creativityplus4, msksur68 - eBay seller to be beware of

[mmaddury]

Looks like msksur68 is getting more brazen thanks to eBay's action (inaction?). He used to list genuine stamps with fake cancels. Or genuine stamps with the perfs trimmed as the more valuable imperf varieties.

The latest one I see is just a good old forgery. And he is passing it off as a new color.



https://www.ebay.com/itm/231901454751?_trksid=p2055119.m1438. ... EBIDX%3AIT

[mmaddury]

Likely beating a dead horse here, but another stunner from this seller:



https://www.ebay.com/itm/1857-85-JAMMU-KASHMIR-TYPE-4a-1-2-AN ... SwjwlXA9uX

Never mind that Stanley Gibbons categorically states that this stamp (Jammu and Kashmir SG 86) "Does not exist" in mint. But such a minor thing cannot deter him...

[Rog]

...
"(AGENT) : I have finished my investigation and I guarantee you that we have documented the details you’ve shared regarding the behaviour of these sellers.
(MEMBER): This is the third time I have contacted you via chat. Perhaps your team does not understand this problem as you don't have a category for it.
(AGENT): Based on the information that you have provided and the ones that I have gathered here on my end, I would like to inform you that I have taken a note of this incident in the sellers account and for the items be reviewed for possible removal.
(MEMBER): HE ALREADY SOLD THEM !!!"

All as I can suggest at this point is that as many of us as possible continue to report items and complain via chat.

This transcript leads me to believe that this "agent" has failed the Turing Test and is not ready for primetime.

Seriously though, is this just a chat-bot?

A lot of the time people working on chat systems like this have a script they just copy and paste. I suppose for speed, even though no one likes it.

You can select some help topic and raise your complaint and when they are not able to deal with it, they will connect you with the right department.

[peterh]

It seems to me that eBay have no interest in preventing the actions of Mr Suri. Here is the transcript of the end of a very frustrating chat session with eBay fraud department. The previous exchanges were just trying to get them to see what the issues are.

20:31 PM

eBay Peter, your assumption is correct that eBay will not be able to do much in this report as we do not have expertise over this area and hence we rely on agencies for these kinds of cases. For example you can bring it to the attention of Trading Standards or any other authorities, once they report to us we will document it and take actions.


20:33 PM

Me Why can't you take action yourself? I have expertise in this area, as do many other collectors, as detailed in this link which the last chatbot said he could not access: http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=24613


20:34 PM

Me It seems that eBay is happy to look the other way while fraud is committed on a daily basis


20:35 PM

eBay We appreciate your expertise but eBay has to document proofs from common authorities as without it we can not move forward. Daily we work with many authorities, government agencies, law enforcement, policy, etc for various types of items.


20:36 PM

eBay We have been able to manage millions of items and billions of revenue for our sellers and buyers for last 20 years if eBay is not managing such cases then we would not have been able to do this far.


20:36 PM

eBay Please route the report to appropriate channel.


20:37 PM

Me If someone can look at the above link to stampboards.com, you will see evidence that this seller alters items to defraud buyers. It is very disappointing that eBay will not act


20:38 PM

eBay That's the exact reason, eBay is a community marketplace where we are required to document the proofs and comments from authorities in certain cases otherwise we would not like to take more of your time in chat.


20:38 PM

Me Well get someone to look at the above link!


20:39 PM

eBay We are the final point of contact when it comes to policy enforcement, we enforce policies on millions of items. Our stand remains the same even by reviewing this link.


20:39 PM

eBay Please route the report through appropriate channel in this matter.


20:40 PM

Me Surely eBay is the appropriate channel as the agent hosting and profiting from these fraudulent sales?


20:41 PM

eBay Peter, you need to have this routed through authorities please.


20:42 PM

Me You have been no help. Goodbye


20:42 PM

eBay We do not have scope of enforcement for these items so our help options are limited in this case, as discussed please route the report through authorities for these items.


