Giving Geocaching A Bad Name

[+Kit Fox]

Talk about misrepresenting geocaching. This person actually links to GC.com by name http://cgi.ebay.com/GEOCACHE-TREASURE-HUNT...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

We don't bury geocaches!

[+Mule Ears]

If you see me bury something when I'm out caching, I encourage you not to dig it up.

 

--A Public Service Announcement from Team Mule Ears

[+geognerd]

ONLY INSTEAD OF FINDING A GRANOLA BAR AND A GUESTLIST, YOU FIND ITEMS OF MONETARY VALUE

And we don't put food in caches either.

[+Codfish116]

How terrible, how can he slander us so. any good geocacher knows not to put granola bars or ANY food items into our burried caches

 

$5000 for a shovel? Ok 100% positive feedback but a score of only 21 and making the feedback coments private Caveat Emptor!

 

Maybe there really is a sucker borne every minute

[+DavidMac]

What the....?

 

That has to be a joke. Plus, I doubt the credibility of anyone who 1) keeps their Ebay feedback info private, and, even worse 2)WRITES IN ALL CAPS

[Voigt54601]

I would suggest us fellow ebayers to report this violation, as I have.

 

This is where you can go to report suspected fraud;

Once logged into ebay CLICK HERE.

 

Here is my report;

If I was a jewl thief, what better way to sell my goods without being detected. My original concern about this was they give geocaching a bad name, and link to it! Geocachers do not bury anything, as well, we place no consumables in caches. This type of 'mystery' listing needs to be banished from ebay, if I were a fence, that is what I'd do to fly below radar. I'd appreciate this listing being ended, if nothing else for slandering geocaching and geocachers. Thank you.

 

[+RockyRaab]

Hmmmmm, lemme guess..."Worth thousands of dollars and contains shiny objects"

 

The "geocache" will turn out to be a soggy cardboard box filled with school fund-raiser coupon books and a scratch-off lottery ticket.

[+Lil Devil]

Reminds me of TEAM ALL CAPS who are known to place high-bounty items in private caches (not listed on geocaching.com). They have a loyal following in some areas.

 

But this is out of character for them. The Team has never tried to get anything in return for giving away stuff before, so I could be way off base here.

[+BillsBayou]

It smells like an illegal lottery. I reported it to Safe Harbor.

[+BillsBayou]

I'm no lawyer. I certainly don't know what laws are being violated here. However, I did find this:

 

Charles M. Langston of Highland Park, Texas, doing business through Southwest Reserves, Inc. and Arklatex Productions, Inc. was indicted on August 3, 2004, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division for securities fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, and illegal monetary transactions. Langston is charged with operating a scheme to defraud by misrepresenting that he was a successful oil and gas entrepreneur, that he had a treasure map of sure investments and a list of prospects with unpaid royalties that he would obtain and resell at a profit. He is charged with failing to disclose that the investments did not exist and that the profits paid to investors were ponzi payments from other investors. He is also charged with failing to disclose to investors the numerous lawsuits and judgments against him for misapplication of funds in prior oil and gas ventures.

 

Link to securities fraud

[Stache Rats]

Looks like they're not going to remove it as Voigt' requested. Ebayers should post questions about the cache to help flush him out.

[+ZSandmann]

Ive sent a complaint, this is an obvious scam. look at his other auction for the XBox 360 mystery cache.

[+Bill & Tammy]

Ive sent a complaint, this is an obvious scam. look at his other auction for the XBox 360 mystery cache.

 

"Dear Seller:

 

I am writing to request that you remove the references to geocaching in your item description for the shovel. As I am sure you are aware geocaches are never buried and do not require a shovel to retrieve. To elude so is a bit deceptive in my humble opinion.

 

Thank you,

 

xxxx eBayer"

 

Since I have no idea what the nature of his "treasure" is I didn't comment on that. I suspect it is a scam though. Hope I don't see "EBay seller beaten senseless by distraught

buyer with the shovel he sold" in the headlines soon.

Edited February 15, 2006 by Bill & Tammy

[+Tsmola]

the coordinates on the shovel are probably to a film can in the bushes at a Burger King in Tenn. He just grabbed some at random off the site and wrote em on the shovel.

 

I abosolutely hate it when people write in all caps!

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

 

"Dear Seller:

 

I am writing to request that you remove the references to geocaching in your item description for the shovel. As I am sure you are aware geocaches are never buried and do not require a shovel to retrieve. To elude so is a bit deceptive in my humble opinion.

