Anyone else been scammed MOCs by this Etsy seller? (Poemsandnotes)

[bluerose9978]

It would be a federal case. If she's in the U.S., she'd be prosecuted here but her local police would begin the handling.

[Aadra310]

She's out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  Yes, I looked at her etsy shop hours before it disappeared and she had about 40 sales.  Ponies, purses, a few vintage cabbage patch, and glassware were the bulk of her listings.  So, yes, daffodil101, I'd say $2000 is a fair estimate plus probably another $500-1000 for shipping. 

Her shop said she and her husband had purchased stuff from an estate sale and were selling it on etsy.  It sounded completely plausible as I have bought from and heard about several other such stories through the last two decades of collecting.  I also joined etsy when it hit me that I had a TON of vintage stuff from my childhood I could sell so I don't immediately think new shops/sellers are fishy.  As many of us know, when you find a good deal, you better jump on it or it will be gone so checking feedback isn't always an option.  Looks like some of us will be paying the price for being early birds this go-around.

[Ponyfan]

I am so sorry for everyone that got scammed by this person. I think I saw a MOC pony on her shop page and was even going to sign up for an Esty account but it showed it was out of stock by the time I found it.  I hope everyone gets their money back.


Ponyfan

[shelvesofwhimsy]

Oh my god she got me too. I'm so glad I saw this thread

Edit: Have filed etsy dispute, paypal claim.
This is terrible. I had a bad feeling about this but wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Edit: Escalated Paypal. Thank goodness most of the purchase was on my CC, so I know they'll step in if all else fails.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I feel like I may have dealt with her; I may have sold to her in-person, OR she kept trying to low-ball my prices... I can't recall which right now, I'll go find out...

*sigh* Yes I have sold loose ponies to her...  Ah well.  At least I have her real name and cell phone number

Time to update the Bad Trader List!

[lovebeam]

Could she have been on the Arena? This situation sounds really familiar. I wonder if she was a back in the day scammer too.

[FantasticFirefly]

I feel like I may have dealt with her; I may have sold to her in-person, OR she kept trying to low-ball my prices... I can't recall which right now, I'll go find out...

*sigh* Yes I have sold loose ponies to her...  Ah well.  At least I have her real name and cell phone number

Time to update the Bad Trader List!

Are you positive it's the same woman? I'd imagine if it was it wouldn't be difficult for those to have enough information to file reports with the Calgary police. I do not see why an American cannot file a report against a Canadian committing fraud against them. (Those recently scammed- ask them on FB how to file a report. They do have a FB account). Theft under $5000 is subject to up to 2 years in prison. In the least she'd have issues having a record trying to get a job or rent a house etc.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I feel like I may have dealt with her; I may have sold to her in-person, OR she kept trying to low-ball my prices... I can't recall which right now, I'll go find out...

*sigh* Yes I have sold loose ponies to her...  Ah well.  At least I have her real name and cell phone number

Time to update the Bad Trader List!

Are you positive it's the same woman? I'd imagine if it was it wouldn't be difficult for those to have enough information to file reports with the Calgary police. I do not see why an American cannot file a report against a Canadian committing fraud against them. (Those recently scammed- ask them on FB how to file a report. They do have a FB account). Theft under $5000 is subject to up to 2 years in prison. In the least she'd have issues having a record trying to get a job or rent a house etc.

Not enough to be 100% positive but how many "Christine G"'s who are into G1 MLP can there be in Calgary?  Not that many... 

[daffodil101]

I left a message on the Calgary Police's facebook page asking how to file a report.  They don't take tips or reports over social media so hopefully I'll hear back from them!  LBSquirmy, your info would probably be quite useful if they do decide to look into the case. 

I contacted my bank and they had to cancel and re-issue my card as part of the investigation process, which is a pain.  They said it would take 6-8 weeks to get a resolution so hopefully they'll be able to recover the money but no guarantees.  Hope everyone else's claims are successful! 

[mskittylovesrobin]

I left a message on the Calgary Police's facebook page asking how to file a report.  They don't take tips or reports over social media so hopefully I'll hear back from them!  LBSquirmy, your info would probably be quite useful if they do decide to look into the case. 

I contacted my bank and they had to cancel and re-issue my card as part of the investigation process, which is a pain.  They said it would take 6-8 weeks to get a resolution so hopefully they'll be able to recover the money but no guarantees.  Hope everyone else's claims are successful!

Well done on looking into filing the report etc. Good luck to you and everyone xxx

[FantasticFirefly]

The number the Calgary Police provided to report a case of fraud is: 403-266-1234
Hopefully they consider it fraud taking place in Calgary since that's where our scammer orchestrated it from. If enough of you report they'll likely be able to contact etsy and get enough of her personal details from them to charge.

Not enough to be 100% positive but how many "Christine G"'s who are into G1 MLP can there be in Calgary?  Not that many... 

Christine/Christina is a common enough name (shopkeeper was with an "a"). Calgary is a huge city with more then a million people, so two people having the same common name, surname starting with G with a MLP connection wouldn't be overly unusual.  I'd hate for someone unrelated to get dragged into this. https://www.etsy.com/people/PoemsandNotes

[mskittylovesrobin]

Update from my friend today : PayPal has sent her an email saying they are attempting to contact the seller to ask for details.So let's see what happens I would be surprise if they get a response or she may come up with some story :/

[daffodil101]

Update

I just got in contact with the Calgary police over the phone (it's 12.30am here and 8.30 am there.) 

They said that to file a case with them, each person scammed needs to file a report individually with their own local police in their own country.  They can't do one big investigation on behalf of multiple parties.  The police in our countries will then communicate with the Calgary PD on each of our behalf.  This sounds fair enough, as we will probably need stuff like ID and to fill out forms, have print-outs of information etc which would be difficult to verify over the phone.

I'll try and go to my local police when I get a chance this week.  Anyone else scammed, it would probably be good to do the same if you want to go down that path.  I know that some of us had quite significant amounts stolen.  I do feel that as she stole so much money, it would be good to at least have law enforcement make contact with her, even if we don't get our money back, just so she knows it's not okay and will think twice about doing it again!!

The tricky thing I suppose is that we don't have her details to give police.  I guess my bank will have her account number, but we don't know her real name, phone and address.  Presumably the police would need that information?  I don't know what the process would be for getting those details. 

LovesBabySquirmy, I don't know if it would be right to ask you for the details you have??  I know we're not 100% sure it's the same person, but if it matched details that Etsy or Paypal might have it at least show we're on the right track.  I assume that Etsy would have the seller's details on their records, though I don't know if they would disclose them.  The problem would be getting all these different investigations to line up.  So far there's Etsy, Paypal, our banks, our local police and the Calgary police.  At best there will be a lot of running around, updating each investigation with details from the others.

[shelvesofwhimsy]

Well etsy closed my case because I also filed a paypal dispute case I guess?
What the heck

"

Matthew  July 26, 2016

it appears that you've filed a chargeback against this seller with your credit card company since you filed this case on Etsy.

 A chargeback is when funds are returned to a credit card owner after they report an incorrect or unwanted transaction on their credit card to the credit card company.

 Buyers may only use one method of dispute resolution against a seller on Etsy. Therefore, this case is now closed and will not be reopened.

 We've transferred this dispute to our Chargeback team for review. If we need any additional information, we'll get in touch with you via email.
"

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Trouble is, I looked through my emails with her, and they're all through the anonymous Kijiji system so I don't actually have her real address.    So I don't have much to offer besides troubling another person if they aren't the same one...