T]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

Agree. I would have called and asked for the check back before I wired money. A change in routine practice is a red flag. Resolving that would have been enough of a priority for me to pick up the phone.

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