 

Thank you,

 

xxxx eBayer"

 

Since I have no idea what the nature of his "treasure" is I didn't comment on that. I suspect it is a scam though. Hope I don't see "EBay seller beaten senseless by distraught

buyer with the shovel he sold" in the headlines soon.

 

Folks, could we be real for a moment? First, allow me to say that I find the particular Ebay offering to be a bit bizarre and more than a bit questionable, and I too prefer (please note the word "prefer" here) that it not mention "buried" geocaches. But, havnig said that, can we all get off our high horses for a moment and be real? The reality is that I have found several buried geocaches all across the country, and with the one posible exception of a buried 5 gallon bucket which was buried in a wilderness area many years ago at the start of the geocaching sport, it is my understanding, after some research, that the buried caches were hidden:

• in a tasteful and entirely environmentally safe and sane manner, with full permission of the property owner
  
• with the full consent and approval of both local geocaching societies and of the geocching.com reviewers
  

So, can we pull our heads out of the sand for just a bit and let go of our denial (no, I do NOT think that Denial is a river in Egypt!), and admit that there really are some (safe and sane) buried geocaches which have been fully approved by geocaching.com reviewers and by local geocaching societies? Okay, now I will step off my soapbox! Thanks for listening!

[+Lil Devil]

it is my understanding, after some research, that the buried caches were hidden:

• with the full consent and approval of both local geocaching societies and of the geocaching.com reviewers
  

More likely is that the geocaching.com reviewers were unaware of the fact the cache was buried.

 

I've found a few buried caches, too. In each case there was nothing on the cache page itself to indicate that the caches were buried. In all cases a short note to the local reviewer eliminated a cache listing that was an embarrassment to the sport.

[+Poidawg]

I complained to EBay, listing the fact that he is listing geocaching.com and that nobody charges to find caches here, that is the beauty of geocaching, you can exhaust yourself, cover yourself in ticks, fall into brambles, or down a ravine or abuse yourself in any number of ways all for free. Not only that but that this money is somewhere in a public park - to dig up?? On top of that if it was listed on geocaching.com, someone would have already found it, like minutes after it was posted...

Edited February 16, 2006 by Poidawg

[+Googling Hrpty Hrrs]

So, can we pull our heads out of the sand for just a bit and let go of our denial (no, I do NOT think that Denial is a river in Egypt!), and admit that there really are some (safe and sane) buried geocaches which have been fully approved by geocaching.com reviewers and by local geocaching societies?

 

I've never found a buried cache. Of course if it was buried, I wouldn't have been digging for it.

 

I say keep buried caches out of the game. I can't think of any reason why it would improve a single cache or the game in general.

 

As far as the scam cache goes, I have two questions:

 

1.) Why hasn't Ebay removed that sucker yet?

 

2.) How do I get a hold of the guy who has bid $61? I have some ocean front property in Arizona to sell.

[+mb3]

I think I can buy that shovel for a lot less than the current bid or the buy it now price. And that's all I think the auction will be worth.

[+Yamahammer]

I dunno about that GHH. Per YM, it seems some of our DNF's on your caches could have been buried ... or should be buried!!!

[2B Amazed]

Looks like they're not going to remove it as Voigt' requested. Ebayers should post questions about the cache to help flush him out.

 

I always like to ask for a certificate of authenticity on more realistic products, ie: .999 silver proof coins and the like but not necessarily devoted to Ebay purchases. The Internet Fraud Group or NFIC/IFW is always a good choice for reporting fraudulent activities, but for now I believe I will take your advice and ask a few questions. Happy hunting!

[+Colorado Cacher]

Mystery shovel? No. Military shovel, yes. Advertising to/at/for GC customers? Yes, but only to reach a larger customer base. It is an outlet for an advertisement's reach, to get more prospective buyers to lure to it.

 

AKA: Anything for a buck.

[4wheelin_fool]

The shovel is a scam. It seems they are trying to use the term "Geocaching" to make it seem legitimate. The amount of BS involved would easily overwhelm a shovel that small anyway. How do you think BULLdozers got their name?

[+Poidawg]

So, can we pull our heads out of the sand for just a bit and let go of our denial (no, I do NOT think that Denial is a river in Egypt!), and admit that there really are some (safe and sane) buried geocaches which have been fully approved by geocaching.com reviewers and by local geocaching societies?

 

I would love to know what person would let a cacher dig into a public park to bury a cache? Which is what the ebay ad states..

[+VegasCacheHounds]

Ya know, reading his listing I'm not surprised that eBay hasn't pulled the listing. The ad is quite clear, you are bidding on the shovel. You're not bidding on the cache or whats in it, and there is no stated guarantee that the cache even exists or such, you are simply bidding on the shovel, and if some numbnuts wants to bid more than the shovel is, than that is their perogative.

