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Hope for Wii ends in disappointment
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Also by Charles Hinriksson:
- Hope for Wii ends in disappointment (May 1, 2007)
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A 25-year-old man attempting to purchase a Nintendo Wii from the online resale site Craigslist instead received a telephone book in a box, according to the Madison Police Department.
On April 12, the man arranged a meeting to purchase a Nintendo Wii on the 300 block of East Mifflin Street through Craiglist. He gave the seller cash in exchange for what he assumed was the system, only to find the telephone book, which according to a release from Public Information Officer Mike Hanson, "did not plug into a Nintendo."
The victim initially requested a test to ensure the equipment worked, but when the means to conduct the test could not be found he "trusted the package contained the Nintendo and that it worked."
"With sites like eBay and Amazon, there are stronger safeguards in place to ensure that something like this doesn't happen," Assistant District Attorney Mike Verveer said. "The owners of the website should do everything possible to ensure that fraud like this is not perpetuated."
Hanson said of the Internet scams he's seen with his work at the MPD, this is the first one involving Craiglist.
Neither of the two suspects have been apprehended. Hanson and Verveer commented on the difficulty of closing cases like this because of the nature of Craiglist, and this specific transaction resulted in a lack of any substantial leads.
"Of course we will investigate, but it's tough to follow up without any evidence beyond a fairly generic eyewitness description," Hanson said.
Verveer said if apprehended, the suspect would be prosecuted.
In order to avoid fraudulent transactions, especially involving Craiglist, Hanson suggested customers "always inspect the product both visually and mechanically, and be cautious of buying from strangers."
This is not the first case of fraud nationwide that has involved Craiglist. Earlier this month in Tacoma, Wash., a residential house was gutted and vandalized because of an anonymous Craiglist advertisement asking people to take whatever they wanted from the home.
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…the “victim” is obviously completely at fault here.
The victim is only at fault of being naive. The perpetrators are the ones at fault. Craigslist is what it is and so to add a bunch of extra protection would be akin to putting a security gate at a garage sale.
Folks need to be careful of thieves, they do still exist.
I feel bad for the guy, but how could you not open up the box? You are buying something on the street from a total stranger.
“Victim” looks at telephone book and says “That doesn’t look like a Wii”.
Seller says “Who ya gonna beleive - me or yer lying eyes”.
I’m surprise a guy this stupid has any money to spend.
"With sites like eBay and Amazon, there are stronger safeguards in place to ensure that something like this doesn't happen," Assistant District Attorney Mike Verveer said.
Bullshit! The strongest safeguard is meeting the seller is person, and physically checking out the product. You can’t do this eBay and you can’t do it with Amazon (although Mike Verveer just gave them nice advertising plugs!).
Legally, in this case, it would be hard to prove the seller actually did anything wrong. The seller could have called his phonebook a “Wii” if he wanted to. It could have been a turkey, a puppy, or anything else.
7:54am— Why should we automatically believe the buyer’s story? What if he really did receive the product, but now he’s lying to extort money? I wouldn’t call the seller “naive.” He could be quite crafty.
The whole point of Craigslist is that you get to meet the seller in person and check out the product—LOCALLY!!! And the system works most of the time. Just look again at what Office Hanson had to say: of the Internet scams he's seen with his work at the MPD, this is the first one involving Craiglist… Duh!
If the buyer doesn’t want to take advantage of this look-and-see setup, then it’s totally the buyer’s responsibility if the product doesn’t turn out as expected. Also, if you have any doubts, make a frickin’ contract, or at least a bill of sale, with the seller.
I can’t believe the police, the DA’s office, and the BadgerHerald are wasting their time on this. Mike Verveer is spouting pure FUD.
FUD? what does that stand for? Frickin Useless Doubletalk?
— Germain E Stemme
FUD=Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt but Frickin Useless Doubletalk sounds pretty good too.
I sell Wiis on Craigs List. I would recommend meeting your seller at a local store parking lot. Only buy from the seller if they are meeting you with a car. That way you can write the license plate down. I always open the box up for the buyer on my hood and show them the contents. If you want a Wii look me up on Craigs List. Phone number starts with 332 as I am legit and let you inspect before you buy.