Why, not to sell xdk's on ebay

Well, there is a way to fake your email, which I cant remember how to do, but i've had friends send me fake emails from *.gov accounts. Seriously, I agree with mairsil, about waiting on a lawsuit.

 

You know what, I just called the number. It identified itself as "Microsoft's Letter Line." From the message, I get the impression that it is effectively a call service which does use the "name" on the letter as a means of routing the response to the appropriate department. Many, MANY of Microsoft's numbers, particularly those relating to legal issues, are unpublished. If this were truly a scam number, I'm sure that it would have a hell of a lot more search engine hits than one message board thread.

And please, I do not mean this as an insult, but what educational background/field do you have that makes you think the letter is poorly written?

 

The phone number was used in a scam attempt involving an email sent from an @live.com account. That alone is enough for it to be pretty obviously a scam to everyone else here.

 

You really believe that don't you? I hope you never have to deal with a real legal issue, because I don't know that you would see it coming.

 

yawn. you are the only one still going on about this. i'm done with you.

 

Showed him the thread and he sent me this

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Please show them this so that I/we don't look like idiots
http://ubuntu.pastebin.com/m79d30a51

^shows someone sending from an MS server (phished maybe? MS employee?)
That was the first thing I saw from her and the reason why I was concerned that it was real. I'm not easy to fool. The unprofessional speech was a give away as well, but is it proof beyond a reasonable doubt? Heh, definitely not.

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After seeing the headers, it looks 100% legit (you can't fake that part); looks like your friend's going to be sending his kit back.

 

I still dont understand why if this person has your phone number/email/personal information clamming to of been given it from eBay and you dont just simply email back and say.

"To make sure your actually from Microsoft and for me to feel safe about returning this kit that has cost me money i would like to reach you on a published Microsoft phone number."

It simply cannot be impossible for them to not be reached on published number even if its one thats not high profile. (e.g. phone number for a small registered office of MS somewhere and not customer service numbers from microsoft.com)

Would of put an end to this long ago.

 

its not my phone number tbh its some guy who pmed me for help on x-s

its not me, im just trying to help somebody out

if you guys think you could be providing any assistance to him

zulux on xbox-scene pm him and say your from here... ok

 

i guess they have started cracking down after all :shrug:

 

Meh you/him/who ever is reading the thread. The simple fact is that unless hes hacked one of his accounts or got the information some other way is that ebay has given all his details away and its not likely to be to anyone but a genuine Microsoft department.

As for anyone who is trying to find holes in the apparently unprofessional speech i would like to see you re-write the letter so we can pick at it.

 

sent me another pm
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LMAO, now they've been contacting me with a fake, proxied "Private Investigator". I don't have an account on assembler and it was a pain to get one enabled before, so it's up to you if you choose to post this to them or not

I don't even think it's the same person. I guess I shouldn't have linked pictures from my website with all of my info .

This is getting waaaaaaaay out of hand.
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As I said before, you can fake emails. CLK Rebellion of Decadent Gamer sent me fake emails regarding piracy from a fake *.gov email account.

 

Honestly i wouldn't even think to give anything up without seeing my day in court,..

It's up to the guy being harassed but i would simply say sue me, waste your time and resources as well as my own, fly your lawyers around the world to see me in court then maybe you have your chance at recovering this piece of hardware.

 

They could pin all their fees on you in court, since some judges are asses and like to make the defendant pay the fees, or whoever is found guilty. But seriously, taking someone to court, over a kit that is most likely a few years old, close to rrod. If this is real, I feel bad for the guy, seeing as once he goes to court, there is a good chance he's paying the fees.

 

Esjay has it nailed pretty accurately.

If the kit was illegitimately sold, it is technically stolen property and still belongs to Microsoft.

If you broadcast to the world that you're trying to sell a kit that you have no right to sell, then Microsoft is within its rights to demand it back.

Yes, you could demand that it goes to court, but being that eBay is based out of CA and available nearly worldwide, Microsoft would pretty much have its choice of venue. It could sue in CA courts since the kit was put up for sale on eBay and eBay is in CA or it could sue in Washington since it is based in Washington and the kit was made available for sale there via eBay.

Recovery costs and attorney's fees could be added to the claim as damages, starting at the point that Microsoft demanded the kit back.

Under US law, if you buy stolen property, the original owner has the right to demand it back and they have no obligation to compensate you. You would have to pursue a claim against the person that sold you the stolen property in the first place.

Despite the advice to "laugh it off" this is not an area where you want to play tough. If you really are being contacted by Microsoft, your best bet is to engage them and offer to comply, but ask what they can do to help out. Mention that you bought the kit on Craig's List thinking it was a broken Xbox and didn't realize what it was until you did a google search, etc. etc. Ask if you would be able to trade it for a retail Xbox + games.

Basically, if it is Microsoft contacting you it owes you nothing, but chances are good that it will offer you something if you're willing to work with the rep. If you just say "see you in court" you're likely to get screwed over.

-hl718

 

I lol'd
Anyways, this kit seems like it's causing more trouble than it should in my opinion. I remember looking at this listing and I didn't even think it was real due to the sheer fact that the bidding started at $50. I contacted the guy and asked if it worked fine and he said it did, but I've never even seen broken kits go for a starting price of $50.

Now, about this "fake" phone number - how easy would it be to get a letter just like this, take the real phone number from it, and then put it in a fake letter to make it seem more real.

Like it's been said, tell your friend to see if he can contact them on a published Microsoft line - or research this department a little further to see if it has a phone number you could contact, or to see if it's real at all.

I personally have never heard anything about the department, but that's just me.

 

Microsoft has insurance on those kits.

They wouldn't waste their time, and money, to get a console back from you, that's already insured and they have money for. They'd be losing on that. And I personally don't think they'd do it. I was told once about the limit in terms of money, at which Microsoft would actually start caring, and that kit isn't worth it to them. Unless they're really willing to lose money to get something back they're already insured on.

 

Oh yeah, and just curious.. who took the kit down? Did the guy take it down, or did Microsoft. If you find that out, I think that would help verify if this is real or fake, since in the letter it said that they requested that the auction be removed, that that they had it removed.

 

I would personally be careful when sending these in, this could after all just be a scammer. I am not criticizing the letter or anything like that, but if you really want to send it you should try to get the rep to give you more proof until you feel safe turning it in, if he fails to provide any of that I would be careful.

Also I can hold kits for you guys, they wont ever show up at my doorstep lol ;-)