20:43 PM

eBay Thanks for using eBay live chat, have a good day

[peterh]

I've just spotted that Sunil Suri is now also selling on Bidstart as 'indianstatesandkgvi', peddling all his usual rubbish:

http://www.bidstart.com/indianstatesandkgvi_QQstorenameQQ196552QQuseridQQshop

[tonymacg]

Some of the stuff he has for sale simply beggars belief. Noone with a knowledge of these stamps would be taken in for a moment, but the beginners ... Do we have a duty of care towards them?

[Stephan]

Do we have a duty of care towards them?

Tony

No. The moral and ethical dilemma aside; by simply raising this here on stampbaords it has been indexed and is able to be searched for and retrieved by others on the net.

As far as I'm aware, neither you or any other member of these boards is responsible for policing the many thousands of scams that are out there on the net that people fall for every day. We can feel concern, outrage and even refer them to the "authorities" who are largely useless because "The Law" hasn't even really caught up with telephones much less the internet.

In my opinion in referring you to the authorities eBay "avoided" THEIR duty of care by not giving you the contact details for same given that their organisation spans the globe and "should" be intimately acquainted with ALL of the appropriate authorities.

Then you could have properly assuaged your conscience by at least telling someone who (is paid to ) cares.

As an aside I suggested to the press recently after another of those silly stories about phone scammers that they publish, as one of their suggested fixes, that people install cheap answering machines (or divert mobile calls to an answering service) and call filter. No scammer or time waster usually leaves a message. Risk of being caught by a scam is reduced. Have the press published? No. But I satisfy myself with the fact that I at least raised it with someone in a position to make a difference.

Cheers
Stephan

[mmaddury]

Well spotted peterh.

I've added a few of aliases as exclusions to my eBay searches. The exclusion rules work somewhat randomly though. I should check if Bidstart offers better rules...

[GlenStephens]

eBay Peter, your assumption is correct that eBay will not be able to do much in this report as we do not have expertise over this area and hence we rely on agencies for these kinds of cases. For example you can bring it to the attention of Trading Standards or any other authorities, once they report to us we will document it and take actions.

Drones like this will spout nonsense UNLESS you point out there own written rules which ARE that counterfeit stamps are not permitted.

Their own written rules - send them THAT link!

https://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/currstamps.html#replica_stamps


That is all they need to nuke these guys. A written RULE.

Ebay have revamped the rules re forged and faked and replica and counterfeit stamps.

Sellers now MUST mark fakes indelibly on reverse, and load a photo of that marking into the lot description.

Alterations (that includes forged perfins, overprints and cancels) and repairs MUST be noted now if known to seller, and sellers offering conga lines of the same fakes clearly DO know!

https://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/currstamps.html#replica_stamps

Also on EVERY ebay lot there is a “Report Item” icon – whether the sale is ended or not.

Reporting that via the simple drop-down options as shown below is a 5 second operation -

If ebay gets 5 or 10 reports on any given items they WILL generally take notice. They usually warn the user and remove the lot. Sellers getting several such removed lots are in trouble.

Let’s use ‘people power’ to stop this material getting offered.

Everyone “hoping” others act, will get nothing done - like most things in life! It takes teamwork and a Community Spirit, and the dodgy and misleading lots will be FAR less.

ebay now have set up a fast new portal JUST to report suspected sellers of forged stamps at - https://www.tinyurl.com/ebayfakes - also found at - https://www.ebay.com/scw - there is space for 10,000 characters in your reply, so all the relevant info can be added. Unlike most ebay complaint forms that allow just 100 characters etc.

Please take a moment to do BOTH ….. do the “Report Item” drop-down, and give a summary on the link above.

Most likely they will go to 2 different ebay staffers, and that is double trouble for the fakers.

Some staffers ignore such stuff, others are more pro-active – it is a lottery.

However several reports on any single item can be seen by all staffers looking at it, and that generally gets some action.

Even if 4 staffers have ignored it, the 5th staffer might see 5 reports and decide to act etc.

"People Power" - never under-estimate the value of it! 8)

Glen

[broowin]

Hi

I have just encountered msksur being an ebay bunnie.

