UPDATE: ChestNet Transactions Updated Today 10:00 am pst – 12:00 pm pst

Hello Friends of ChestNet Transactions:

Just a friendly message that ChestNet Transactions had routine maintenance to the website today between 10 am pst and 12 pm pst. A few of you might have been kicked out of your session during that time. For this, I do apologize. The good news is, everything is better than ever with the site. Feel free to post free sell ads, want ads or send and receive payments safely with ChestNet Transactions safe payment system.

Buy and Sell Safely!

./Casey

ChestNet Transactions working on telephone support

Improving customer support involves making a commitment to learning what the needs of customers are. ChestNet Transactions recognizes that good customer service is not as much in winning customers, but in keeping them and the key to keeping customers is the level of support provided. We know that it is hard to make a transaction through a service when you have no contact number to speak with a live person and get your needed confidence.

We have started a project to make that happen and will launch a Telephone Support soon. Providing a high-level of customer service is critical to the overall success of problem resolution. ChestNet Transactions is climbing the ladder to be a customer service “star.”

ChestNet Transactions Payments FAQs

What is ChestNet Transactions?

ChestNet Transactions is a safe payment system for the Internet that protects both buyer and seller from various forms of online fraud, including non-delivery or misrepresentation of goods, stolen credit cards, fake checks and money orders, Nigerian scams, and more.

Does ChestNet Transactions accept Western Union or MoneyGram?

No way! ChestNet Transactions does not allow or recommend the use of Western Union, MoneyGram, BidPay, PayPal or other forms of outside payment. If you receive an offer asking you to do business outside of the ChestNet Transactions system, don't do it, it's most likely a SCAM! You should never send money or contact information directly to the seller – that's our job! Once you enter into a formal transaction, ChestNet Transactions will validate both parties to make sure everyone receives full protection. Remember, ChestNet Transactions can only protect you if you stay within the system!

What if a user asks to use Western Union, MoneyGram, BidPay or other types of money orders?

Don’t fall for the trap! ChestNet Transactions does NOT endorse or support Western Union, MoneyGram, PayPal or other types of money orders. To fully protect yourself keep within the ChestNet Transactions system and your transaction will be protected.

Does ChestNet Transactions support users outside the United States?

ChestNet Transactions ONLY supports sellers with valid Bank Accounts and buyers who have the ability to pay using the ChestNet Transactions system and payment options. We offer our services in U.S, Canada and United Kingdom ONLY.

Is ChestNet Transactions the same as PayPal?

ChestNet Transactions and PayPal are both payment services that can be used to pay just about anyone, anywhere on the Net. With PayPal, buyers pay the seller before they receive their purchase, then wait for it to arrive. With ChestNet Transactions, the money is collected and held for the seller until the buyer receives the item. The seller is paid when both parties are satisfied. ChestNet Transactions protects buyers and sellers equally from fraud.

How much does it cost to use ChestNet Transactions?

ChestNet Transactions is always free for buyers. Sellers are only charged a small transaction fee if the transaction takes place with a credit card. eChecks are currently free and encouraged! Registration is required, but there are no entry fees, membership dues or monthly charges to use the service. Sellers pay no transaction fee for eChecks and a small transaction fee when they complete a sale via credit card. No sale, no fee! Credit card transaction fees are deducted when the funds are transferred to a U.S. bank account.

How does ChestNet Transactions work?

ChestNet Transactions payment service can be used for transactions that begin in other venues, such as eBay, Craigslist. An ChestNet Transactions transaction officially begins when an offer is accepted and the buyer has successfully completed a Purchase Order (P.O.). At this time, ChestNet Transactions can safely ship the item to the buyer, since funds are verified, collected and placed in a secure account.

Once the item arrives, the buyer has up to 10-days to approve the transaction. The seller cannot be paid until the buyer approves, and the buyer cannot collect a refund unless the seller approves. Since neither the buyer nor seller can ever have both the money and the item at the same time, both parties are protected. Most transactions are approved and completed within 24 hours of delivery.

Can I use ChestNet Transactions on eBay?

Yes. ChestNet Transactions is the safest way to buy or sell anything, to anyone, anywhere on the Net – including eBay and Craigslist. It can also be used to safely complete private party transactions.

Do I need to register to use ChestNet Transactions?

Yes. You must register to use ChestNet Transactions, but it’s fast, free and easy. Don’t worry, your privacy is important to us! We will never give your financial details to the other party, and your contact information will only be shared after a P.O. is issued.

I’m a buyer. How do I pay a seller?

Once your offer is accepted, the next step is to register on our website by using the registration form. This will confirm all of the details of your order, and provide us with necessary shipping and contact information. As soon as the registration details are verified and confirmed with the seller, we will send an invoice with the payment instructions and the transaction details. You must send the payment to one of our Business Bank Accounts and send a payment confirmation document (receipt) after completing the payment. You must have a U.S. Bank Account to complete this step. We will collect your payment and hold it until you receive and approve your purchase. That’s it! Just say the word and we’ll pay the seller.

