Another Ebay Scammer

mark leuchter · November 18, 2004

Hi...

I ran across a short-running Ebay lsiting for an SR2 with two mags and a Zeiss 10-100 T2 Mk 2 zoom, all for $4000. I wasn't going to buy it but I was just curious...so I emailed the guy selling it. He said he would be willing to sell just the lens, for $1300. I figured that the resale value of this lens, which was apparently in perfect condition, would make it a potentially worthwhile purchase at this price.

So I asked the guy if we could do the deal through Paypal. He refused. I asked if we could do it through escrow.com. Again, he refused. He wanted to do it through Western Union, and THAT set off alarm bells in my head.

I remember an earlier post from someone out here who had a similar experience, and the great way they determined if the seller was a scammer. So I did something similar, and asked MY seller if "the Zeiss zoom had 4 flange compression chambers" or the "Factory standard 3 flange compression chambers". He replied -- "it has the factory standard 3", and then gave me the info for sending off the money. I was thinking about sending off another email asking him if this was the Zeiss lens that came with the hyperdrive and photon torpedo option as well, but didn't want to waste more internet bandwidth.

It was EXACTLY the same scam as depicted in the earlier post out here. The guy is going by the email address "jasonreese@myway.com". I have a hard time believing he is really someone with such a proper English name, as his typed messages are in broken English, though this doesn't really matter. He is certainly a genuine scammer. He lives in London, UK.

Just wanted you guys to be aware of this dork.

Mark

November 19, 2004

There are thousands of these guys out there, thousands!

99% from eastern Europe or Russia. The old trick is to use pics of the camera that look like they where taken by an amateur, so it appears that the seller really owns the camera or other gear.

Yahoo auctions was incredibly bad for this, I estimate that 90% of the video camera auctions on there where fraudulent. The Yahoo dit wits would do nothing about it because, "that would interfere with the privacy of their members."

Any time you buy gear on ebay you have to be so careful. I've bought tons of used gear on ebay from USA based sellers and never had a problem. Always check the feedback.

Although, I would not be surprised if the scammers have found away to rig up fake feedback.

I'm sorry to say this, but if the seller types in broken English DON'T BUY no matter where he says he's located. It's a shame I have to paint every one with broken English with the same brush, but that's just a reality.

DC

DavidSloan · November 19, 2004

Thanks, Mark! We have to make sure we circulate the names of these crooks, and report them to Ebay or whatever the proper channels are. If looks to good to be true, it is!

Jason Mann · November 19, 2004

I'm shaking my head and thinking of a very disappointing interaction I had with _______ from London, UK about a year ago.

Bolex or paperweight?

:angry:

Adam Frisch FSF · November 19, 2004

I've only had good experiences on Ebay. But then again I don't buy stuff from guys with zero feedback in Minsk, Belarus....

Phil Rhodes · November 19, 2004

Hi,

Where's this guy claim to live? I could look him up...

Phil

Matt Pacini · November 19, 2004

I cannot attest to this particular guys' honesty, but an ebayer refusing to take PayPal is absolutely NOT an indication that he's a scammer.

I don't take PayPal either, and the reason is, I got scammed from someone in an ebay deal that he paid with Paypal, and PayPal would not lift a finger to help me, even to give me ANY information at all, that would enable me to even get a police report going.

Not even the date of the transaction!

They cited 'customer privacy", in other words, they protect scam artists' privacy concerns over your getting scammed concerns.

They didn't cut this guy off for months, because I saw his ebay negative feedback pile up with the exact same scam he did to me.

When this happens, they just lock up the victim's account, take all YOUR money, and don't do anything to the thief.

"Convenient", means convenient for fraud and scam artists as well.

Matt Pacini

mark leuchter · November 19, 2004

I'm sorry to hear about your Paypal ripoff, Matt. I wasn't suggesting that the guy was a scammer because he wouldn't use paypal, but because he seemed to hell bent on having me wire him the funds through Western Union. It was also sort of suspicious that he was willing to sell a Zeiss 10-100 t 2 for so little money, especially when his "ad" on Ebay seemed to reflect a good understanding of how valuable the equipment was. He probably lifted the ad from another website, then entered a line or two of his own underneath it.

Anyway...trust no one, agent Mulder.

(except for David Mullen, Mitch Gross, and the rest of the Peanut Gallery from this forum...)

J. Lamar King IMPOSTOR · November 22, 2004

When I bought my K-3's I was so affraid I was going to be ripped off because the guy only wanted Western Union. But he had numerous positive feedback for selling K-3's and not plastic toys or something. It took about 3 months for them to show up but they did.

At that time about a year and a half ago, people didn't want to take PayPal because someone could authorize payment then somehow cancel it by claiming the seller was the scammer. Has this changed?