Serge Martin thewineexpert on eBay Sold me a $ 585 dollar wine kooling unit (plus $150 for international surface mail), didn't ship but provided me with a false T&T-code instead. 'His' (disconnected) phone number belonged to the former Plattsburgh, New York

On April 30th 2011 I bought on eBay a Koolspace KoolR Plus wine cooling unit from 'thewineexpert', the eBay user id from Serge Martin. Transfered the money (us$ 736 in total) through PayPal the same day. Seller e-mailed that he had shipped the parcel through a third person by international surface mail on May 4th and provided me with a Track&Trace-code from Canada Post (the country of his supplier, he wrote me). According to the tracking information the parcel was sent from Westmount (Montral) post office and arrived in the 'foreign destination country' on June 20th.

Followed parcel but from June 22nd no further updates. I contacted Dutch Postal Administration on July 12th if they had a parcel with the given T&T-code. But as long as the parcel doesn't cross customs they can't track it. Waited for another week and tried to contact Serge Martin by e-mail (July 20th). No reaction from him. On July 24th I mailed him again and asked politely for an update, with the remark that I had a very bad feeling about the transaction. Again no reaction from seller. On July 25th once more I tried to e-mail contact him. Still no reaction. I contacted eBay (general support dept.) the same day and the only personal information they could provide me with was his residence (Plattsburgh, NY) and phone number with the purpose to solve the case mutually. I tried to call the given phone number (518-561 2162) but it was disconnected or no longer in use. The address connected to the phone number was that of a mailbox rental company: Mail Boxes Etc. (the predecessor company of Plattsburgh Mail and Shipping Center) so I doubt that Serge Martin is actually living there. Why providing false or dated personal information on eBay? That can only mean that the person in question has no good or at least dubious intentions.... 

I tried my last option: Canada Post. Through EMS they could track that the parcel with the given T&T-code was sent to.... Greece(!) and was picked up or delivered on July 11th. So Serge Martin provided me five days after the transaction intentionally with a false T&T-code and hoped - by the extended shipping time because of its international character - that it would exceed the 45 days time limit of filing a complaint/claim against him and/or the transaction at eBay and PayPal. 

No reaction on e-mail requests anymore, disconnected phone number (from a mail drop???), false T&T-code but still active on eBay.com! - has been for me the reason to file an internet fraude complaint against Serge 'thewineexpert' Martin at different law enforcement agencies and related organisations like, amongst others, IC3.gov. I strongly suspect that Serge and his Canadian 'supplier' are one and the same person. Selling small, cheap items he's handling by the book (I think to gain positive feed back from buyers) but for at least 3 expensive (us$ 400 plus) objects - mine including - he never delivered! He forgets that internet fraude is a federal crime and that he - sooner or later - will be prosecuted by the appropriate law enforcement or regulatory agencies. Besides that his stupid, improvident action gave me a reason to name and shame him on every internet discussion forum I can find...

So y'all, watch out for (Canadian?) eBay scam seller Serge 'thewineexpert' Martin (sergemrtn@yahoo.com)!!!! He is an internet fraudster!!!!