 

Yeah, its a scam, but anyone dumb enough to fall for it gets what they deserve. I don't see eBay having a legit reason to pull this listing.

[+BillsBayou]

Office of the Attorney General of the State of Tennessee

 

Maybe we can report this guy to the authorities in Tennessee? How is that done?

 

The auction states "THIS IS NOT A LOTTERY, RAFFLE, ETC." but that doesn't mean it's not illegal in some way. I'm sure it's in violation of one of the "ETC" laws.

[+Big-AlH]

I wouldn't worry too much about this as I seriously doubt the reserve will be met. Obviously the poster is high on something and I'm sure the reserve is some ridiculous amount.

 

It will most likely fade away and not be seen again.

 

-al

[+Allen_L]

Looks like ebay finally killed it.

[+sbell111]

I wonder why they cancelled it. Its little different from any of the other 'mystery box' auctions.

[+chstress53]

Not having seen this post until today, is interesting, I am an avid ebay participant and purchaser and sell & buy from ebay all the time. I saw this sale yesterday on ebay and it violated ebays link policy ( the seller provided a link to another web site,) I as I am sure many others emailed ebay and asked for the violator to be shut down, as the post went against ebay policy. By the way I too am an active geocacher and was dismayed regarding the remarks about burying stuff and food. But that said those words did not violate ebay policy but the seller providing the link did, and as a seller we are asked to report violations of policy.

[Voigt54601]

Well, claiming that there is something of great value at the coords, without disclosure, sounds to me like stolen property. If you were a fence, what better way to post it on ebay, without the owner being able to search for the item, or the authorities. I think these types auctions are valid, in that the bidder gets something of value, but as soon as you post the jewelry, or spend the money, watch the authorities close in on the stolen loot. Ya know?

 

" This listing (#5666162357) has been removed or is no longer available. Please make sure you entered the right item number. " YAYYYY!

 

Burying a cache, with permission or not, affects the earth in a negative way, even if you kill a lowly worm, that worm would have benefited the earth if not dead. I'm on no high horse, but from what I understand, and what I gather from the rules of the game is ; we are to benefit the area/earth, and not harm anything. ANYTHING.

 

I'm glad its closed, good job to those that reported it!

 

chstress53, if you read ebay rules more closely, you will see ONE link is ok, acceptable. But it has to pertain to the item being sold. I'm selling a vintage car right now, and link to mopar for more info, totally ok. The main point I made to ebay, is that it sounded like he was fencing stolen goods. In a mystery auction, they can't promise anything of value, or spendable at face value. I reported a bunch of those the other day, "Buy my box of $100 bills" .... uh .... why not just spend it? (stolen I presume)

Edited February 16, 2006 by Voigt54601

[+chstress53]

Voigt54601 yes I knew that one link is ok if it pertains to the item being sold, The link this seller provided went against that policy so I reported it to ebay as a link violation. I even received an email from ebay thanking me for reporting the violation and that it would be taken care of. I am not up on the law of " fencing Goods. This sale to me clearly stated they were selling only the shovel, In my opinion that is a valid sale and if someone expects more they should remember the old adage" Buyer Beware" I personally think anyone buying the shovel more than it is worth would be stupid but people do stupid things, as to protecting the earth, I absolutely agree with you regarding how we play our game and protect the earth ( I am a Naturalist and work for the park system) But saying what he did on the auction oppsets us, but it did not violate ebay policy ( except for the link) The only way to correct this is in friendly education as we procede to play our game. So writing ebay about the remarks about burying would get you nowhere. It was shut down as it clearly violated policy when the seller showed a link that was not regarding the shovel. So I reported it . Within 1/2 hour of my report it was shut down, IAnd I then received the email about the status of the sale. I would do it again exactly as I did when I saw this last evening on ebay.

[Voigt54601]

well, the timing may have been there, but I think all of us helped. We all get their stamped out letter after reporting something, within that email they clearly state they can't tell you what actions they're going to take, but thanks.

 

He did violate more than just the link usage ... you can't slander a group/someone .......... by saying false things ......... among the basic purpose of the auction, which was offering something of value, not a mystery.

[snowfoxrox]

I contacted the high bidder and asked them if they knew about caching and that this was probably a scam. They E-Mailed me back and I gave the the REAL infromation about caching and the link to this site. (Before the auction was killed) I hope they decide to join us!

[Voigt54601]

LOL, they probably think ALL caches have high value ,,, wish I could see their face when they open their first cache and see nothing but golf balls and goofy stuff.