I’m a seller. How do I get paid?

You will be notified by email once the buyer receives and approves the item. Just follow the link to the site and provide us with your account number. We’ll automatically deposit the proceeds from your sale (less the small transaction fee) directly to your US bank account.

I’m a buyer. How do I buy something listed on ChestNet Transactions?

Once you find something you want to buy on Craigslist, simply click the “Register” link from our website and enter the details on the page. You can enter the seller’s asking price, or make your own offer. If an offer is made, we must consult with the seller and see if your offer is accepted. If the seller's response is positive, ChestNet Transactions will send you an invoice prompting you to send the payment via bank account to one of our Business Bank Accounts. ChestNet Transactions will then collect and hold your payment, and the seller will be notified that your order can be shipped. You’ll receive an email when your item is sent, and we’ll even track it for you. Once it arrives, you’ll have up to 10-days to approve the sale so we can pay the seller.

I’m a seller. How do I sell something on ChestNet Transactions?

To sell on ChestNet Transactions, you can either place a sell ad, or make an offer on a want ad. Your sell ad is free until you complete a sale, and you can sell multiple items, to multiple buyers, from a single ad. When a buyer makes you an offer, ChestNet Transactions will send you an email with the details and a link to your ad. If you like the offer, accept it, and the buyer will issue you a purchase order (P.O.). Once you receive the P.O., you’ll know that your money has been safely collected and verified, and you are free to ship the item. Once the buyer receives the item as agreed, you will be able to collect payment directly to your U.S. bank account (less a small transaction fee).

To sell on ChestNet Transactions, you must first arrange a meeting with a ChestNet Transactions sales manager. We come to your home, describe the terms and conditions of the sale, inspect and evaluate the item you wish to sell and if all conditions are met you sign a sales contract with us. You then place your ad for sale on eBay or Craigslist and find a buyer. If the buyer accepts the item's description and all terms are accepted, the buyer must register to start the transaction. That's it for you, the rest is our job.

How to Safely Buy an iPhone

How to Safely Buy an iPhoneSo, you have a life and didn’t want to act like a wannabe Wookie and wait in a long line for an iPhone. For that I commend you! But like most of us, we’re on the outside looking in on what has been one of the most anticipated – and successfully hyped – product releases since one can remember. So what now? At ChestNet Transactions, we’ve anticipated the launch in a different light. We expected and received an entirely new wave of fraudsters and they haven’t disappointed us. We’ve been diligently removing phony iPhone ads as they appear all day long. Of course, nothing makes us happier than seeing a fraudster waste his time on our site just to get rejected by the ChestNet Transactions Fraud Protection system. I don’t know what’s been easier; breathing or stopping iPhone scams on ChestNet Transactions! But just in case you want some extra protection here are a few buying tips when purchasing a new iPhone online:

1) Be prepared to pay in full.“What! Pay in full?” you say? That’s correct! Apple didn’t discount their iPhones so if someone is selling their iPhone below what’s listed on Apple or AT&T you can bet it’s a scam.

2) Do NOT send payments via money order, Western Union or like payment service! This actually applies to all on and offline transactions, but I will diligently and responsibly reiterate this message just to remind our fraud-free readers. Once you send your money via Western Union, it’s long gone! Use a reputable and secure payment service like ChestNet Transactions to protect your transaction. Besides, it’s free for buyers and affordable for sellers. Heck, for a limited time if you use an eCheck, our payment security is free to both of buyer and seller.

3) Avoid “Free iPhone” scams and solicitations. Most are just phishing for your personal information or will require you to jump through more hoops and hoopla than the iPhone is actually worth. The “Free iPhone” scams are just elaborate ways to prey upon those that are juiced up on hopium (yes, that’s a new word and I plan I using it again in future blogs). The only thing that’s free will be your personal information you provide to these bottom feeders.

4) Buy from Apple or AT&T Wireless. Why pay more on eBay or Craigslist or even our beloved ChestNet Transactions when you can buy an iPhone directly from Apple or AT&T Wireless? Of course when and if supplies run out, you’ll see opportunistic sellers flood the market with their inventory in hope of turning a buck or two. If that turns out to be the case, I suggest reading #2 again.

Fight Fraud!

./Casey

Maintenance on ChestNet Transactions Email Server

Great news! We’re making upgrades to our email server today and should be up and running again any hour now. If you don’t want to wait for your registration email and want the ChestNet Transactions team to confirm your registration for you, just click “Contact Us” to go to our contact form.

Buy and Sell Safely!

./Casey

RipOffReport.com: Useful or Useless?

