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# SM resident hoaxed out of thousands in E-Bay scam
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/sm-resident-hoaxed-out-of-thousands-in-e-bay-scam/
- Published: 2004-12-22T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T05:50:03.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Crime, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Police looking for more information on E-Bay scam*

*By Daily Press staff*

A Santa Monica resident was recently bilked out of $3,500 and a computer in an E-Bay scam.

Santa Monica Police detectives have been conducting several grand theft and fraudulent check investigations of people using E- Bay, an online site where merchandise is sold on the Internet.

In one incident, the suspect bought a computer from the Santa Monica resident for $500 and sent the victim a check for $4,000\. The suspect asked the victim to cash the fraudulent check and send the $3,500 overpayment to a location in Nigeria. However, the cashier’s check was fraudulent and the victim suffered the loss.

The suspects apparently are purchasing items on the Internet and sending a fraudulent cashier check to the sellers. The fraudulent cashier checks are paid at a higher amount and the buyer then asks the seller to cash the check and send the merchandise with the overpayment, police said.

Generally, the buyer claims to live outside of the United States. The buyer then claims that he has someone in the United States who owes him money. The buyer says he will have a third party send the seller a cashier’s check for $4,000\. The seller is asked to then cash the check and deduct monies owed to him for the item being sold and the cost of shipping. The seller is then instructed to mail the sold item to an address and to send the remaining money — in the Santa Monica case $3,500 — via Western Union to the buyer. Many times, the fact that the cashier’s check is fraudulent is not discovered until days after the seller has wired the money and mailed off the sold item.

The SMPD asks anyone using any type of online auction site to be cautious when receiving a cashier check from a buyer located outside the United States.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call the SMPD at (310) 458-8491 or detective Maury Sumlin at (310) 458- 8437\. Callers who wish to provide anonymous information also may call the We- Tip national hotline at 1-800-78-CRIME (27463). Callers with information that leads to an arrest and conviction become eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 22, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/122204.pdf?ref=smdp.com)