I did smell a rat and cancelled the order for 5 sets of Bahawalpur stamps all with suspect postmarks and found this site after some searching. So glad it is here.
s/ he expressed surprise at my comment and said he thought they were genuine. he agreed to refund but so far no such luck. Raised a paypal complaint and have to wait their time limit of 10 days before they actually do something.
I tried to put this link on one of the feedback entries but was told off by ebay for not adhering to their policy.

i have reported one item but not sure what that might do?

[tonymacg]

Broowin, welcome to Stampboards! Now, before anything else, do please go to the Roll Call thread and introduce yourself (http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10277)

This seller (I believe his daughter has taken over, hence the change in name) has a very bad reputation here, for adding 'postmarks' to unused stamps, and so increasing their value, as well as cutting the perforations off perforated stamps and various other misdeeds, as well as some rather, shall we say, optimistic ascriptions.

Still, you should, eventually, get your money back. That's how that seller maintains his/her relatively high feedback score.

Bahawalpur, whether mint or used, is a very murky area. Beautiful stamps - no doubt about that - but very murky, and paying anything that causes you pain is best avoided.

If the Indian States are your thing, you might like to look over this thread: http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=8480 and its various offshoots

[broowin]

Paypal agreed to refund. I now notice that the items have been removed from my account so I cant leave negative feedback apart from the one that was regarded as 'defamatory' (I simply posted this link).

What an operator!

Only thing I have done is to report the Bahawalpur items all with identical postmarks.

Anyhow enforces the idea of 'buyer beware'. And - don't trust ebay to protect their user

[wsazili]

I saw an item he is currently selling on ebay as seller msksur68. The item in question is "1887-95 CHAMBA SG10a C £2750,'CHMABA' QV,INDIA, INDIAN CONVENTION STATES #332132227170".

He has it on Buy It Now for £700.00. So I asked him if it came with a certificate of authenticity.

His reply was (Quote)," Dear Sir, It does not have a certificate, but it is genuine. If you wish to haver (sic) it certified please go ahead at you own expense. Kind Regards" (Unquote).

Obviously his motto is: Buy It Now...Regret Later.

Thank God I was not fool enough to fall for his scam. Then I did a search on stampboards and came across pages and pages of write ups about this seller.

All unflattering. Unfortunately he is still active on ebay.

[Rog]

Photos are always requested so we can see in future what happened to it and if it comes up again etc. A link is good too.

I have your back on this one.

"MINT, TONED, EXTREMELY RARE."

https://www.ebay.com/itm/332132227170?clk_rvr_id=1175863798511

[mmaddury]

Photos are always requested so we can see in future what happened to it and if it comes up again etc. A link is good too.

I have your back on this one.

"MINT, TONED, EXTREMELY RARE."

https://www.ebay.com/itm/332132227170?clk_rvr_id=1175863798511

I don't collect the Convention states so don't have a scan of this stamp. I pulled the one below from an old Spink catalog:



Most of the "CHMABA" error lots had certificates from either BPA or RPSL.

In comparison the current offering looks like an inkjet printer job..

[21B]

I'm disgusted at how many items Mr. Sunil Suri, under his Ebay account MSKSUR68, is peddling - as of today (26 March) he has over 80 fake Burma overprints alone, mostly finishing today.

I have just had a lengthy conversation with Ebay (again) and accused them of knowing about this user yet taking no action. I also sent them the link to this thread, I hope they read it - there's enough evidence here to put him in jail...

If anyone has any spare time today and wants to report his items or contact Ebay, it might help, especially if you want to add that Ebay seem to be allowing him to continue despite knowing he is a fraud.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/msksur68

[21B]

Result - I think...

Got home this afternoon and was aghast to see msksur68's listings still on sale. I got back onto chat and ended up with a seemingly attentive and rather decent services rep who took time to investigate. Immediately listings started to disappear, so it looks like something is being done. As I speak, his Burma overprints are dropping off, as are his Feudatory states.

I sent a link to this thread and asked him to review it - he agreed that there is a lot of evidence here, so I cross my fingers they WILL investigate.

So a minor win today, I hope. Let's see how many eventually get taken down.

Please everyone - keep your eye on msksur68 and continue to reports his items. Contact Ebay if you can give some time to raising a chat session and insist on reaching someone who can understand what the problem is.

