• PCF is an Amazon Associate and an eBay Partner. If you make a purchase through one of our links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Scammed by USPS? (4 Viewers)

Taghkanic said:
While it’s great that the buyer has been made whole, like @justsomedude I don’t see how a refund in and of itself really proves or resolves anything. We still don't know what happened — just what was discussed after, and that a refund finally got made.

Yes, the refund could suggest that possibly the seller was totally innocent and someone else emptied and refilled the package with paper.

It could also mean that the seller became sincerely remorseful for having tried to scam a trusted PCFer after seeing the buyer’s reaction.

It could mean that the seller came to realize — after 18 pages of getting blasted by 95% of posters— that he would never have any transactions again in this community if he didn’t at least make the buyer whole.

Someone above suggested that the refund was issued completely unilaterally. That suggestion is kind of belied by the many pages of pressure applied here before the refund.

To me the situation would seem less ambiguous if a refund had been issued immediately, if the buyer had not tried to impugn the seller at first, and if the package had shown any signs of tampering.

Not to mention if it were not so improbable that a random postal worker actually found both boxes of poker chips and considered those worth stealing. And bothered to fill the box with paper rather than making the packages disappear and simply seem lost.

It will be interesting to see what the USPS investigation finds. Unfortunately the most likely answers are “nothing at all” or “nothing conclusive.” So that may leave some PCFers with some lingering doubts, and reluctance to work with the seller—not because it is proven that this was a scam, but because any uncertainty creates problems for future sales.

All around, a bad situation.
Click to expand...
I came here to say this and you saved me a lot of typing and so now I just have to say “Well said, thank you.”
 
Budha said:
F’d up for sure.

Just an FYI, the PO has pics and package weight of every package at every check point as it goes through the scanner.

If that happens to be a direction you need to go…..
Click to expand...
Dealing with the PO is a dead end. The system is games. It’d be better if the sender either messed up and swapped packages or messed up and attempted some sort of ill-hatched scheme.
 
doublebooyah85 said:
@SpaceMonkey and I worked thru a third party. There was doubt on both sides. After he offered a full refund, I only took half. At the beginning of this, I was willing to accept a 50-50 responsibility of the “loss”.

Idk what the hell happened but I know @SpaceMonkey420 offered a FULL refund.

Sure…if the usps investigation goes anywhere that would be great, but I have little faith.
Click to expand...
Without taking position in this case (and don't want to either)...the above shows (again) how you are a great member, buyer & seller.
A real gentleman... have a great weekend Sir.
 
merkong said:
Dealing with the PO is a dead end. The system is games. It’d be better if the sender either messed up and swapped packages or messed up and attempted some sort of ill-hatched scheme.
Click to expand...
I’ve had a different experience w/the PO to be honest - they were actually pretty helpful and they had way more information on the package than most realize.

My point was less about if the sender was legit or not; and more about “if” the sender said it was stolen by a postal worker the PO can tell with a high degree of precision the weight and the condition of the package at every check point in the process. (IE - if the weight and condition of the package is exactly the same at each checkpoint it kinda kills the idea someone at the PO stole the contents ;))
 
joeyshin said:
If you think through this, the possibility of a USPS worker stealing the chips and then filling the box with paper to the exact weight makes zero sense. It makes more sense to steal the contents and throw the box away and chalk it up to a lost package. Why would a worker go through the trouble of filling the box of paper knowing it’s only asking for trouble because you know the receiver is going to question what happened and make an issue about it?

So it was either shipped like that or DB is lying.

I have had more transactions with DB than I care to admit and have never not once had an issue.
Click to expand...

I’ve dealt with a ton of USPS issues because my mom worked for the postal service for 20 years and in the call center. She’s came in the clutch to help many pcf members and myself track down shipments. Majority of thefts are done by temp postal workers and normally open small boxes randomly during sorting, and shove what they can in there pockets. It is HIGHLY unlikely that anyone would open up a box that big and refill it with paper and tape it back up. A route delivery driver might open it and if they like the contents that box gets lost, definitely not delivered. If a box is accidentally opened during transit they’re supposed to retake it with their own tape that’s labeled.

I once had my delivery man, who I’ve known for decades, bring me a box that was tampered with and 1/3 barrels were missing. I got lucky because when I put in a claim post master said that shouldn’t have been delivered, it goes back to sender after they tape it back up. Those 2 barrels had a value of $400 so glad I got them vs going for the standard $100 insurance claim.

My mom would always tell me how stupid I was for not insuring valuables :ROFL: :ROFLMAO: God rest her soul but she’s right.
 
Budha said:
I’ve had a different experience w/the PO to be honest - they were actually pretty helpful and they had way more information on the package than most realize.

My point was less about if the sender was legit or not; and more about “if” the sender said it was stolen by a postal worker the PO can tell with a high degree of precision the weight and the condition of the package at every check point in the process. (IE - if the weight and condition of the package is exactly the same at each checkpoint it kinda kills the idea someone at the PO stole the contents ;))
Click to expand...
I shipped one rack of chips a while back and what showed up was a mangled SFRB inside a bag with a piece of paper apologizing for the damage. The buyer sent me pics. I refunded the money and took it up with USPS. Endless, looping phone trees, and people cramming forms in my face. I back bombproof. Low likelihood the box was damaged. USPS is a tough nut to crack.
 
IMG_8370.webp
 
So, impending threat of mail fraud charges caused the two sides to come together and yet DB lit a match to $2500? Okay.
 
Taghkanic said:
That really depends on your confidence in the USPS’s willingness and ability to investigate itself.

