Ebay seller is falsely using my business address and VAT number.

[conkerperson]

A clothing seller is falsely using my business address and VAT number. My business does not have an ebay account. We are a very small light engineering company with only 5 employees, none of whom sell clothes on ebay. We are getting a stream of returns to our registered office address. I am also very concerned about the misappropriation of the VAT number. I have reported the matter to the police and HMRC.

I wrote to eBay about the matter, via a message from my personal account and also in a company-headed letter to eBay head office. However, several weeks on, this seller continues to trade using our company details.

I am at a loss as to what to do next.

[1956glyn]

Have you also reported this to Action fraud?     I would and send the report number to Ebay.

I would probably also get back onto the Police and push them hard as this is fraud. 

IF nothing seems to be working then i suggest you make an appointment to see your Solicitor as this could have serious implications for your business 😞 

Just to add.....take copies of all communications and reports with you when you see your solicitor.   Print out a copy of this persons listings etc as well showing they are using your details. 

[conkerperson]

Hi, thanks for your response. When I said 'Police' I was referring to ActionFraud. But they do not appear to have taken any action - maybe because there has been no financial loss to us as yet (unless you count the hours spent trying to sort this out and returning parcels to the post office). I have indeed kept copies of all correspondence so far as well as screen shots of some of the listings with our VAT address on (there are many as Acesdu9 is a fairly prolific seller) and the address box with our address in it. They have even adopted a modified version of our MD's name as their email address - they obviously got our details from Companies House.

[1956glyn]

I just went onto the Gov site and checked out the VAT number and to whom it is registered and it does appear to be you.

As i say.........i do not think there is much else you can do apart from put it all in the hands of your Solicitor to try and resolve.

[conkerperson]

I cannot understand why eBay are not acting on this. The onus should be on them to weed out illegitimate sellers. As you have seen, it is very easy to verify that the VAT number and address belong to us. I begrudge the time and expense of getting a solicitor involved, but maybe I can recoup some of the cost from eBay later in the small claims court.

Jakki

[1956glyn]

To be honest.....i totally agree with you. Some Solicitors offices used to do special schemes where you paid a much smaller amount for an initial hour or 30 mins consultation to see what your options are. Not sure if they still do that.

I think you have to bite the bullet in view of the implications 😞

[1956glyn]

conkerperson I have just sent you a personal message as i have another idea 🙂

[john1297576]

I see that this seller is using an ID very like your company name. It does seem that fraud is not high on ebay's agenda.

It is odd that the buyers who are presumably sending returns to you are not reflected in Feedback, Under the MBG so long as item is returned to the address on the label supplied by ebay they presumably get a refund, so do not understand what benefits this Fraudster gets from using your VAT number.

I am surprised that HMRC has not jumped on them.

[conkerperson]

Their ID is like our company name, their email address is derived from one of our directors’ names, they have listed our full company name and registered office address as their own under ‘business details’ and they have our VAT number on each listing. If anyone decided to sue them it would take some work to prove we are not the perpetrators.

It is a clear case of identity theft. I assume they are a foreign company - possibly Chinese - posing as a UK seller so that buyers will not flinch at the possibility of long delivery times. I assume the use of our VAT number supports the image of them as a UK company.

Their feedback is weird. There are numerous very detrimental comments such as ‘Rubbish’ listed under positive feedback. Not sure what that is all about. Maybe they are persuading their customers to regrade feedback by offering them a free gift? I have had sellers try and persuade me to edit feedback this way recently.

I too am surprised at the VAT office’s lack of concern. They simply logged the issue and advised me to contact ActionFraud - who have taken no action. (They rarely do - they are more of a database than a proactive service.)

But clearly the easiest way to correct the situation would be for eBay to step in.

[1956glyn]

Without wishing to concern you any further.......i do hope that you use a different address for the account you are posting on and not your company address. Say that other persons account gets restricted or even banned from Ebay because it falls below ebays required standards as a seller ...then any other account Ebay can remotely link to them will have exactly the same restrictions 😞 Ebay link accounts by address....IP address.....name etc etc

[conkerperson]

Thank you for the warning. The company does not have an eBay account and my personal eBay account does not use the company address or IP address.

[arkwebus]

"I am surprised that HMRC has not jumped on them."

In the good old days there were local offices and someone would indeed have gone round almost straight away.  Now it is one central correspondence centre.

I would suggest that you write a letter to HMRC in big type and plainly marked "Complaint".  Copy it [again by letter] to your MP which should get things moving.   Do not try to e-mail or twitter etc.  Letters only.

@conkerperson 

[conkerperson]

Thanks. I intend to talk to a consumer-protection TV show about the matter as the fraudulent seller’s details have not changed despite written complaints to eBay. But I will do what you suggest first, it makes good sense. I have spoken to HMRC of course but the two people I spoke to seemed very vague as to what they would do, apart from advising me to submit a report to Actionfraud.

Jakki