As it’s been well documented, us crime fighters at ChestNet Transactions take fighting online fraud seriously. I always want to offer more ways to protect our buyers and sellers and here’s one that might be worth a glance. I read an article in the LA Times today about a website that helped catch a suspected fraudster, Kathleen Legaspi: http://www.ripoffreport.com/

I’m still playing with the site, RipOffReport.com, but the idea of a centralized fraud reporting portal for everyone to reference is a great idea. Wikipedia of scams if you will. I personally wish they had a tool to search email addresses of suspected fraudsters, but I couldn’t find one if it existed.

More to come about RipOffReport.com after the ChestNet Transactions fraud prevention team plays with it a bit more, but we’d like to hear from our users to see if they’ve had any experience with this site.

Buy and Sell Safely,

./Casey

ChestNet Transactions helping Japan victims

While the devastating Japan earthquake and tsunami have passed, the recovery and mourning have just begun. The disaster could become the most expensive earthquake in history. The crisis could get even worse, depending on what happens next at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Now, more than ever, the Japanese people need our help and support to get through this crisis.

ChestNet Transactions is  willing to donate 5% of all profits to the tsunami and earthquake victims. ” We wanted to donate items that didn’t sell through our service and ask all our customers to donate as much as they can but shipping anything there is a nightmare and we decided to just donate 5% of our profits to the victims.” said David Gantert the founder of ChestNet Transactions yesterday in a press meeting. “Some of our customers are donating as much as they can and we should make an example for them by giving even more” said David.

The ChestNet Transactions specialize in online consignment services for businesses, individuals, and non-profit groups offering their services on eBay and Craigslist.

March Madness Comes Early at ChestNet Transactions

Yes, we know it’s early to discuss March Madness. The pool of 64 teams hasn’t even been announced yet. Heck, the biggest conference championship games have yet to even take place yet! But while on the subject of conference champs, how intriguing is the Pac 10 championship going to be this week at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA? Ucla, Washington State, USC, Arizona, Oregon and Washington can all stake claim to the title.

Personally, I think Washington is playing the best basketball at this time after sweeping the LA schools over the weekend. But the team to beat will be from LA and I’m not talking about those gutty little Bruins, I’m talking about the men of Troy. Yes, those Trojans. The path isn’t clear for anyone but if the finals come down to an ‘SC vs Ucla match-up the Trojans are due. An early season free throw melt down at home cost the Trojans from a sure W over their cross-town rivals, but a lack of free throw love from the refs in the rematch (Ucla shot 35 free throw to 5, yes FIVE, for USC) gave the Ucla Bruins the sweep. I’m not a betting man, but if I was, I’d go with the old adage that third times a charm. That’s assuming that both LA schools can battle past the other powerhouses in the Pac 10.

But back to the reason for this post. We’re excited to report we made some ‘behind the scenes’ improvements to ChestNet Transactions on Friday, March 3rd, 2007. It’s not as exciting as discussing college basketball but we want to let our community of fraud-free friends know that we’ve made updates and we like sports.

If you have any issues to report, please do so by filling out this easy to use bug form.

Buy and Sell Safely!

./Casey

Plenty to be Thankful For

The good folks at www.chest-net.com have plenty to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Eve. For starters the site is growing exponentially on both fronts; ads and secure payments. Fraudsters have been foiled on a daily basis. Yes DAILY basis. It’s amazing to see how many fraudsters attempt to rip off good buyers these days. To reiterate past posts, our focus is to eliminate online fraud and make buying and selling online affordable.

So on this Turkey Day Eve, the ChestNet Transactions Team would like to give a huge “Thank you” to our members and readers alike.

Until next time, safe buying and selling everyone!

./Casey

Moving on up!

ChestNet Transactions is making upgrades to our servers and services and will temporarily be down over the weekend of September 21st to September 23rd. We apologize for the inconvenience but are excited to see the improvements to the site speed.

Buy and Sell Safely!

./Casey

Bonds Ball: You Decide!

How the tables have turned! Us good folks at ChestNet Transactions are die hard sports fans so we followed the auction of Barry Bonds record breaking 756 baseball. In an ironic twist, designer Mark Ecko has purchased Barry Bonds’ 756 home run for $752,467 USD. That’s a lot of jeans!

Marc has now set up a website to determine the balls fate. This is not a joke. As a fan you can vote to:

A) Bestow it and send it as is to Cooperstown.

B) Brand it with an asterick and then send it to Cooperstown.

C) Banish it and put the boll on a rocket ship and launch it into orbit.

The people haven’t had this much power over a fraudster since ChestNet Transactions went online in June of 2006!

You can vote for 756 here: http://www.vote756.com/

Fight Fraud!

