Elgin man fights to get refund from eBay after fake tracking number scam

An Elgin man has seen what he thought was the deal of a lifetime turn into weeks of frustration after a fake tracking number scam left him without goods or a refund after buying a game system on eBay.

Ronald Lawrence said when he spotted the high-end handheld gaming console for nearly half its usual price, something did feel off.

"As soon as I saw the posting and the price, I mean, my spider sense was kind of tingling," he said. "They had maybe sold 9 items but there was no feedback, no reviews on their profile."

But he was convinced to take the chance by the eBay Money Back Guarantee.

"Seeing the eBay Money Back Guarantee,  that was the icing on the cake I saw that and felt protected," he said.

He ordered the system. Already a bit suspicious, a UPS tracking number was posted to his order but when he contacted them, the shipper couldn't find it in its system. The next day, he said the tracking number changed, this time to FedEx.

Then, two days after ordering a package supposedly shipping from China, it was delivered to his front door in Elgin. Except, it wasn't his house.

"I saw the photo, and I knew it wasn't my door," he said. "I have no idea, some house in the city I live in that was going to get a delivery."

He also doesn't know how they got tracking numbers going to the same city he lives in either.

The feeling was incredibly similar to one Todd Vorenkamp got.

"I get a notification that it's delivered. And there's, you know, like, the front door's right over there. There's no package, nobody rang the doorbell, no UPS truck showed up," he said.

Vorenkamp had ordered a very expensive camera off eBay, also for a too-good-to-be-true price. He said he wanted to test out if it was a scam, and ended up writing an article about it to warn others. When he went back to find the original seller's profile, it was gone.

"It didn't exist. And actually, the item that I bought didn't exist on the eBay system either," he said.

It took Vorenkamp five days and jumping through several hoops to get his $1,500 back for the camera he never got. Lawrence wasn't so lucky.

A message from eBay said "automation or artificial intelligence" reviewed his report about the listing and did not find a violation.  He appealed and was denied again.

"How could you let this happen?" he wondered. "How could you leave me and other users exposed to this?"

Since CBS News Chicago Investigators started reaching out to eBay nearly six weeks after Ron was scammed, his credit card was finally refunded the $486 he paid.

FedEx said in a statement, "FedEx does not tolerate the use of its network for illegal purposes. We investigate allegations of criminal activity and cooperate with law enforcement… "

But FedEx did not comment on this particular fake tracking number scheme or any steps being taken to address it.

UPS said they're aware of scams using their tracking information, and they are continually enhancing security measures because of it.

"You get those gut feelings and I definitely got that, so follow that next time," Larence said.

CBS News Chicago also reached out to eBay with detailed questions about Lawrence's case, its review process, and what safeguards it has to stop fake tracking scams. We have not yet received a response.