eBay.com - paid for 50 inch Sony Plasma TV - wired $ 2,820 to seller located in the Ukraine - never received TV - never got money back

# 27 for August 26, 2003

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on August 25, 2003:

From:

RE: eBay.com - paid for 50 inch Sony Plasma TV - wired $ 2,820 to seller located in the Ukraine - never received TV - never got money back I purchased a TV on ebay. A 50” SONY Plasma. Based on the great track record of the seller, I preceded with the payment instructions and wired the money to a name and account in the Ukraine. Obviously, that was the last I saw of my $2820. The name and email address of the real email account holder that I thought I was buying from was compromised and a false email address entered into his account.

All my subsequent correspondence with the seller was by email that was redirected to a fictitious email address with the correct name. I came to find out later (a few days) that ebay became aware of the false identity days before I actually wired the money but made no effort to contact me or any of the other purchasers of the same item of the problem that they were aware of.

Had they done this I would have avoided the loss. I think that there should be some responsibility and liability that ebay and similar internet organizations have to their members. What can we do? Email User