Michael Vick Ads Pulled from ChestNet Transactions

Michael Vick Ads Pulled from ChestNet Transactions

After reading about NFL QB Michael Vick of the Atlanta Falcons federal indictment, the team at ChestNet Transactions has decided to shut off all ads selling Michael Vick memorabilia, clothing and collectibles. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused to our various sellers, but we did not want our fraud-free services to directly benefit Michael Vick. We did however allow one ad to remain posted
Men (and I use that term loosely) like Adam Jones, Tank Johnson and Michael Vick are giving athletes a bad name. While the “Vicks” of the world steal from the more needed headlines from philanthropic athletes such as Reggie Bush of the New Orleans Saints or Vicks teammate, Warrick Dunn, I have no problem letting the media test Michael Vicks own ferocity. Lucky for him our legal system won’t hang, drown, strangle, shoot or electrocute him when it said and done. Too bad I could not say the same thing for the dogs he allowed to be murdered. He’ll have a chance to walk out alive even if his own tail is between his legs.

But are you really surprised by Vicks actions? This is the same player who flipped off fans after a game … his OWN fans! How about the “Ron Mexico” incident? Even better his idiotic attempt to bring marijuana (illegal) hidden in a water bottle (which you cannot bring on a plane). He’s obviously not all there upstairs. I’m starting to think it’s how he was raised because his younger brother isn’t much better, Marcus Vick.

Dumb Stat of the Day
The most disturbing stat of the day was a recent poll by ESPN.com.
The question was “Should the NFL act now and suspend Michael Vick?” Out of 110,887 votes, only 58% said “Yes”.

For the sake of our country, I’m just hoping that a majority of the 42% are waiting for more facts in the case to come out and not blind Vick supporters or Falcon followers. After viewing the ESPN voters map, I have a sickening feeling that it’s the later.

The Departed – Wins the Tony and an Oscar?

In honor of “The Departed”, the Oscar winning thriller staring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg and Jack Nicholson, I would like to dedicate this moment to the most recently departed fraudster from the ChestNet Transactions website: “samuel”

“Samuel” attempted to register on ChestNet Transactions with a first name “Tony” and last name of “Sam”. “Tony Sam”. Say it out loud to your self and try not to laugh at the thought of this wannabe fraudster thinking of realistic American name to register with. This was one fraudster that even our proprietary fraud detection tools wasn’t even needed for. For any real Tony Sam’s out there, I do apologize on many fronts.

I think the fact that he registered on chest-net.com in the city/state of “flrida, Colorad“ means either one of two things:

1) Al Gore was right when he said there are obvious signs of global warming in our lives today when an ocean state turns into a city in Colorado. “Vail for beach volleyball anyone?”

2) Tony Sam … snicker snicker …. has no concept of city and state and is a very very terrible at what he does. He should stick to his day job.

I’m voting for number two, but that’s just me. We don’t recommend sending tons and tons of nasty spam to Tony Sam’s email account at tmsplaza@yahoo.com. Seriously, we don’t *wink wink* recommend flooding Tony Sams inbox with so much spam that he won’t be able to use his favorite tool for fraud, his Yahoo email account.

So Tony Sam, the man with two names, you join the thousands of those “Departed“ by the ChestNet Transactions fraud detection system.

Until next time, safe buying and selling everyone!

./Casey

Skip Starbucks – Grow a Tree

I’m not one to promote other websites, other then www.chest-net.com of course, but I thought signing up for http://www.greendimes.com was worth the quick blurb. In a nutshell, they have a program that eliminates your junk mail (which I can audit) and they plant a tree on your behalf (which I cannot audit). If you can spare a dime a day, visit Greendimes and sign up today.

By skipping out on a Starbucks twice a month I feel like I have helped our plant and reduce my junk mail.

Now, after reading about Greendimes mission, it got me thinking; what if ChestNet Transactions were to do something each time we catch a fraudster? I’m open to great ideas. Email us your idea today!

Out with the Old, In with the New!

ChestNet Transactions has made some amazing strides in the last week. We’ve added FREE eCheck payment capability to our site. All you need is a valid US bank account and you can send and receive payments to anyone in the US of A at no cost. “Why on earth are you giving away free ChestNet Transactions payments” you ask? Because we want to prove to the internet that ChestNet Transactions is the safest and easiest way to send and receive payments, that’s why.

So the next time you find that perfect gift on eBay or don’t really want to risk sending money to a stranger on Craiglist, just use ChestNet Transactions eChecks to secure your transaction.

ChestNet Transactions eCheck will replace American Express as a secure payment solution on ChestNet Transactions. We strive to offer 100% secure payments and continue to lead the internet in fighting payment and transaction fraud. We felt American Express no longer fit our definition and model of full protection for both the buyer and the seller. Visa, backed by Verified by Visa, is still a very viable choice for payment on ChestNet Transactions.

