Escrow services have operated for many years and have most recently added greatly to the online trading experience.
An 'Escrow' transaction involves three parties , a buyer, a seller and a trusted and impartial escrow agent. The anonymous buyer and seller are able to transact securely using the escrow agent as an electronic middleman for a small fee.
At E-SafeAuctions we like to think of it as personalised Ecommerce, as a buyer you receive your purchase in a timely fashion and sellers receive their funds quickly thanks to our direct banking deposit option (you would otherwise wait upwards of a week for a cheque to clear before you even sent the buyer the goods!).
We differ from US based escrow services by enabling you to deal in $A and track your items via International freight partners with local knowledge and experience.
The following pages will take your through a typical escrow process step by step.

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(Sep 21, 2006)

A Cambridge resident was scammed out of $4,700 US while attempting to purchase a 1987 Ford Mustang on E-Bay. Waterloo Regional Police said the victim had entered the bidding in a legitimate auction posting but was not successful. Following the end of the auction, an unknown person using another E-Bay account sent the victim a phoney "Second Chance Offer", which led the victim to believe the Mustang was still available for sale when in fact it had already been sold. The victim forwarded the money for the car, but the vehicle was never received. A police investigation determined the victim's money was picked up in Florida by a person who used fake identification.

Police fraud investigators have received four similar complaints from Waterloo Region residents using E-Bay or other similar Internet auctions.

Police remind users of these auctions to watch out for fraud alerts placed on the home page of these auction sites, as the sites often warn users about scams and what to watch out for.

Fraud prevention tips are available on the police website at www.wrps.on.ca.

Break-in suspect arrested

Police have arrested a suspect in connection with an April break-in at the Bank of Montreal on Queen Street. The suspect, a 31-year-old Cambridge man, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with break and enter with the intent to commit an offence.

The break-in occurred April 15 at 5 a.m. The suspect smashed the window out of a door to gain entry to the bank. Although the teller area was disturbed and numerous drawers opened, nothing appeared to be missing. Video surveillance captured an image of the suspect.

Source: Cambridgetimes.com

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FRANCES BARRICK

CAMBRIDGE (Sep 21, 2006)

A Ferrari for sale from the Yukon should have been a clue something was fishy about the online auction.

But the 46-year-old Cambridge man wasn't fazed.

He went on to lose $8,500 US to one of the latest scams to find victims in Waterloo Region.

Since Aug. 24, three people have reported being bilked using Internet auction sites.

Waterloo regional police believe there are more victims, too embarrassed to come forward.

"I think we are going to get more just based on the fact it is an easy way to get victimized," said Det. Const. Jason Harth, the fraud officer investigating the incidents.

The chance of finding the culprits, or recouping the victims' losses, is slim because of the global availability of the Internet, Hearth said. The money has been traced as far away as Italy.

In one incident, an 18-year-old Kitchener man lost all the money he saved for his post-secondary education when he bid $6,800 for a car he found on an Auto Trader auction site.

Unbeknownst to the victim, the scam artist had created an e-mail address using stolen identification. The victim used a money-transfer service to make a $6,800 payment.

"It turns out the whole posting was bogus," said Hearth, who traced the payment to Italy. "There was no car."

Six days later, Hearth got a report of a similar scam. This time, a 58-year-old Cambridge man was using eBay.

The man had bid for a 1987 Mustang for sale in Calgary in a legitimate auction posting.

The bid was unsuccessful, but at the end of the auction, a person using another eBay account sent the victim a phoney "Second Chance Offer," making the victim believe, mistakenly, that the Mustang was still for sale.

The victim sent $4,700 US for the Mustang but never got the car. Police learned the money was picked up in Florida by a person using stolen identification, Hearth said.

Then, on Sept. 8, the Ferrari scam occurred.

The victim was another eBay user, but in this case, a phoney website for a shipping company was employed to help trick the victim.

The man sent his money for the Ferrari but never got the car.

Harth said there is nothing wrong with bidding on eBay, and probably 99 per cent of its postings are legitimate.

People get into trouble when they don't follow instructions on auction sites, specifically payment instructions, he said.

fbarrick@therecord.com

Source:TheRecord.com

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