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eBay - is this guy for real?

cb911

cb911

macrumors 601
Original poster
i've been looking at PowerBooks on eBay lately. i saw a couple, from sale in Italy, obvious frauds. but then this morning some guy just emailed me asking if i want a 17" PB? i don't even know the guy, and he doesn't have any PB auctions on eBay. his username is wmark777 and that seller has only been selling stuff like ice-cream scoops and plates etc.

anyways, he wants AUD $3999 for a 17" PB. i asked for the payment details, and of course - Western Union. but then he said to send the funds to his location, but in a friends name, then send him the transfer's details(SENDER NAME,RECEIVER
>NAME,MTCN). he says that once the funds are there he will ship the PB and email me the UPS tracking #. then he says that only when i have the goods and have checked it i will have to change the Western Union payment to his name so he can get the funds.

Has anyone heard of anything like this? this seems very similar to the way an escrow service works, but he still insisted on Western Union.

does this sound like a safe deal? he can access the funds unless it's in his name, right? i've never used Western Union before, so i don't really know how it works.

if people could let me know what you think, that would be great. 🙂
 
Anyone that e-mails you from eBay regarding a 17" PowerBook is 99.9% of the time a scammer.

Whenever I bid on auctions for PowerBooks, I always get tons of people e-mailing me about some deals that would be awesome if they were real ($1300 for a 17" PowerBook?!). And they're always from outside of the US.

I wouldn't trust him. Win an auction the real way, that way eBay is there to back you up if you get scammed.
 
Definitely, there are way too many scams out there and if it looks way too good to be true, then it is basically a scam.
 
these people are like hawks looking for mice, everytime you bid on a powerbook its like walking into an open field unfourtunately.
 
Don't go ahead with it: a product as valuable as a Powerbook needs to be bought locally I reckon. There are so many things that can go wrong: money getting lost in transit, the product getting lost when shipping, it being held up in customs, it being liable for import duty etc etc etc and that's only if the seller is genuine!!

I'd advise you to look for products in your area and then go there and pay in person so you can view the thing and make sure there's nothing wrong with it: a good seller rating is also a plus.

Obviously everyone starts off on eBay with a rating of 0, but you'll always be better off buying from someone with a few positive comments (also preferably from people with good ratings).
 
I've been trying to buy a powerbook on ebay for a while now. I get several emails a day from people saying "I noticed you're trying to buy a powerbook. I have this [insert amazing deal here] for you".

Stay away.

For a while, I amused myself my writing back to all of those people saying I was interested in doing the deal if they'd use an escrow service. Of course, none of them would. My favorite line is "I'm too worried about fraud with escrow services". Yeah right, so instead I should just blindly western union money overseas?
 
The set-up with western union is the same as a bunch of those Nigerian inheritance scams - wire the money in a different name and I'll check to see if its there, etc. I have no idea how they run security at western union, but how hard can it be to print out a fake i.d. on a color printer with any name you want?

If you really considered this at all, you should be sure to get a second opinion before any serious financial transaction.

For major ebay purchases, I wouldn't trust anyone who refuses to use escrow, and who will not accept credit cards (at least through paypal with a verified account).

One other thought though---there is nice account online somewhere (sorry, don't have the link) of someone who managed to get a buck or two out of one of those Nigerian scams after establishing a long correspondence, leading them on, and then insisting on a show of good faith. Maybe you can get the seller to wire you a dollar or two to show he's for real.
 
I went through that same thing prior to buying my 12" - a guy selling it in AUD but his e-mail once I made contact was @yahoo.es. I questioned him about it to which he replied ``My wife is spanish but I certainly am not''. Checked the headers - he definitely was sending it from Spain.

He, too, said that I could put it in whatever name - but again, western union is crap. Don't ever pay for something in a wire transfer.

These are almost as bad as the Nigerian scams out there.

They flock to you like fleas on a dog the minute you place a bid for a powerbook, anywhere. I've had my powerbook for almost a month (having ``bought it now'', but bid on 3 or 4 others in that timeframe) and to this day I get the scammers.