Until next time, safe buying and selling everyone!

./Casey

Perhaps the Answer is D

We received a great question from a user today. The question from Maurice was “How are you different from escrow.com”

Ironically, we never felt the need to point out why we are better. Perhaps its because we know our services are more of day-in and day-out solution to protect buyers and sellers. Perhaps its goal of trying to have the site speak for itself. Perhaps its because we’ve never been asked that question outside of reporters. Perhaps it is “D. All the above.” Regardless, it was a great question that needs to be addressed.

I’ll point out two strong differences why we feel ChestNet Transactions is a more viable secure payment solution.

Escrow.com charges the user $25 or 6% for credit cards and $10 to ACH (“eCheck”) the payment to the seller so it’s very unrealistic that transactions under $500.00 would require escrow.com or a traditional escrow company. It’s far too expensive for standard online transactions. Could you imagine buying anything and having to pay that extraordinary fee? Another issue is Escrow.com puts the responsibility of the fees on the buyer ($25 or 6% for credit cards, whichever is higher). In contrast, ChestNet Transactions is only $1.95 or 5% for credit cards (with sliding scale) or FREE for ACH / eChecks, that’s it. ChestNet Transactions fees are only for the seller. We’re out to protect ALL transactions not just the extremely high end ones that Escrow.com feasibly protects.

Here’s the kicker, because price alone is never a good way to compete. The buyer is responsible for the escrow fees ($25 or 6%) and both the sellers and buyers shipment fees if the item is returned. So if a fraudster sends a refurbished laptop that cost $1000.00, the buyer still owes $60 + Shipping x 2. On ChestNet Transactions the buyer and seller don’t owe a thing unless the transaction is successfully complete.

While both Escrow.com and ChestNet Transactions help fight online payment fraud, our feeling is that we shouldn’t profit from fraud, so we should not collect fees on failed transactions. Foolish on ChestNet Transactions part? Perhaps. But we’re not going to turn our backs on our company’s mission statement and begin profiting on something we don’t believe in. Not today. Not tomorrow.

Until next time, safe buying and selling everyone!

./Casey

ChestNet Transactions – The eBay Killer

“ChestNet Transactions is an eBay Killer!”

We’ve heard this from various people ranging everywhere from the government to focus groups when people learn about ChestNet Transactions and to get right to the point, we don’t agree. We think ChestNet Transactions is more of an ‘eBay Evolver’.

Yes, ChestNet Transactions free ads can take market share.

Yes, ChestNet Transactions payment system makes PayPal look archaic and exposes its flaws.

Yes, ChestNet Transactions near future enhancements can really stick it to their bottom line.

Yes, ChestNet Transactions manta of “Making the Net a Safer Place” is second to none, even Googles “Don’t be evil” doesn’t compare. Now if Google changed to “Stop all online evil” we’d have some competition there.

Yes after yes after yes and we still don’t consider ChestNet Transactions as an ‘eBay Killer”. At ChestNet Transactions, we know that we can increase eBay’s market share in the United States by giving people who have been scammed or are afraid of being scammed online a secure reason to buy and sell online again. ChestNet Transactions opens doors for not only consumers online, but for retail, classified and auction sites. Now calling ChestNet Transactions a “Fraud Killer” … that’s something we believe in!

ChestNet Transactions in the News
ChestNet Transactions was recently mentioned by Andrew Johnson of The Arizona Republic as a solution for buying online. Kudos to Andrew for recognizing ChestNet Transactions as a safe way to conduct online transactions! Here’s the article: Remote nature of Net sales gives both sides of deal risky rewards 

Until next time, safe buying and selling everyone!

./Casey

www.chest-net.com Goes Live!

Hello everyone! Casey Cosgrove here, C.O.O. of chest-net.com. I’m thrilled to announce that ChestNet Transactions (http://chest-net.com) is officially up and running. After years of development and testing we’re confident that ChestNet Transactions will eliminate online fraud as we know it. Our mission is to give both buyers and sellers the opportunity to send and receive money without the fear of being ripped off. We’ve tested the system on our own live classifieds for the past year with real buyers and sellers and have successfully prevented various forms of scams and blocked thieves world-wide in their tracks.

ChestNet Transactions was created because we were tired as buyers and sellers of not having a way to control our transactions. Other payment services and methods would take someones hard earned money and give it directly to the stranger without any way of checking if the transaction is legit. That’s why there’s over $183 million reported internet fraud to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). In 2005 according to a Gartner Group report, they found that only 1% of people actually report the fraud. 1%! How much is that other 99%? We estimate in the billions and it’s our job to make sure that number goes down.

At ChestNet Transactions, we feel it’s smarter to verify the buyer and their money on behalf of the seller and provide the buyer a way to approve the item before the seller receives the payment. So next time you win an auction on eBay or find a great deal on Craigslist, use ChestNet Transactions to pay and you can control the transaction.

