EBAY novice Valerie Craven is lost for words after her attempts to get hold of a ventriloquist's dummy ended in despair.
The 50-year-old has been left more than £500 out of pocket after falling foul of a fraudster.
She feels she was ruthlessly targeted by the conman having had no previous experience of buying or selling through the internet auction site.
The university lecturer originally believed she had lost out to a higher bid of £770 in an auction for the 1930s professional dummy.
But just over a week later she received a personal email out of the blue from the mystery seller offering her a second chance opportunity to buy at her losing bid of £590.
Police are now investigating after Valerie was persuaded to wire transfer over the cash by the seller instead of using eBay's secure PayPal payment system. The dummy never turned up at her home in north Leeds.
Valerie told Consumerwatch: "I have always wanted a ventriloquist's dummy so when I noticed this one for sale I thought it would be a great buy. It looked like it had been used in the showbiz industry for years.
"And I thought it could help to raise cash for local charities and at the same time would bring a smile to a lot of faces."
Valerie said the email with the second chance offer had appeared genuine. "It looked very convincing and it mentioned about conditions of sale and the safe transfer of funds.
"The seller even said I could take off the £42 fees for the wire transfer so I just didn't think there was a problem."
Valerie said the alarm bells started ringing when she did some investigation of her own on eBay.
"I did some checking and it appeared that the person who originally won the auction had received the item as they had left positive feedback for the seller. That just didn't make sense."
Her suspicions were realised when attempts to get hold of the seller through his email address proved in vain.
"Every email I sent bounced back," said Valerie, who then decided to report the matter to police. Valerie is first to admit she was naive but has decided to share her story with Consumerwatch readers in the hope it will act as a warning.
"I feel really stupid but I don't want this to happen to anyone else. It's a lesson learned. I'm not holding out much hope of seeing my money." And she says the experience has to put her off buying and selling through eBay in the future.
"I have already bought a few things. But I'm now extra careful and not as trusting."
eBay has banned the use of money transfer providers as a means of paying for transactions on eBay.co.uk, such as Western Union and MoneyGram. It is part of an ongoing campaign to stop online fraud.
Garreth Griffith, head of trust and safety at eBay.co.uk told Consumerwatch: "Trading on eBay using secure payment services such as PayPal is very safe. But fraudsters do sometimes try to tempt people 'off eBay' by promising better deals when really they are just trying to get beyond eBay and PayPal's protection."
Decisions
The ban, which came into force in January, has the support of the Metropolitan Police who are now unlikely to investigate eBay fraud cases when a money transfer service has been used.
Det Chief Supt Nigel Mawer, head of economic specialist crime command for the Metropolitan Police, said: "Working together with responsible companies like eBay, we can arm consumers with the necessary advice to ensure they are in a position to make informed decisions before parting with their money.
"We hope to extend this initiative to other internet auction sites in the future."
Peter Bucher, vice president of operations for Western Union, said the firm has long encouraged consumer education as a tool for preventing losses due to fraud.
"The addition of eBay to this ongoing initiative greatly strengthens our own consumer fraud education program.
"We welcome the opportunity to work, cooperatively with two such respected organisations."
A spokeswoman for West Yorkshire Police confirmed a report had been received adding they would work with the Metropolitan Police to trace the fraudster.

Follow these tips to prevent fraud
l Get to know the rules and advice given by the site – they are in place to ensure user safety. Never step outside of these or outside of the site no matter how enticing the deal.
Fraudsters will try to trick you into doing this. Like any other popular activity you must ensure you know "the rules of the game" because "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing".
l When looking at an advertised item compare pricing. Remember, if an offer sounds too good to be true – it probably is.
l Never use money transfers or direct banking transactions to pay for goods – even if this payment method is suggested by the seller after an item for auction has been 'won'. Because of the cash-to-cash nature of these services there is little recourse to the buyer once the money transfer transaction has been completed. You are effectively sending off your hard-earned cash to a stranger 'on trust' alone.
l Use a reputable ESCROW account to pay for items (This is a payment system where both the buyer and seller's financial details are held separately and in isolation by a legitimate third party company acting as a "middleman". Payment is only made once the goods have arrived and been deemed satisfactory. By doing so your transactions will be better protected and often insured.
l Don't get carried away in the excitement of winning an auction. Fraudsters rely on you being over keen and off your guard. It is never too late to ask questions of a seller to ensure you are completely happy with what you are about to pay for. Do not follow through if you think it is a fraud, report the seller to the site.
Always ask yourself: have I won the item, or have they won their next victim?
l If your site offers "second chance" bidding on an auction verify that any notification of you qualifying for this opportunity actually comes from the site and not from a fraudster impersonating them.
You can do this by carefully checking the address from which the email is sent or by contacting the site via its published website. (Beware of using any hyperlinks or numbers attached to such a 'notification' as these may also be false).

Yes Minister what can we do next?
THE latest dangers and cons and what's being done about them will fall under the consumer spotlight tomorrow.
Better Regulation – Better Protection is the central theme of this year's Trading Standards Institute annual conference.
Issues covered at the three day conference include the dangers facing members of the public buying prescription drugs online, and a survey showing the 'swings and roundabouts' of the nutritional content of food that children love to eat.
Other top stories will focus on the world of Chinese medicines, how loan sharks are now starting to bite themselves, how shopkeepers are still selling knives to children under 16 and what the car repair and servicing industry is doing to put its house in order.
Students from Allerton High School in Leeds will be flying the flag for West Yorkshire in the finals of the Young Consumer of the Year competition.
More than 2,000 people are expected to attend the conference including representatives from West Yorkshire Trading Standards Service, as well as local and central Government and consumer groups.
Ian McCartney MP, the new Consumer Affairs Minister, will also attend. He has invited local authority elected members to quiz him on the future of local Government regulatory services.
Nigel Strick, chairman of the Trading Standards Institute, told Consumerwatch: "For a Government minister to offer such a special opportunity speaks volumes about his interest. But there are some huge challenges for local government and our politicians will never have a better opportunity to discuss these issues with the minister."