Originally posted by Xyse:
Today was my first time being a victim of online auction
prank. Aka, decided on meet deal and meet up location and last min,
the seller went missing.
Being annoyed, and amused at the same time. I decided to walk to
the nearest neighbourhood police centre to seek some advice and
maybe named a crime to such act. Crime is a bad choice of word, I
will talk more about it later to tell you why.
It was nearing 10pm, thus the centre was pretty quite. At the gate,
I was greeted by what? No security guards? So I went closer and
found out that two police officer was looking at a LCD screen. A
small peep at the screen, I am roughly able to make out something
of a web forum or sort.
A "execuse me" made me two enermy as one of the grumpy guards come
to me and ask me "what i want". I told him I come for some advise
and consultant, his expression was like looking at a mad man or he
clearly cant hear what I was saying and just let me exchange my
pass and make my way to the lobby.
Lobby. not much people left, prolly 1-2 police man and another one
sitting at the information counter fumbling some stuff on the desk,
obviously bored.
So I told him that I would like to have someone to speak to
regarding a recent event and probably put a name on the crime. YES!
CRIME! WRONG WORD.
He suddenly look amused and probably fix this in his mind. "this
young man got pranked and cant get his first edition psp and thus
come here and think he could write a police report roflmao"(ok, i
made that up, but it would be closed, I can swear to it).
Well, he maintain the amused expression throughout the encounter. I
ask him if playing such auction prank was a crime, he say "no". I
ask him if he is ethical, morally right and normal, he say
"nope".
Fine.
He then give me one of the worst analogy I have yet to heard.
"if your friend promise to treat you a dinner, but he did not turn
up and refused your call, what can you do? make a case?"
Make a case if obviously what the police meant by making a police
report. You can probably conclude with this statement that he took
me for being childish with his last pun(aka "make a case?").
If my friend do something like that, I would probably visit him
personally at his home and give me a piece of my mind. But the
problem is as a active online trader, we have come to learn to
trust each other to honor deals(apart from items condition where
sometimes people just banter lies and dog poo). Breaking this trust
is just unhealthy for the community if left unattended. It is also
a form of harussment as it is a real irritation.
He continues with his annoying hints of trying to make me
understand that this is a small matter and get over it kind of
stuff and body stretches. I decided to pay them no mind as my main
objective is to get information.
When I started to knock some sense into him that I am indeed
serious in wanting to seek information instead of making a report.
He started to talk alittle sense until we talk about proof. Ha, I
got sms and the prankster phone number, so being naive I wanted to
let him take alook. But he just ignore them and say that sms is not
enough.
Eletronic proof isnt proof? We gotta try emailing middlemen
companies to prepare stock for large orders and then laugh at them
later when we say we got no monies!
He then say that the person replying the sms might not be him and
thus it isnt valid. WOW GOOD POINT! IMPERSONATING, OR MAYBE PHONE
THIEF IS NOT A CRIME! or maybe one that the police think it's
amusing.
So I got the only trace(phone number) of this impersonating phone
thief trying to sell me psp! how horrible! and yet the officer only
nods to himself as if his alternate personality is agreeing with
his other half steadfast mind. Did he even request a look at the
sms and numbers when i was readying to provide?
Nope.
Then he go about something of level such as big crime small crime.
Threatening to kill is big crime and threatening other stuff is
smaller crime.
Yeah right. I will pick a random stranger who threatens to kill me
over a random stranger who waste my time and travel expenses anyday
in Singapore. No guns = sharp weapon or raw might. If you see the
person who threaten to kill you with a sharp weapon or tensing his
muscle towards you, you either run or shut ur door in his face. As
compared someone play a prank at you, you sit like a idiot wasting
an hour or so smsing or trying to call through worrying about the
welfare of a stranger feeling helpless. The former seems better
since you are in control.
Finally feeling a little disappointed, I ask if the police could
maybe call and warn him not to play such prank again for health of
the online community(and maybe a little chat with the impersonating
phone thief psp seller, lol, I wished I have said this just now).
He said.
"We do not provide such [b]service."
Maintaining is a responsibility, NOT A SERVICE. Say, washing my
cloths and tying my shoe laces is a service. As the recipient would
have recieve a direct gain or advantage. Calling the asshole not to
do it again is of a much wider scope since it is for the good of
the community(this dude has done it more than just once to base
some digging in yahoo auctions). And what the hell? He did not even
care to look at the number to check if the owner of the HP had
really lost his handphone, based on his own suggestions. Or maybe
he was already murdered because his friend wanted to keep the psp
for himself! roflwtf damn.
And wtf, police went down when kids are playing soccer on grass
fields when people complain. Police cant call and warn a online
nuisance.
He also told me that I could make a civil suit for such stuff. But
also added, "sue him for what? wasting your time?". Then laugh at
his own joke as if his alternate personality appeared again.
Ass.
Giving up and totally disappointed. I thank him and check out of
the building.
I am pretty sure such encounters are national service men. They
probably treated their jobs as conscript labour and took no pride
or dedication in them. I find them pretty much unfit to be in
direct contact with normal civilians. Remember those tv ads about
friendly neighbourhood where neighbourhood police ride bicycle
waving at kids? No shit, thats in tv.
One last thing for those who do auctions online. As a buyer, insist
on paying the seller first through bank transfer etc, thus it will
count(to singapore police) as a cheat if he fails to turn up. Then
again, the seller could sue you for slander if he wants to. And
also your sms might not be the best evidence to use. These are
based on what I have gathered from that officer at the station, but
my guess is that they are far from the real laws since there are
countless loopholes in them.
So where is the red line between prank and crime to local
police?
And are all police encounters fellow members here had have as
bad?
My first post btw, I have wrote a much more formal version of this
post but was lost during submittion. Hope this isnt too
bad.[/b]
I can't read through - it is too confusing
First off - did you pay? If you made a payment , it is a crime that
he did not turn up with the goods
Second - if you did not, it is a contractual breach if you bidded
on the item - civil matter . You can opt to complain to the online
auction site because ebay and the reputable ones will chase up on
cases like that.