Safe Buying and Selling everyone!

./Casey

The Birds and Bees of www.chest-net.com

The good and geeky folks at ChestNet Transactions receive a number of emails daily. The one that we answer the most from our community is “What does ‘ChestNet Transactions’ mean?” One thing for sure, we didn’t dip our spoon in a warm bowl of Alphabet Soup and pull out a tasty melody of “e” “a” “s” and “y” pasta letters. There’s actually a story behind the name. Come one now, that’s EASY!

Our co-founder, Peter Levshin, is from Australia. If you know anything about Australians, they love the game of cricket, surfing and using words almost as outrageous as the wildlife that inhabits their ‘island down under’. Peter is no exception. While describing cricket (or was it surfing) he used the world “bonza” in the sentence. “ChestNet Transactions” is Aussie slag for “rad”, “amazing” or “the best”. While some of us liked the idea of naming the site “eRad.com” it just didn’t work as well as ChestNet Transactions. Okay, so it’s not a rad story, but the name chest-net.com is pretty awesome.

Wild Wild West(ern) Union Thoughts

I just Googled “Western Union Fraud” and received over 14 million results. I’m curious to what percentage of Western Union’s business is related to fraud? Inquiring minds would love to know.

Three Strong Weeks

ChestNet Transactions has been live for almost three weeks and we’ve had zero fraudulent transactions. The ChestNet Transactions system has successfully protected thousands of dollars. Here’s a recent email from a thankful user, Mark in Irvine, CA:

“Thanks for the heads up. You saved me 1500 bucks!!”

Mark from Irvine, you were not alone. We’ll continue to do our part protecting transactions. Thank you and everyone for their emails.

Until next time, safe buying and selling everyone!

./Casey

Yahoo and Hotmail Enable Fraudsters

Yahoo and Hotmail Enable Fraudsters While analyzing the fraud catching fishing nets on ChestNet Transactions today I noticed that all the fraudsters have a striking similarity in their tactics; they all used free email services. Yahoo and Hotmail seem to be the preferred choice, but mail.com and AOL are not off the hook. Between the Big Four free email services they account for over 96% of the blocked email accounts on ChestNet Transactions this week. I would imagine that percentage is similar on most online sites. 

Should Yahoo, Hotmail and AOL be held accountable?

It’s hard to hold an email service accountable. Some might argue that they are equivalent to the getaway driver in the bank robbery but I consider them more of the car. Would you arrest the car markers at Ford Motors if an Explorer was used in a bank robbery? Absolutely not, so I don’t think holding Yahoo accountable is a solution. Would it work? Of course, but for the millions of honest free email users the punishment would be transferred to us good guys.

Should free email services do more to protect people from online fraud? 

Absolutely! They should take a page out of the books from some of the more fraud conscience websites and do simple address verifications (AVS). If a user registers and claims to be in Seattle, Washington but their IP address shows up in London, UK or even Washington D.C. for that matter, the new account should be denied. Bye bye, Western Union scams. See ya later scammers claiming to be in the US and located elsewhere. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out “Mr. Smith” who just inherited millions and wants to give me some of it if I give them the account to transfer the money too. AVS is a simple solution to the problem but only one of many that would need to be made to make free email services free of being an accomplice in online crimes. 

Without the free email services could fraudsters still easily attempt to swindle millions of dollars from Americans? 

Initially, no. You would get rid of a majority of the ‘fly by night’ fraudsters and leave the crimes only to the hardcore tech terrorists. There is still ways for the tech savvy to mask their location and take over a persons computer to avoid the AVS net, but for every tech savvy fraudster, there are a hundred more that don’t have the juice to make it happen.Like all crime, it evolves over time, but if the free email services such as Yahoo, Hotmail and AOL did more to protect all consumers and websites the crime wave would drop drastically. 

Buy and Sell Safely,

./Casey

World Cup of Fraudsters, Scammers and Filth of the World Score on Craigslist

“Goooooooooaaaaaal” rings loud across the world this month and we’re not talking about soccer. These are the united cheers of scammers, fraudsters and filth of the world who are taking advantage of World Cup ticket buyers online.

Starting June 9th, 2006 the good folks of ChestNet Transactions began receiving calls and emails from buyers looking for World Cup tickets on Craigslist who have been approached by scammers, fraudsters and the filth of the world. These scammers, fraudsters and filth of the world have been emailing Craigslist users saying that ChestNet Transactions has ‘verified’ them to sell World Cup tickets and it’s now safe to send the scammers, fraudsters and the filth of the world a Western Union money order to an address in either Italy or the UK. Red flag! Red flag! Red flag! (We’ll get to Western Union below. )

ChestNet Transactions secures money for both the buyer and seller within ChestNet Transactions, not outside of the ChestNet Transactions payment protection system. If the buyer puts money in their ChestNet Transactions account, there is no way a seller can steal a single penny, pence or yen from them. These fraudsters, scammers and filth of the world were trying to dupe the good soccer fans from Craigs’ into sending unsecured money orders to them for nonexistent tickets. Lucky for a few of the buyers they smelled something fishy and didn’t fall for the scammer, fraudster and filth of the world’s trick and immediately reported them to ChestNet Transactions.

