Hi all,

We were the victims of a an elaborate online fraud involving multiple fraudulent purchases made with stolen credit cards on our online store.

Fortunately, we were able to recover most of the equipment before it got delivered to the fraudsters, with the exception of:

1- A brand new 7m Airush Lithium V11 (2020) Navy and mint (as pictured) and
2- A 2020 Airush Progression V3 Bar (as pictured).













These items were delivered in the suburb of Willoughby, NSW. Both items are sealed and brand new, so please let us know if you see those
advertised for sale.

A police investigation is underway.

Thanks, Christian (Kitebud / Airborne Kitesurfing)

* FRAUD UPDATE *

We just found the goods up for sale on Gumtree this morning in Sydney.

We contacted the NSW Police and they are on the case. Hopefully they will recover the kite and bar before someones buys it.

Please do not buy this gear as it's been purchased with a stolen credit card.

Also, the same seller recently sold a brand new 2017 9m Naish Torch which also most likely another fraudulent purchase (see second screenshot below)

Hope you nail him/ get your gear back. Looks like ROB has been running a business since 2014 (if not using someone else's account)

We're getting very close to closing in on him. Hoping for some good news soon. To my surprise the local Police in Sydney has been super helpful so far. They have all the info and all the proof they could ever need. We're just waiting for them to pay him a visit.

Yes it is surprising that police would care, I think Corona has made it easier for them.

Why is the bank with the stolen credit card not helping?

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Peahi said..
Yes it is surprising that police would care, I think Corona has made it easier for them.

Why is the bank with the stolen credit card not helping?

Because of the stupid laws here. Consumers like you and me have the benefit and luxury of having all the banks here guarantee us against fraud on our personal credit cards. This means if they detect a fraud on our CC account they refund the funds and cancel the card.
However if you are a business, you are on your own and if it got as far as this Airborne case they lost the goods and the money that was deposited in their account is taken too, and then zero f**cks are given about the business, the bank and the merchant agreements we all sign say we have to prove that fraud did not occur.

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Ozone Kites Aus said..

Peahi said..
Yes it is surprising that police would care, I think Corona has made it easier for them.

Why is the bank with the stolen credit card not helping?

Because of the stupid laws here. Consumers like you and me have the benefit and luxury of having all the banks here guarantee us against fraud on our personal credit cards. This means if they detect a fraud on our CC account they refund the funds and cancel the card.
However if you are a business, you are on your own and if it got as far as this Airborne case they lost the goods and the money that was deposited in their account is taken too, and then zero f**cks are given about the business, the bank and the merchant agreements we all sign say we have to prove that fraud did not occur.

Yep, unfortunately that's how it works. We get what's called a chargeback dispute for the transaction and the only chance to win is to prove that it wasn't a fraud, so basically zero chances to win. The responsibility goes 100% to the retailer. You lose the goods, lose the money and you pay lots of fees on top of that. More lessons learned, now our checkout process is super secured which means multiple security checks etc. more painful for legit customers but stops the fraud.

My best advice is that all consumers temporarily lock their cards via their bank App and unlock them only when you need to make a purchase. It's a little painful but it protects everyone from fraud including you and would prevent hundreds of millions of dollars to be stolen every year.

Doesn't look like it's his first rodeo.
all brand new item sold going back a while, notice the locations are all over the place.

i think the cops may have a hard time finding him,

hope to hear I'm wrong. Keep us posted

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Airborne said..

Ozone Kites Aus said..

Peahi said..
Yes it is surprising that police would care, I think Corona has made it easier for them.

Why is the bank with the stolen credit card not helping?

Because of the stupid laws here. Consumers like you and me have the benefit and luxury of having all the banks here guarantee us against fraud on our personal credit cards. This means if they detect a fraud on our CC account they refund the funds and cancel the card.
However if you are a business, you are on your own and if it got as far as this Airborne case they lost the goods and the money that was deposited in their account is taken too, and then zero f**cks are given about the business, the bank and the merchant agreements we all sign say we have to prove that fraud did not occur.

Yep, unfortunately that's how it works. We get what's called a chargeback dispute for the transaction and the only chance to win is to prove that it wasn't a fraud, so basically zero chances to win. The responsibility goes 100% to the retailer. You lose the goods, lose the money and you pay lots of fees on top of that. More lessons learned, now our checkout process is super secured which means multiple security checks etc. more painful for legit customers but stops the fraud.

