In the face of online fraud, users sometimes band together to help one another. An online forum even has a name for the group of volunteer scammers who watch out for each other: the Blowout Detective Agency.
The original poster began:
Hello folks,
I’m not tech savvy and couldn’t get any help from the post office or eBay on this, so there may be some people with skills out there who can help here. Full disclosure – this is a $ 80 transaction that is by and large nothing, but it’s the principle and something bigger could happen …
I received an email from ebay stating that someone is disputing a purchase on their credit card and that I need to provide proof of delivery. The item was sold in June and is therefore no longer on my list of past sales on ebay. …
The reader sent us the link and said we might be interested. In the thread, sellers talk about the problems of complaints from buyers that come months after a transaction and leave them no way to prove that the buyer has received the order.
“BODA stands for BlowOut Detective Agency, these are members of the forum who are willing to spend their time looking into shady things,” the reader explained to us. Blowout Cards is an online retailer for sports and other trading cards. It was founded in 1999 and has forums where people can discuss the hobby.
The reader was right in guessing we would find the buyer claims discussion interesting. Users described issues sellers faced when eBay requested proof of delivery for a buyer complaint after the information was no longer available through the carriers’ tracking system and speculated that buyers were deliberately exploiting the loophole. Sellers said eBay sometimes refunds buyers in such cases – sometimes at no cost to the seller.
But we found the existence of the Blowout Detective Agency equally fascinating.
And apparently the FBI too.
The newspaper reported:
“There is a group of about half a dozen members of the message board Blowout Forums – known on the website as the Blowout Detective Agency (BODA) – who have reported questionable reviews and subsequent auctions of these cards over the past few months.
“The FBI noticed this and reached out to at least one member of the BODA contingent, such as one of the people associated with BODA. The person was granted anonymity as the investigation is ongoing.
“Members of BODA are often“ warned â€about questionable auctions by dealers who want to“ clean up â€the auction process.
The BODA enjoys its mystique. When a user asked about the history of BODA and some examples of its successes in the Blowout Cards forum in 2015, other users responded with comments such as:
“Ask about BODA ???? that leads to mysterious disappearances.”
And: “BODA’s first rule is that you don’t talk about BODA. When BODA picks you up, you will know.”
Are you finding buyers taking advantage of traces? How do you show proof of delivery after your tracking data disappears from the carrier and / or marketplace website? And if you have been helped or received help from other members of the online forum, please feel free to share them.
