Another scam?

[PhantomOSX]

What do you guys think about this one:

Earlier today I got an email from someone on Yahoo auctions (from Italy) that noticed I was interested in buying Powerbooks, so he sends me an email with an offer:

Hello Please excuse me for disorter but i want to know if you are interested to buy BRAND NEW 17 POWERBOOK G4 + TONS OF SOFTWARE.The price for this BRAND NEW 17 POWERBOOK G4 + TONS OF SOFTWARE is 800 USD I think the price is very good, because the price inclunding all taxes!! My product is brand new in your original box never open!!If you whant to buy and if you accept my condition, please contact my for make a good deal!! For many information please contact me!! I look for your reply!! Thank`s for your time and i will wait your reply!! Have a nice day!!

I tell him that I can only afford $650 tops at the moment. So he says he will except $600 for it, that's incuding shipping, etc.

He says he will ship first via UPS, and that after he ships to then send him $542 to him (-$58 bc of the sending fee) with Western Union, and then he'll give me the tracking number for it.

He then sends me the specs:

Ok! Here are the specs: 17-inch TFT Display 1440x900 resolution 1.50GHz PowerPC G4 512K L2 cache 512MB DDR333 SDRAM 80GB Ultra ATA/100 SuperDrive ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 (64MB DDR) Gigabit Ethernet FireWire 400 & 800 AirPort Extreme built-in DVI & S-Video out Include software: Mac OX, Classic environment, Mail, iChat AV, Safari, Sherlock, Address Book, QuickTime, iLife(iTunes, iPhoto,iMovie,iDVD,GarageBand), iSync, iCal,Appleworks, Quicken 2004for Mac, Sound Studio, World Book 2004 Edition, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, Deimos Rising....Much more This is the pic of the powerbook..

The pic is obviously not a picture he took bc it's a pic of a Powerbook at a demo booth, like at the Mac expos, but he admits it's not a pic of his actual Powerbook and that he didn't take the pic. I ask him if he could take a pic of the box (since he says it's brand new sealed) and he says sorry he can't.

After that he says he's going to send the Powerbook and that he'll be back in about 4 hours. He then IMs me a few hours later and says he sent it, he sends me a pic of the shipping info:

I'm thinking, I don't see how he would get a pic of that, I mean, I'm no expert at shipping stuff but I don't remember them asking if you'd like a pic of the shipping info (not how the pic shows anyway). That looks more like the sticker they put on the box rather then the invoice they give you with the tracking number, etc.

Anyway, do you guys think I should wait and see if the thing arrives, even though he's requesting the money now, or what? Is there a way where I can confim that he shipped it without the tracking number? Have you guys ever seen any scam where ppl send you pics like that trying to fool you into thinking they shipped it?

I think I typed everything I remembed, if I forgot anything then I'll post it.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks

 

[blodwyn]

I wouldn't send a dime until it arrives. Even with a tracking number there's no guarantee that the package contains a PB. The price seems too good to be true, so it probably is. I'll bet that it never shows up.

 

[jsw]

Nobody - nobody - is going to sell you a brand new 17" PowerBook for $600.

 

[musicpyrite]

The fact that he has very poor English, blocked out the tracking numbers, and is offing the PB at a wayyy to low price is a HUGE red flag.

I wouldn't do it. Neither should you imo.

 

[emw]

So you think this guy who doesn't know you rushed out to send you this PowerBook with no secured payment? Especially after instantly dropping the price $100? Without you ever actually saying you'll buy it?

Why are the fonts for the shipping information different than those on the label itself - they should all be printed at the same time? Too easy to Photoshop that from another shipping label and doctor the specific information.

Wait to see if you get it. If you don't, then you're not out $600. If you do, wire him the money.

But it's a scam.

Edit: I just noticed how appropriate my sig may be in this case...

 

[Duff-Man]

Duff-Man says....common sense says this is SCAM....don't get suckered in....oh yeah!

 

[Koodauw]

Lets take this step by step.

1st. He contacts you. Rather interesting. Most sellers are not this bold.

2nd. Price. WAY TO LOW. Who sells this thing for 1/4 of what its worth, when you can list on ebay or somewhere for a only a little effort more.

3rd. He said he sent it to you with out payment? Who sends anything worth around $3,000 (or even 600 in this case) with no gaurantee or even a hint of a payment? Sound normal to you?

4th. No tracking number? Prob cause it wasnt sent.

5th. Only takes Western Union. THE EASIEST WAY TO RIP SOMEONE OFF.

6th. If it sounds to good to be true... Guess what.

 

[paxtonandrew]

Interesting. The software that he listed as being included with the computer matches with the software 'given' away with the iBooks. Unless he is sending you an iBook, this is a scam, and(as has already been said) send NO money until you have the (whatever he is sending you) open, and running.

Another problem is, HOW DID HE KNOW YOU WERE LOOKING AT PowerBooks? This I find really interesting to say the least.

 

[Calvinatir]

My old boss wired money to Italy once for front row Lakers Tickets...lol...$4000 out the window, game came and went and he had no tickets. in fewer words....don't do it.

