fraud commerce claims
If a broker (AKA man-in-the-middle-scammer) cheats a buyer, can the seller be held responsible?
<p>For example, the deal is that BrokerSneaky mails a payment to Seller.  Seller has placed something in escrow as required by BrokerSneaky.  BrokerSneaky DOES NOT mail anything, but instead gets HaplessBuyer to mail the payment by giving HaplessBuyer some reason to send the same amount of money that Seller charged BrokerSneaky.  Seller receives the payment from HaplessBuyer and instructs escrow to release its holdings to BrokerSneaky.  BrokerSneaky disappears without giving anything to HaplessBuyer (who wasn't smart enough to demand an escrow).</p>

<p>What legal claims, if any, does HaplessBuyer have against Seller?</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>What legal claims, if any, does HaplessBuyer have against Seller?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>None. Seller entered a contract with BrokerSneaky, not with HaplessBuyer. HaplessBuyer only has viable claims against BrokerSneaky.</p>

<p>For certain types of goods, services, or contracts, the case might be made that Seller had a duty to ensure that HaplessBuyer --not BrokerSneaky-- is the beneficiary in the contract, but that is not palpable in the situation you describe. Nor does your description reflect that Seller knew of BrokerSneaky's intention to defraud HaplessBuyer. </p>