My best advice is that all consumers temporarily lock their cards via their bank App and unlock them only when you need to make a purchase. It's a little painful but it protects everyone from fraud including you and would prevent hundreds of millions of dollars to be stolen every year.

Situation from retailers pov sux and so easy to do online, maybe check CC name/address matches delivery address or call buyer to verify before posting?

When I was delivering food for extra cash nearly 20 years ago (before ubers) we had to physically verify the CC card against their licence, address or other ID. I guess you cannot do that online so easy.

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DunkO said..
Doesn't look like it's his first rodeo.
all brand new item sold going back a while, notice the locations are all over the place.

i think the cops may have a hard time finding him,

Yes we are aware of all this. It's most likely a network and those other areas match other fraudulent orders made on our website where the same mob tried to get us to deliver goods to.

As I mentioned in my previous message, the Sydney police has ALL the info they need about that particular seller, so it wasn't hard to find him at all. We even have the matching serials numbers of the products. The issue now is that this is a very low priority case for the police and it could take many days / weeks before they make a move (if they ever make a move)... by then someone else will have purchased the goods.

Great news! The police finally got a chance to recover our goods from the fraudster. With matching serial numbers it was easy to prove that it's ours. He didn't get arrested or charged but it's just a matter of time while they investigate further. Really stoked with the outcome. It wasn't easy and took an unbelievable amount of time and efforts to get it done, but at least this story has a happy ending

A good tip for everyone is to take pictures of the serial numbers on your gear from day 1. If you ever get anything stolen it will come in really handy.

Awesome update

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Airborne said..
Great news! The police finally got a chance to recover our goods from the fraudster. With matching serial numbers it was easy to prove that it's ours. He didn't get arrested or charged but it's just a matter of time while they investigate further. Really stoked with the outcome. It wasn't easy and took an unbelievable amount of time and efforts to get it done, but at least this story has a happy ending

A good tip for everyone is to take pictures of the serial numbers on your gear from day 1. If you ever get anything stolen it will come in really handy.

Glad to hear you got a good result.

"He didn't get arrested or charged"
Yeah WTF is up with that? That's why these assholes are so bold, there's zero deterrent.

Hard to prove theft and time consuming for police in general...However that's the beauty of "STOLEN goods in custody charge " ...Easy work for police....Hard to not get convicted .

And meanwhile what the hell is gumtree doing? I posted one item from a new account and they decided to ban me on ebay, yet apparently reselling known stolen goods in gumtree is ok because your selling history is solid??

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towradgi said..
Hard to prove theft and time consuming for police in general...However that's the beauty of "STOLEN goods in custody charge " ...Easy work for police....Hard to not get convicted .

Similar law in NZ, used to read about those cases in the news all the time but now I guess they've just given up...?

One of the headlines I saw in the paper recently "800 burglaries a month in Canterbury" and some comment about police being baffled and helpless.

We had boards taken from a car then turn up in a garage sale. "I think my cousin gave then to me, not sure where they came from." Ok rascal, off you go.

And when you watch people walk up to not-their-car, cut the straps holding the SUP board and try to walk off with it while the owner asks WTF are you doing, then brazen it out with the cops "it's my board" and then get sent on your way...

Why not just rip everything off you can?

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CH3MTR4IL5 said..
And meanwhile what the hell is gumtree doing? I posted one item from a new account and they decided to ban me on ebay, yet apparently reselling known stolen goods in gumtree is ok because your selling history is solid??

I've tried to sell exactly two things on eBay.

A TT which sold easily, but when I asked for the money I got contacted by eBay asking why I hadn't sent the goods. Guy claimed he'd paid by Western Union transfer, which was funny I said because in the ad I stated "PayPal ONLY". eBay stopped me from selling for a month and limited my sales to $500.

The kite also sold easily, got paid for without hassle but a couple of days after it arrived the guy messaged back saying it was leaking and the stopper on the bar doesn't work. That's funny, I said, cos I had it out at the beach the day before I decided to sell it and it stayed inflated for like 6 hours and the stopper I used for about a half hour when I had to body drag around the breakwater when the wind dropped.

So that's my eBay selling history

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[b]Airborne said..[/
A good tip for everyone is to take pictures of the serial numbers on your gear from day 1. If you ever get anything stolen it will come in really handy.

Don't you think it would be better for the retailer/seller to write the serial number on the receipt

Ian use to