For every report we received, we’d post a warning in the Craigslist city. To date, we’ve posted in over 20 cities where we’ve identified scammers, fraudsters and the filth of the world. We noticed that Craigslist took down most if not all of our posts warning buyers of the scams but we were able to still able to find the scammers posts listed on Craigslist. Looks like another “Goooooooooaaaaaal” for scammers, fraudsters, and the filth of the world as Craigslist has scored on it’s own goal and taken down the wrong ads.

Wild Wild West(ern) Union
ChestNet Transactions has reported each and every case of fraud that’s been reported to us from buyers on Craigslist to Wild Wild West(ern Union) to prevent the scammers from collecting payment, but we’re sad to learn that Wild Wild West(ern Union) could quote, “Do nothing about it. Once the payment is sent, the fraudster can pick up the payment just by giving the senders name, address, amount and their own first name”. I loved how the rep on the phone admitted that it was a fraudster collecting payment, yet they wouldn’t stop it. I guess without the fraudsters, Wild Wild West(ern Union) would lose their biggest clients. You do the math!

Speaking of “math”, ChestNet Transactions is still free to buyers and inexpensive for sellers and we plan on keeping it that way.

Until next time, safe buying and selling everyone!

./Casey

ChestNet Transactions First Week = In the News, News and More News

Ironic News? We think not! We’re in the middle of our first week and the response from the media has been extremely good. For an example, we had a local piece on KCAL CBS 9 in Los Angeles this week. Alan Mendelson surprised us the day after we launched. You can follow this link to see the clip: http://cbs2.com/video?cid=95 and click on the June 7th video.

Ironically, two days later KCAL 9 did another story on eBay auction fraud. Ironic? We think not. Not that eBay is a fraud-for-all. The good folks at eBay do their best to stop fraud but there’s obviously a lot slipping through the cracks. In the story, a seller is trying to auction off a fake Mickey Mantle autographed #7 baseball. If the ‘winner’ of that eBay auction used ChestNet Transactions to pay for the item, they would have had nothing to worry about. With ChestNet Transactions free buyer payment protection they would have had up to 7 days to authenticate the baseball before the seller runs off with their money. Luckily for the highest bidder, eBay pulled the auction before it was too late. With ChestNet Transactions, we feel luck as nothing to do with “it”.

Where’s Waldo? Every office has their little inside jokes and the good and geeky folks at ChestNet Transactions are no different. We have a lime green cookie jar bear that constantly gets placed in random places in people’s offices. Some days you’ll sit down at your desk and open your desk drawer and there it is, Mr. Freaky Green Bear.

The day Alan came in to interview our fearless leader, David Gantert, was also the day that Mr. Freaky Green Bear was hidden in Dave’s office. Timing is everything! What great timing and a perfect cameo for Mr. Freaky Green Bear. Hint: You’ll see it over Alan’s shoulder during the interview.

More News. One of the other news stories that broke this week was from a writer, Leonard Fischer of Gannett News. I religiously check out the Thursday column “Hot Sites” to see what is new and it was an honor to see we made the cut in our first week. Here’s a blurb of what he had to say:

“If you buy or sell a lot of stuff on sites such as eBay, you want to protect yourself from fraud, including items that never show up in the mail or aren’t quite what you bargained for. This new online payment system can help. It’s free for buyers and inexpensive for sellers.”

Until next time, safe buying and selling everyone!

./Casey

Fraudster Foiled in New Orleans

The Kenner Police Department recently arrested a wannabe fraudsters for attempted fraud with the support of ChestNet Transactions and our fraud protection tools. See my online friends, there is some teeth out there and the good people in the Kenner Police Department proved it!

Personally, I would like to thank the Kenner Police Department for taking our leads and information to heart and following through and taking this scammer out. In a day and age when law enforcement is stretched thin and people are becoming too immune or bothered to report online fraud, it was refreshing to work with an agency that took an online criminal offline. Which brings me to ask the following; what percentage of people actually report online fraud? We’ve noticed an increase in attempted fraud online, but how much of it outside of ChestNet Transactions is reported?

The team at ChestNet Transactions would like to hear from you. Tell us your story about how you’ve been scammed online and we’ll give you a free Hot Spot when you post a sell ad. We want to know if you ever reported being scammed to the authorities and what was the outcome? Simple way to get free exposure for your classified ad. Oh yes, and it’s always free to post your items for sell on ChestNet Transactions.

