The Dark Side…stolen Stamps, How To Cope

Probably happened to more than a few of us…sell stamps on line and then…the payment is not sent, it fails at the bank, it is recalled.
Stamps are gone, replaced by frustration, bitterness and disappointment in people.
Recently, this month of June 2022, this happened to me when I negotiated a deal to sell 193 pre1900 USA stamps to an individual in another country. Aware that I could be scammed, I relied on DHL's policy of allowing a shipment to be recalled and returned to sender. I shipped the stamps, buyer-to-be immediately had trouble sending the money. I recalled the shipment the next day, DHL's system did not respond after three attempts to recall the shipment. Buyer-to-be received the stamps and immediately cut off all communication (Facebook Messenger), refuses phone calls. One week after stamps arrived at his residence, still no payment or communication.

This person is a member of this stampcommunity.org and is displaying and asking for help here with the details about the stamps I sent him.

What to do? Tried various communication methods, nothing. Call the police in a foreign country? Hire a thug in a foreign country, maybe call the US Embassy there?

Any advice would be appreciated!
Chasinfram

This forum is only the 'court of public opinion' and is obviously is not the same as a legal venue. You sold items to a person in a country half a world away and this was not done through ebay or other platform that offers recourse.

I am waiting for waelshami to either respond to your claim or resolve the issue with you. If he does not, then I will lock his forum account and he will not get any more help from this community. But beyond that, there is little else that we can do here.

You might be able to bring legal action against him in the Palestinian Territory but I do not know if it is logistically or financially feasible.
Don

Back in March/April 2021 waelshami posted the following questions which perhaps now have some context:

you might review your insurance policy to see if there might be coverage for this fraud. If you had purchased insurance for the package that would be primary and would likely cover this. If forced into your home owners policy, they may have requirements and limitations on collectibles. There might be other considerations before going forward with that as a theft claim for a small amount might result in a surcharge in premium which would or could be more than the value of the claim.

If the contents of the package where only declared at 65$, that would be what they would cover, no?

There seem to be two main problems - the fact that you sent the items without having received payment in the first place, which might well invalidate a claim, and the false customs declaration.

Thanks folks,

I agree that I went out on a limb, probably more gullible than most. The established exchange systems do offer protection , but I thought I was covered with DHL. After reviewing the DHL information, I suspect the agent at the office was not correctly enacting the stop orders. Also the custom declaration is on me, I agreed to his idea.

Hope I learn lessons from this, just not sure what all of them are…

Unfortunately you are not alone. I have had $700 outright stolen from me by two people who have taken payment and sent nothing.

Welcome to the world of selling stamps . It happens to all sellers especially when you put your guard down .


I learned my lessons way before E-Bay started .......with uncleared funds . I sold mixture boxes of stamps for $8.00 plus $1.00 postage thru stamp newspaper ads . I was averaging 1 in 21 orders as a lost thru "never received " or checks bouncing as NSF or check issued on a closed account .

After a few years of this garbage ,instead of wasting my time crying about it and not able to slap these people , I just raised my prices and let it go .........My advice is walk away and forget it and just continue selling with safe guards in place .

Unfortunately, I think the OP is out a quite significant (to me at least) amount of money. I think in excess of $5000. But here is one takeaway. If someone is willing to cheat, in this case the value of the shipment, they will have no qualms cheating you out of the shipment itself.

And a note to the OP. If you have them, you might want to post pictures of the stolen stamps. At least there will be a record of the stolen goods online.

Hi Willwood42,
I do have pictures of all 193 stolen stamps, but where to post? I have 12 pictures containing all 193, but not sure the resolution would be that good. I'd be willing to post each one, but don't want to burden the forum with clutter.

Chasinfram, my main answer was posted in the thread in which you claimed the the OP's illustration was you stamp.

First and foremost, you need to get those images to the APS stamp theft group. If you have insurance with one of the companies allied with the APS you will be in a better position.

You have not yet stated how, meaning what internet platform, you arranged the deal. I am GUESSING it was through Facebook sales and if so the scammer jumped for you when your posting appeared. Please advise.

The only way to be sure you get your money in a transaction is by wire which cannot be reversed once completed. Of course that begs the question why would a buyer wire money to you for a large first time purchase as what reason does he or she, or those not yet sure, have to trust you as a seller?


I repeat my advise from the other thread: Do not send, ever, what you cannot afford to lose.




Both sellers and buyers can be a scammer. That makes it hard on anyone be you a seller or buyer.

For Stamps over $10, I use a reputed dealer,
Not lost a single item in 20 years.
It has been a fantastic relationship.

Only ever lost 1 thing in the post,
my very first trade / swap to a University in Turkey

I use Paypal exclusively.

I connected with Wael Shami on a Facebook group named American Postage Stamps. Communication was through Facebook Messenger. Messenger allows participants to "unsend" messages. Wael Shami took advantage of that feature, then when stamps reached him withdrew from the conversation, blocking any further contact through that method.

As per your advice, I have contacted APS theft group and will comply with their program. Thanks for that idea.