We MUST work together to stop these criminals.

[peterh]

Result - I think...

Got home this afternoon and was aghast to see msksur68's listings still on sale. I got back onto chat and ended up with a seemingly attentive and rather decent services rep who took time to investigate. Immediately listings started to disappear, so it looks like something is being done. As I speak, his Burma overprints are dropping off, as are his Feudatory states.

I sent a link to this thread and asked him to review it - he agreed that there is a lot of evidence here, so I cross my fingers they WILL investigate.

So a minor win today, I hope. Let's see how many eventually get taken down.

Please everyone - keep your eye on msksur68 and continue to reports his items. Contact Ebay if you can give some time to raising a chat session and insist on reaching someone who can understand what the problem is.

We MUST work together to stop these criminals.

I hope you are right that finally someone is taking notice, although I wonder if it was just coincidental that many of his Burma fakes were finishing today and are therefore 'sold', I am sure mainly to his shill bidders.

As you can see above, my own attempts to get eBay to take any action were completely fruitless.

I wonder if one of the main reasons why eBay take no action is that he appears to have such a high number of positive feedbacks, but as I proposed earlier, I believe these are largely spurious and provided by his shillers, because most of the items will reappear in the future even if 'sold'.

[peterh]

I've just spotted that Sunil Suri is now also selling on Bidstart as 'indianstatesandkgvi', peddling all his usual rubbish:

http://www.bidstart.com/indianstatesandkgvi_QQstorenameQQ196552QQuseridQQshop

...and still on HipStamp as indianstates&kgvi with same old rubbish - faked overprints, faked cancellations, fake Zeppelins, etc:

https://www.hipstamp.com/store/indianstateskgvi

[peterh]

I've reported him on HipStamp - let's see if they do more than eBay have.

[peterh]

I don't know whether others reported our friend Mr Suri, but I have just been informed by Justin Beard of HipStamp that they have banned him for life.

Well done HipStamp for taking note of the views of their buyers rather than bowing to the seller as eBay continues to do.

[Global Administrator]

I don't know whether others reported our friend Mr Suri, but I have just been informed by Justin Beard of HipStamp that they have banned him for life.

Well done HipStamp for taking note of the views of their buyers rather than bowing to the seller as eBay continues to do.

Well done.

[peterh]

Just a heads up, that our old "friend" is now on Delcampe, starting to sell the usual fakes, using the unoriginal name sunilsuri.

https://www.delcampe.net/en_GB/collectables/search?seller_id ... 0%5D=19667

He just has three Chamba stamps with fake cancellations at the moment.

All have been reported, attaching a link to this thread.

[traralgon3844]

The 3 stamps in question on Delcampe

[fchd]

I've also reported to Delcampe. I hope action will be taken soon.

[samoanz]

msksur68 is now offering a great selection of Burma overprint beauties on eBoy, each a pair with op omitted on one stamp. Have filed a complaint but I guess it will be ignored as usual.

[Waffle]

My policy towards sellers on eBay is simple-avoid them like the plague!

[peterh]

Result!

Well done to Delcampe for this action:

[mmaddury]

He is expanding his business on eBay though - not content with forged overprints, he has branched out into printing varieties..



https://www.ebay.com/itm/1877-NAWANAGAR-SG1a-CAT-2750-TETE-B ... 2516.l5255

[Bennich]

Hi All,

Saw this one today - actually it's been relisted since last week. It's 'only' a modest £4.99, but nowhere does it say these are forgeries - which is an eBay condition of course.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/254738916141?ul_noapp=true

Honestly - my three year old granddaughter could do better with a potato! I don't suppose reporting it will have done any good, but more more the merrier.

msksur68 Charkhari forgeries

Cheers, Ben

[Waffle]

I am always suspicious of anything offered for sale on eBay especially collectibles. The number of dodgey eBay stamp sites, noted on Stampboards will ensure that I NEVER buy any philatelic material offered on eBay. Sorry genuine sellers!

[MJ's pet]

Result!

Well done to Delcampe for this action:

Well done to Delcampe