Buy and Sell Safely,

./Casey

ChestNet Transactions Tips: Send and Receive Money Safely

Buying a laptop from Craigslist? Sold your Wii system on eBay? Why send money to a stranger when you can protect your transaction by using ChestNet Transactions secure online payment system. If you are sending or receiving a payment for items bought our sold outside of ChestNet Transactions, use the links listed under “Payments” section of My ChestNet Transactions Tools.

To request money from a buyer click “Request Money” under the green Payments section.

To send money to a seller click “Send Money” under the green Payments section.

To manage your payment requests, use “Overview” to track the progress of your payments.

Buy and Sell Safely,

./Casey

What if the BCS Ran College Basketball?

It’s here! The NCAA Tournament is just a day away. The ChestNet Transactions office pool is in. (Can you say free Starbucks anyone?)

In my last post I predicted that the USC Trojans would win the Pac 10 tourney. I was off by one team. Oregon spanked the men of Troy in Saturday’s final at the Staples Center. I personally think the Oregon Ducks are the hottest team coming into the tournament, but it is going to be the Ohio State Buckeyes cutting down the nets. Then again, last time I said a team was hot (Washington), they didn’t even make the NIT.

Why the Buckeyes you ask? Easy! Kansas is too young. UCLA is soft. Texas and North Carolina will wear each other down too much to compete in the end. That leaves the football school OSU. Does this make them a basketball dynasty? Far from, but below is a list of schools who are … along with some wool dynasty national championship banners for each of the teams:

UCLA Bruins

Arizona Wildcats

Duke Blue Devils

Indiana Hoosiers

Kansas Jayhawks

Kentucky Wildcats

Louisville Cardinals

North Carolina Tarheels

I read an interesting article the other day in the Los Angeles Times titled “BCS Basket case“. The author, Chris Dufresne, asked us to imagine college basketball if the BCS (Basketball Championship Series) were to run things with the same rules as football. His story really exposed the fraud of a system that college football gives us. It really made me wish we had a similar playoff system in NCAA D1 football like March Madness. Could you imagine! Any who, enough about sports, back to putting fraudsters out of business for me.

Buy and Sell Safely,

./Casey

eBay Stamp Scam – Biggest Online ?

In spirit of recommending some of my favorite websites, I’d like to give a quick ChestNet Transactions Stamp of Enjoyment to http://www.419eater.com/, a site dedicated to exposing fraudsters.

Speaking of stamps, I wasn’t too surprised at recent article titled “Is eBay stamp racket the Net’s stickiest scam?“.

The article got me thinking … is it? I personally think so, but on a much bigger scale then just stamps. The commonly unreported misrepresentation of goods is the largest and most unreported online. For an example, is that Gucci wallet you practically got for free from the seller on eBay really a Gucci or Pucci made in Vietnam? You would like to tell yourself it is and by golly he had positive feedback (whatever that really means!). But how can one tell? If one can tell eventually, can one swallow ones own pride enough to report the fraud? If one can swallow that pride, who does one report the online fraud to? eBay? Police? FBI? Batman!

Psst. Stamp Collectors. A little secret I’d like to share with you. Use ChestNet Transactions. At least with ChestNet Transactions, you will get seven days to approve the stamp before the seller gets paid. In the case of the stamp, that’s 168 consecutive hours to get your super small sticky paper collector b u double t over to an appraiser or your fellow collectors to see if the item is legit. If not, return and refund! It’s that simple with ChestNet Transactions.

Buy and Sell Safely,

./Casey

Will ChestNet Transactions Put Judge Judy Out of Business?

I know it’s the question on everyone’s mind … will ChestNet Transactions put Judge Judy out of business? After watching the video of the “Pictures for PayPal” scam, I couldn’t help but feel concerned about JJ’s future. I wonder if Judge Judy realizes that that scam that happens on eBay couldn’t happen on www.chest-net.com?

We really like Judge Judy. Honestly, we really do, but what will become of our Constitution Defending Superhero if www.chest-net.com keeps eBay fraudsters from committing fraud?

I think I have a solution. It’s not as glamorous as yelling at an eBay scam artist, but she can at least be part of a team that solves eBay fraud. We can use Judy in our HR department. We’ll even give her the title of “VP of Judicial Officer” aka VipJo. As VipJo, she’ll keep those loose ChestNet Transactions vacation days in line. Call in sick? Better have your doctor show up to vouch for you. Car has a flat? She’ll remind you that cars have four tires.

On second thought, I’m not really sure if JJ will fit in with our corporate culture of “Fight Fraudsters Not Fun” philosophy.

Until next time, safe buying and selling everyone!

./Casey

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