 

[Mechcozmo]

SCAM!

It is too obvious...

Brand new 17" PowerBook with little hope of you sending in payment? Really...

Scam. Pure and simple.

 

[Solafaa]

It most probeblly is a scam but you never know, some peopel are dumb enough to sell things much much lower then its really worth. It could be stolen, he could have won it and wants to sell it really really fast, it is possible that it has fallen of the back of a truck.

The best thing to do imo is to get it firstm test it and sell it on ebay and make your self a cool profitem or spend the money on a new apple and make sure that there is nothing wrong with it.

 

[Sun Baked]

Yay, he can take a picture of the shipping label to prove it was sent.

But he cannot take a picture of the computer in the box to prove there was a computer.

At this point some people would keep the computer and not send the money -- fat chance of that ever being able to happen.

 

[PhantomOSX]

I'm going to wait for sure. Nothing is going to him. The way I see it is, if he "sent" it today, there would be no way for him to get it back once it's shipped would there, so he can't say something like? So no matter what, if he's not lying, it should come to my house. So I will just give him lame excuses of why I didn't send the money yet and let a week go by to see if anything arrives. We'll see what happens, even though it's pretty obvious nothing will.

 

[Macs R Us]

Yep... SCAM.... I have had BAD LUCK with People outside the USA and lost a lot of the BIG $$$ by doing that... Just an FYI to help...

 

[MisterMe]

I'm going to wait for sure. Nothing is going to him. The way I see it is, if he "sent" it today, there would be no way for him to get it back once it's shipped would there, so he can't say something like? So no matter what, if he's not lying, it should come to my house. So I will just give him lame excuses of why I didn't send the money yet and let a week go by to see if anything arrives. We'll see what happens, even though it's pretty obvious nothing will.

I don't know how the scam works, but I know it's a scam. This man is a professional and you are a rank amateur when it come to confidence games. There is no way that you are going to out con him. Don't believe for a microsecond that you are the only potential victim of the scam at this minute. You best defense is to have nothing--not a thing--to do with him. Don't accept the package.

 

[Cybernanga]

Just a though

I beleive this is a SCAM, do not send any money anywhere.

I reckon that the "proof of shipment" has been "edited". He used bad english in the email to make you think that he is not that capable. Most people who know their english is bad will be very careful to use a spell checker. Note the email has bad spelling, but the grammar is fairl reasonable. A person whose grammar is that good would be able to spell better, barring dyslexia.

But, if you are really curious, get a FedEx guy to scan the Bar Code, with his little magic box, this will tell the real details for that shipment. You may find out something interesting.

 

[abhishekit]

Its not very difficult to take the picture of the tracking label, there can be anything inside. Probably you would receive some dirtbags in some days.

 

[jimsowden]

Look how photoshoped that "17 POWERBOOK G4" is before the DISC: prompt. Obviously, this guy went out of his way.

 

[Benjamin]

Ah idk if this helps but I googled the address.. well the "via casiliana #30" and got this result...

Fraud regarding SONY VIAO TR2 , TR3
... This is my address : First Name: Alex Fast Name: Carlo Addres: Via Casiliana #
30 City: Roma Zip: 00100 Country: Italy Easy and safe. ...
sf.craigslist.org/sfc/sys/27808735.html - Supplemental Result - Similar*pages

so.. idk.. the page isn't there and no cache.

this however is an active page..

http://forums.ebay.ca/thread.jsp?forum=7&thread=300014386&modified=1097326274892

this did it for me.. to make it a scam..

Never pay by Western Union transfer.
Even the EOA eBay email says:
"Avoid paying with instant money transfer services such as Western Union and MoneyGram that send cash instantly from storefront locations, by telephone and over the Internet."

once you send the money and it is picked up, it's gone

 

[thejazzman10]

OMG!! no fair!! you get a p-p-p-powerbook???

 

[Mechcozmo]

OMG!! no fair!! you get a p-p-p-powerbook???

Lol...
he is referring to some guy who scammed a scammer.

Too late to find URL...

Anywhoo, this is a scam. Please believe us.

 

[PhantomOSX]

Oh don't worry. I've never fell for a scam before. Most scams like that are common sense. Yahoo auctions are about 90% scammers. The only way he'll get my money is if he robs my house.

 

[oldschool]

Oh don't worry. I've never fell for a scam before. Most scams like that are common sense. Yahoo auctions are about 90% scammers. The only way he'll get my money is if he robs my house.

he's italian...of course he's scamming you.

 

[AmigoMac]

Ciao Tony

 

[PhantomOSX]

I just love the fake mailing site another scammer gave me (another cheap Powerbook seller):

http://internationalexpressromshipp.com/

I've never seen a site so fake before.

No copyright info?
No shipping options?

They can at least make it look more professional.

The same person said that he will call the shipping company and have the package held until he gets the money. Is that even possible? I've never heard of a shipping company doing that. The sad thing is that these ppl actually fool others with this stuff.