I am a VICTIM of fraud by a yahoo email address - What can I do?

Question

I sold or at least I thought I sold my digital camera on Amazon.co.uk. I was contacted by this yahoo email address [e-mail] - and was told to send my camera to an address in Nigeria and that payment had been made to my amazon holding account. As it was my first time selling through Amazon (I was gullable) I thought that this was genuine so I sent off my camera as instructed in a well written and disguised email which I recieved from email the address above. I have since learned that I have been a victim of Fraud and the sale is not genuine. Can something be done with this email address? i.e can Yahoo remove it from their domain and can relevant information be obtained from it to report it to relevant criminal agencies. I am just trying to make life harder for this criminal so that no other genuine people are caught out by this scam. thanks to anyone who can help or advise.

Answer 1

OK, you did a stupid thing. Or rather, let me withdraw the term “stupid” for now, if you want me to do so. Doing something “thick” is something that can happen to anyone of us all. But I still do not understand the purpose of your question, as I don’t understand your suggestion to “remove” and “report” an e-mail address that has probably already been abandoned and replaced by a new one within 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the speed of one’s Internet connection. Forgive me for returning to the term “stupid” but I’m not a native English speaker and I can’t easily find a more appropriate term for both your action and your question.

Answer 2

for starters this needs to be reported to the police. the police can take the necessary steps to getting the information from who the email address is registered to. they can get the ISP address to the computer as well. Yahoo won't release that information to just anybody. But on the flip side since the crime took place probably by someone who lives in Nigeria, chances are that nothing can be done about it unless the state you live in is willing to extradite (charge and go and pick up) from Nigeria. But if that person comes into the U.S. it is possible for them to bhe picked up and there is a chance that you are not the only person that this has happened too. this could be far fetched but the local police where you live could do some invesigating contact the police in nigeria and see what they can dig it and it is possible that the person that done this to you has done it to someone down there and Nigeria could charge them with local charges if they have laws protecting the citizens from this type of fraud.

On another note, the police could tell you that this is a civil matter. Granted there was a criminal act involved, you agreed to send the camera before the payment was recieved and therefore you may have to petition your local court, get a lawyer, and take the person that frauded you to court here in the U.S. but again they are going to have to show up for you to get the money back... wish you luck with this one. hope the info helped.

Answer 3

What you can do is if you itemize your tax deductions at the
end of the year, you may be able to deduct the value of the camera, or at least a portion of it from your taxable income as what is called a "casualty" loss. As far as remedy goes, thats about it. As far as a law enforcement complaint goes, about the only agency I know that has international jurisdiction is Interpol.
The ISP should have contact information for whoever had that web address, but thats probably going to be a dead end, since crooks like these usually do a good job covering their tracks. My advice to you, and believe me, I know how angry and hurt you must be because I was the victim of a similar scam about 6 months ago, is to chalk it up to experience, and move on.

Answer 4

1. goto your local police and get a report on the stolen item.
2. in your tax form, write-off the stolen item.
3. file a claim or lawsuit against Amazon on not properly verifying
clientel email address and no proper procedure for users to
confirm identity.
4. contact yahoo help and fax a copy of the police report to them.
5. contact all major auction/selling& buying sites's about the
yahoo email with a copy of your police report.
6. if you have the the digital camera's serial number, make,
and manufacturer, contact the manufacturer and claim
it was stolen and ensure it's in thier database and to report
it to the police as to whoever submits a repair request.
7. next time, demand money order or cashier's check, and wait
until it clears the bank.
8. in amazon, give a bad rating on the yahoo email address.

Answer 5

Having work experience in Nigeria I could have seen it coming. I am afraid there are too many scammers there spoiling it for the few. I am afraid I would not deal with Africa without the money up front.

Answer 6

Can't advise you on this one but, as my old dad used to say .... "Selling anything is like holding a piece of string...you should have hold of one end or the other ..preferably both".

In this instance should have held the camera or the money..preferably both. Having let go of both ends as it were, you are in trouble.

Answer 7

by no ability demonstrate any very own counsel or perhaps bless a number of those emails with a respond. in the event that they desire to furnish you cash (Winnings), quicker or later they're going to desire a financial company account # to pass the winnings to OR they could be Phishing for valid digital mail adresses so in replying you would be validating your digital mail for them which might upload your digital mail handle to their database subsequently increasing the quantity of unsolicited mail you get. merely report it as unsolicited mail and pass on...

Answer 8

Look for help on Yahoo! Answers.

Seriously, you sent your camera to Nigeria? Hell to the no.

Answer 9

Do a web search for `419`. Don`t be so naive in future.

Answer 10

Go to yahoo-help and find out how to do just that.
Always beware of the Nigerians.