Another one interesting fraud scheme on ebay. It is very likely that employees of the Chinese post office (or other people who have access to the post office computer network) are involved in this scam.

THE FRAUD SCHEME:

1. The seller opens an account on ebay.com and begins to sell some goods at low prices.

2. The seller obtains some "positive feedback" by properly selling and delivering some goods.

3. The seller obtains a fake tracking number that he or she can give to the customers. If the buyer tries to track this number on the site of the destination post office it tells that the parcel was accepted by the Chinese post office. This status never changes.
The important moment here is that this number is not available for tracking on the Chinese post office site.

4. The seller then tries to persuade the buyer not to apply for the refund. Seller tells buyer that the item had been sent already and gives that fake tracking number as the "proof". The aim of the seller is to keep the buyer from "opening a case" during 45 days from the purchase date in order not to allow the buyer to get the refund.

5. When 45 days have passed the seller terminates the communications and the buyer looses his (her) money.


THE CASE:

On 01.14.2011 I bought a digital pH meter with two Buffer Solutions:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150475353359&ssPageName=ADME:X:eRTM:US:1123

Digital pH Meter Tester LCD Monitor +2 Buffer Solutions
Item number: 150475353359
Item location: Fast Shipping From Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Sale date: 01/14/11
Seller: iloveaviva

The item was payed immediately via PayPal service (paypal.com):
Date: January 14, 2011
Payment To: 王 莉
Amount: $13.79 USD

On February 14, 2011 I contacted the seller via email to ask where is my item. The seller told me that the item was sent on January 16th via registered airmail. The seller also gave
me the postal tracking number: RA076557995CN which is fake I think.

I live in Ecuador and it is still (March 25th, 2011) possible to track this number:
http://www.correosdelecuador.com.ec/pages/interna_rastree.php

This page shows the following info (translated from Spanish) for the item RA076557995CN:
========================================
Date and time: 20/01/2011 1:49:00
Country: CHINA
Place: 201500
Event: Item received from client (Exit)
========================================

But (and it is very strange) it is not possible to track this number on the Hong Kong post office site:
http://app3.hongkongpost.com/CGI/mt/enquiry.jsp

Also it is not possible to track this number on the Chinese post office site:
http://www.ems.com.cn/qcgzOutQueryNewAction.do
信息提示:No information for this tracking.