The best one was the 17" for $999, with an airport extreme - and if I paid an extra $399 he'd throw in the 20" display.
 
Re: eBay - is this guy for real?

Originally posted by cb911
i've been looking at PowerBooks on eBay lately. i saw a couple, from sale in Italy, obvious frauds. but then this morning some guy just emailed me asking if i want a 17" PB? i don't even know the guy, and he doesn't have any PB auctions on eBay. his username is wmark777 and that seller has only been selling stuff like ice-cream scoops and plates etc.

anyways, he wants AUD $3999 for a 17" PB. i asked for the payment details, and of course - Western Union. but then he said to send the funds to his location, but in a friends name, then send him the transfer's details(SENDER NAME,RECEIVER
>NAME,MTCN). he says that once the funds are there he will ship the PB and email me the UPS tracking #. then he says that only when i have the goods and have checked it i will have to change the Western Union payment to his name so he can get the funds.

Has anyone heard of anything like this? this seems very similar to the way an escrow service works, but he still insisted on Western Union.

does this sound like a safe deal? he can access the funds unless it's in his name, right? i've never used Western Union before, so i don't really know how it works.

if people could let me know what you think, that would be great. 🙂
Click to expand...

how would u know what his real name is? He could just tell u his "Friends" name is john boe, when he is actually mr. boe....
 
i thought about the fact that he could use a fake I.D. to collect the funds, and i'm about to email Western Union to see what I.D. requirements they have.

tazo, he wants me to send the money to one of my friends, so that supposedly he can check the funds are there, but won't be able to collect them yet. in the email he also said that he would setup a private auction on eBay if i was interested.

if something did go wrong, what sort of protection would eBay offer?

also, has anyone here every used Western Union? what sort of experience did you have with them?



edit>> i just had more of a look at Western Union and they only require a drivers license to collect the funds. damn, even i could make a fake I.D. like that!! oh well, i'm going to stay clear of 17" PowerBooks unless they're for sale from Australia.🙄
 
western union...

it's basically a quicker version of stuffing cash in an envelope and mailing it. yeah, sure, the mail should get to the person addressed and only that person is supposed to open the mail...
 
100% Scam

This is 100% scam. Do not send him any money. I was almost scammed like this, which was idiotic of me. Do not do it.
 
You really just have to stop thinking this is possible, I mean it sounds cool and hes selling you the dream ( I love that phrase) but its not gonna work. Well your at it why don't you guy one of those auctions for information on how to recieve free electronics. At least with the info your only otu like 10 bucks instead of 1500 or whatever hes offering you.
 
yeah, there's no way i'm going to deal with this guy, but he sure is persistent.

and since it's not long until Monday now...😉



edit>> this guy wants to use an escrow service now? i don't know what's up with this, but he wants to use www.securepays.com. it seems like a legit escrow service... but i still want to check it out.

anyway, i'm going to see if he'll useTradeSecure.com.au.

does anyone have any links to sites where you do things like check a record of fraud sites and fraud companies, etc?
 
Conning the con artists

Originally posted by ima_pseudonym
The set-up with western union is the same as a bunch of those Nigerian inheritance scams - wire the money in a different name and I'll check to see if its there, etc...
One other thought though---there is nice account online somewhere (sorry, don't have the link) of someone who managed to get a buck or two out of one of those Nigerian scams after establishing a long correspondence, leading them on, and then insisting on a show of good faith...
Click to expand...
IIRC, you may be referring to this:
http://spl.haxial.com/nigerian-fraud/
(BTW yes, this appears to be the very same guy whose misguided article prolly contributed the most to igniting the firestorm of G5 benchmark criticism; however, if you can manage to set aside your irritation at that debacle, this "conning the con artists" story is still very funny in its own right -- altho' he only led them on a snipe hunt for a while, didn't get any "good faith" money outta them...)
 
he he. 😀

i would try to get some money out of them if they weren't selling anything and just trying to get my money. 😀
 
Originally posted by cb911
he he. 😀

i would try to get some money out of them if they weren't selling anything and just trying to get my money. 😀
Click to expand...

well then, just get him to send you the optical drive in good faith 😉
 
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