Wanna buy a cheap Arriflex / Arri 16SR 16SB SRI SRII SRIII / Cinema Products CP-16 GSMO / Bolex / Aaton / Frezzolini / Eclair / Beaulieu / Bell and Howell / Filmo / Scoopic, but you don?t want to ripped off on Ebay?
You know what? I have the scoop on all of that. Here is what?s going on in the Ebay wild wild west.
The scam - part I
4 months ago I see an Arriflex SRI on Ebay. Starting bid $1200.00. What the hell, right? So I bid. And within hours I'm outbid. The sale goes up to $7,200.00 and closes. The sellers Ebay name? cheapchick4all with over 150 positive feedbacks. Couple of days later I get an email that says the other buyers wasted the sellers time, but if I wanted to they would sell it to me for the $1,200.00. Wow. Great!
Now here?s where it gets interesting... I get an email from Ebay, that?s right gang - Ebay. Its the Safe Harbor security center informing me that the seller, cheapchick4all is a valued member of the Ebay community, with well over $6,800.00 in a Pay Pal account. However, because the seller has moved to London and because his relocation requires his account to be updated in a couple of weeks time, Ebay is giving me consent to deal with the seller now, without the use of Pay Pal. Western Union will be fine.
Then I get another email from Ebay. The email states that the security center has been contacted by the seller with concerns that I may not be comfortable with dealing with him in this "akward" sales situation. An official endorsement is made stating the funds are safe and if the seller does not perform, my monies will be returned by Ebay.
I go to Western Union. I hand over $1,320.00. I email the seller via the original "contact the seller" link on the auction page where I first saw the camera on Ebay. I ask them several basic questions, No response. I email them once more, I will give them the access code to release the funds at a Western Union office in London, if they provide me with a shipping tracking number. No response from the seller on the site at all.
Then I get an email from the seller and I notice that the email address that he or she is using does not match the one off of Ebay. It's Close, but not exact. The Email is screaming at me. I'm screwing up his finances, he has already shipped the camera, he will leave negative feedback, nag nag nag. Most importantly (hang with me here guys) He demands the Western Union access number before he gives me the shipping number. HE GOT MY EMAIL FROM THE EBAY SITE. But he did not RESPOND from the email given to Ebay.
That sent my warning flags up. Why? Because that?s the sort of thing that someone might do if they are trying to cover the tracks they make. Hide tracks from Ebay, and to keep the scam auction ongoing without negative feedbacks. I sent copies of all of the emails to Ebay. Asked a simple question. Did they send the Emails I got? Sure as hell, they were ALL bogus. EVEN THE ONES FROM EBAY. These guys are so good they even hacked the Ebay Email font system and gave themselves and Ebay web address like www.Ebaysecuritycenter.com. They were pretty slick.
So I went back to Western Union, retrieved my $1,200.00 (I lost the $120 in service fees) and contacted Ebay about pursuing the fraud. I never let on to the guy how I discovered the scam, I just played along. I asked if they wanted to set him up.
Ebay didn't do CRAP. They sent me emails giving advice on avoiding future scams, Thank you emails, and four or five others that didn't do a thing but waste space on the computer screen.
The Scam - Part II
Months go by. I keep looking on Ebay for good deals. I search every morning. Every night. Funny thing, cheapchick4all? They keep re-listing the same camera over and over again. It sells, over and over again too. Then it hits me, this scam artist I dealt with, he runs the auction that generates the leads they need to find suckers (like me). I contact Ebay, tell them what now appears to me to be perfectly clear.
Once more, Ebay didn't do CRAP. They sent me emails giving advice on avoiding future scams, Thank you emails, and yada yada yada. BUT the Arriflex SRI? Suddenly it goes off the radar on Ebay. Never to return.
The Scam - Part III
So now months later I'm cruising Ebay, when guess what I see? A beautiful ECLAIR CAMERA at a price that I can afford too. Whoever owns it, sure loves it. What the hell. I bid. Then I'm outbid. The auction closes somewhere out of my reach. (I?m sure it was the same camera you just mentioned too.)
The very next day the Camera is re-listed on a 24 hour sale. It claims that the Buyer in the original auction flaked out. So, please contact the seller before you bid, because he does not want to waste his time on losers like the last guy. I send him an email as required. He invites me to buy the camera for his base price of $1,500.00 and use - Western Union. He says that he can?t use his Pay Pal account because he has moved to? - Yep! You guessed it - LONDON!
So I figure I've got the same a**ho** on the line for a second time. I tell him, guess what- I was burned before, so send me the camera FIRST. I'll pay you SECOND. I contact Ebay. For the third time, Ebay didn't do CRAP. They sent me emails giving advice on avoiding future scams, Thankyou emails, and yada yada yada. But the camera auction? Ebay TKO'ed me and closed out the auction. Yeah OK Ebay, thanks for nothing. Screw it...
I?m gonna Charles Bronson this a**ho**.
The Scam - PLOT TWIST and CONCLUSION
I sent the con artist guy an email - with an attachment file that claimed to be an access code from Western Union on the sale of the camera. He probably hoped to find $$$ inside the file. Instead when (and if) he opened it, he should have found a picture of a redneck man with a shotgun pointed eye level to the viewer - told him life was full of surprises. (I wonder how long it took for the virus to wipe his drive?)
I hope that this helps someone avoid getting ripped off because search engines everywhere key in on these message boards and someone somewhere may save themselves a couple of thousand dollars just reading what I spent an hour and a half typing.
And I suppose its also possible that the guy with the wiped out drive may be back on line by now - Hell he could be reading this too. If so -
Hey pal? (As they like to say in London) do me a favor, eh? - AND PISS OFF!!!
