Fighting back…

I want to fight back. I was bidding on a Lowrey Organ on a popular online auction and was outbid, but through My Messages on their website I received a 2nd chance offer with official looking email that said the seller would accept my highest bid of $1,034.00 since the highest bidder could not complete the transaction. I was e mailed instructions what to do to complete my purchase. I was so excited since I have been taking organ lessons and wanted to upgrade to a model with more bells and whistles. My husband had purchased a beginner model for me, but I have such a passion for the organ and music I want more functions on my organ. I did not think to investigate. The organ was located in Louisville. KY, but the person I was dealing with said it belonged to his mother-in-law and she did not have an auction account. He instructed me to wire the money to the United Kingdom which I did not question. I rushed out and pulled the cash out of our savings and went to an agent and wired the money. Still, I was confident that I was dealing with this person through the popular auction site, since the emails I received said they were coming from them. The person I was dealing with sent me several e mails and said he would send me shipping information. He did not and I e mailed him and his response that the item was shipped and it will arrive to me on Monday. When I emailed him back and asked him for tracking number he said he sent the unit through his post office. That threw up a red flag because the post office is not going to ship a 353 pound organ. I contacted the auction site and they said they had no record of this offer.

It truly was an offer "too good to be true" but I have heard of people getting good deals off that site. I am new to that popular auction and this was my first transaction, but I guess these scam artists preyed upon that fact, since my site profile shows that I am new and have made no purchases. The auction website says to forward e mails to them and then to delete them; I guess they don't want me to have the proof of what happened to me, but I am fighting back and have filed complaints. I know I will not recover my money, but maybe I can keep one person from making the same mistake, I have helped someone. We NEED TO GET THE WORD OUT. I found out that all the emails I received were a product of copy and paste functions, but I would think that that popular auction site would pursue these people for fraudulent use of their logos. I am sure they could not care less as long as they are getting richer.

June, PA