Doppelganger stalks Scots eBay user after deal turns sour

Police are investigating an eBay seller who has been accused of stealing a disgruntled buyer's identity to plague him with unwanted emails and fast food orders.

Euan Tennant, who works as a technical consultant in Bahrain.

Euan Tennant launched a dispute through the sales site after the Fitbit part he bought from a Glasgow-based seller in August for £47 was not as advertised.

But within weeks he began receiving fast food orders which he did not place at the Perth address he had used for the delivery – which was the home of his elderly mother.

He also received a string of emails ranging from threats to messages from gay dating sites to which the seller had signed up Tennant using his personal details. The seller also posed as Tennant to contact eBay to say he wanted the dispute closed down as it had been resolved.

Tennant also believes the seller tried to close his Amazon and PayPal accounts by phoning their customer service representatives and posing as Tennant using information such as his Scottish address and his email.

Police Scotland said it was investigating the incident.

Tennant, who works as a principal technical consultant for a payment systems company in Bahrain, but is based in Perth when he is in Scotland, said: “It was just a catalogue of malicious stuff – all because he did not want to give back £47.”

He said that his mother had received fast food deliveries two days in a row last month from multiple orders placed through websites Hungry House and JustEat – all of which were due to be paid as cash on delivery.

He added: “My 87-year-old mother answered the door to find a fast food delivery which required a cash payment. Because it had my name on it, she just paid it.” Emails included a message entitled “Want all of this to stop?”, which told Tennant to write “dogesec” – an internet meme relating to Shiba Inu breed dogs – on his forehead and forward a picture of himself to an email address set up by the seller. Tennant added that the use of his email on gay dating sites could have caused problems in his resident country of Bahrain, where homosexuality is illegal.

eBay said it was “currently reviewing” the report sent to them by Tennant.

JustEat said that it asks restaurants to “verify orders to ensure first time customers are genuine” and added that it would “fully investigate all reports of non-genuine orders”.

Amazon said in an email to Tennant that it was investigating the matter.

A spokeswoman for Police Scotland said: “We are aware of the matter and are in contact with the complainer to establish if any criminality has taken place.”