My sense is that they have relatively few resources to do so, and also like many corporations consider it not particularly worth their time even with a $5K package. (I don't get the sense that there is any universe where USPS would give the shipper his $5K value in the absence of insurance, and even then would likely propose some smaller amount.)

On the rare occasions when I have had packages go missing (either as shipper or recipient), they could not explain what happened. It was more a question of whether they agreed that anyone should be entitled to compensation, and how much. However, I haven't shipped anything that valuable with USPS before. Mainly in the $50-$500 range.
Click to expand...
Not a chance in hell USPS will do a damn thing except tell you it's in process and to wait. After several months of following up and being told to wait they will finally tell you the investigation is closed and they found nothing. Ask me how I know and have one less set of golf clubs.
 
LeCoq said:
Not a chance in hell USPS will do a damn thing except tell you it's in process and to wait. After several months of following up and being told to wait they will finally tell you the investigation is closed and they found nothing. Ask me how I know and have one less set of golf clubs.
Click to expand...
Word!
I've had the same experience with USPS claims.
 
So there's still hope that Karl malone might list a smoking deal on the classifieds? It's a pretty niche' market, and most thieves are after cash, not chips that represent cash. Good to hear that there's some resolution in the matter. And best wishes to spacemonkey and his nuptials.
 
Budha said:
My point was less about if the sender was legit or not; and more about “if” the sender said it was stolen by a postal worker the PO can tell with a high degree of precision the weight and the condition of the package at every check point in the process.
Click to expand...
lol, surprised some scammer doesn’t package up 25 lbs of dry ice in chip boxes claiming it’s poker chips, insure it for $1200 and ship it in the middle of July. Then make a claim when empty boxes show up.
 
justsomedude said:
As one of the loudest pitchfork-ers in here, I'm going to hold out for the outcome of the investigation(s). There's still so much that's not understood.

I'd still like to know how two boxes, that were seemingly not retaped, were modified and resealed in transit in precisely the same way. Who knows, since there were no origin photos, maybe the perpetrators used entirely new boxes in the swap-out scheme. Hopefully the investigations provide some clarity on that matter.

Anyway, it's nice to see that things seem to be (mostly) settled for now. Although if seller was legit scammed by USPS, he's now out both the chips and his $5k.
Click to expand...
I’d like to know the results of this too because if it actually was USPS I’ll never send anything through the US postal service of more than $5 value ever again.
 
So how did the postal employee/unknown person identify your two package boxes as desirable enough worth stealing. If there were multiple packages that were replaced with counterfeit labels/boxes etc then they could possibly be traced to a particular route. It's not impossible that a delivery driver could be compromised and allows "persons" to inspect the cargo for goods and possible counterfeiting the package if deemed valuable. This would be a pretty sofisticated group to pull something like that off.

This is a real Sherlock Holmes mystery now....
 
philhut said:
So how did the postal employee/unknown person identify your two package boxes as desirable enough worth stealing. If there were multiple packages that were replaced with counterfeit labels/boxes etc then they could possibly be traced to a particular route. It's not impossible that a delivery driver could be compromised and allows "persons" to inspect the cargo for goods and possible counterfeiting the package if deemed valuable. This would be a pretty sofisticated group to pull something like that off.

This is a real Sherlock Holmes mystery now....
Click to expand...
If they were going to do that, wouldn’t they focus on packages that were insuranced? Because insurance suggests value?
 
upNdown said:
If they were going to do that, wouldn’t they focus on packages that were insuranced? Because insurance suggests value?
Click to expand...
I would imagine an extortion situation where a driver is pressured to stop with their packages somewhere. Persons check the truck and pick what they want. Then later (say next day) the boxes reappear at the same weight in the counterfeit package. Then the items could be sold. For under 100k you could have a scanner tool of some type or they could simply be risking it and replacing the packages with fakes. On the average they could make a profit. In the end the driver gets caught in some issue and is fired. If labels are printed digitally they could easily be copied and printed again, and so on.
 
ekricket said:
lol, surprised some scammer doesn’t package up 25 lbs of dry ice in chip boxes claiming it’s poker chips, insure it for $1200 and ship it in the middle of July. Then make a claim when empty boxes show up.
Click to expand...
Frick! And you just sent me a box today… very curious to see what you’ve dreamed up. :)
 
ekricket said:
lol, surprised some scammer doesn’t package up 25 lbs of dry ice in chip boxes claiming it’s poker chips, insure it for $1200 and ship it in the middle of July. Then make a claim when empty boxes show up.
Click to expand...
1000074591.webp

The math checks out. one could conceivably do it.

Any chippers want to do this for shits and giggles and see how the system reacts?
 
Last edited:
I’m sticking with the simplest explanation.

Occam’s razor.

If you hear hoofbeats, the simplest explanation is that it's a horse, rather than a complex scenario involving a zebra escaping from a zoo with a monkey on its back shooting nickels out of its ass.
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account and join our community. It's easy!

Register

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Similar threads

Damo
Poker Chip Lounge failed order
Replies
3
Views
320
Tonystark137
Tonystark137
buzzmonkey
Arsham WPT set: For the idiot in your life.
Replies
10
Views
417
allforcharity
allforcharity
roughrabbit
  • Poll Poll
Vintage gold or just plain old?
2
Replies
46
Views
3K
maxim_666666
maxim_666666
JP1984
Shipping help (UK to US)
Replies
16
Views
495
JP1984
JP1984
roughrabbit
Help - shipping instructions for non chipper
Replies
6
Views
338
bergs
bergs
Back
Top Bottom
Cart

Cart

Total -