Art. 640 or 646 of the Criminal Code? | Payments and Shipping

magic.cool · 2026-03-14T15:30:24.975000Z

The dilemma about what I’m going to tell you is exactly this: is the offense fraud (art. 640 c.p.) or embezzlement (art. 646 c.p.), or even both?But let’s go in order and tell the little story that a friend of mine told me (and which, since it’s being reported secondhand, should be taken with a grain of salt... though sometimes, when you think badly...).He sells an item in Germany for around 200 euroszzi, buys the shipping through eBay shipping (and so with the subject of this post that I hadn’t mentioned yet: the legendary PACKLINK...), insures the package for the above amount and ships with UPS.The pick-up takes place where he works, so he knows the couriers very well because every day they make a stop there for deliveries and/or pickups.The days pass and the tracking stays stuck in Milan (after having left Vicenza regularly).A week after the expected arrival, the buyer complains about the failure to deliver and opens a dispute.eBay is faster than PackLink and demands a refund before the Spaniards open their dispute with the courier and oh well, that can happen: eBay takes the money and closes everything.Finally, after the standard waiting time, he too opens a claim for a lost package but... ...PackLink closes it immediately because the contents of the package were a DAT recorder, that is, as stated in their list of exclusions: "technology with a date equal to or older than 20 years".Bottom line: 200 euroszzi lost. But the "good part" comes a few weeks later when the unfortunate guy talks about the incident with the UPS guy he almost sees daily at the company, who tells him: "Strange: usually UPS refunds PackLink without any problems... give me the shipment number and I’ll ask at the branch!"How it ended, you can probably imagine: it would seem that for that shipment PackLink was fully reimbursed but that, apparently, it kept the money...Something to report?Yes, in fact he is seriously thinking about it, considering the costs and burdens of a possible lawsuit which, if UPS cooperates positively, he will surely win.For now the first episode ends, I’m waiting for future developments... if there will be any...

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Art. 640 or 646 of the Criminal Code? | Payments and Shipping | eBay Italy