Saw this Powerbook listed on Amazon for $1200 - Apple PowerBook Notebook 15" M9422LL/A (1.50-GHz PowerPC G4, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive) - the guy claims that he owns a store in Madrid and can't sell via Amazon b/c he is not a US citizen and instead wants a Western Union payment before shipping. Too good to be true? Also a similar seller wants me to use a site called www.safedeals-online.com (escrow service) for the transaction. What do you guys think? Any experience with this site? Thanks for any advice.
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New 15" Powerbook for $1200
- Thread starter ibrainch
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Both are scams. Odds are, anytime someone want to circumvent the traditional methods of online payment there is a reason. Online escrow services are bogus, unless they are affiliated with a large online retailer, such as eBay. Also, Western Union is a sure way to send money and never get it back. My advice, don't do it... anything that seems to good to be ture, probably is.
- reaper
- reaper
I smell scam.
The domain was registered 5-11-2004 to someone in Trenton, NJ.
It's a nice site though.. better than most i've seen.
The domain was registered 5-11-2004 to someone in Trenton, NJ.
It's a nice site though.. better than most i've seen.
Definately a scam. But you could go along with the deal anyway, and then sue that guy to hell via Amazon.com's angry lawyers. There are a lot of scams on Amazon.com's site via merchants like that. There was this guy trying to sell a 63" plasma screen television that retails for about $20,000 who was trying to sell it for $1,600. I didn't believe it...either that guy made a mistake by forgetting to put in the third "0", or he's begging to get sued.
thanks
thanks all for advice - i did a quick search on the www.safedeals-online.com site and saw a ton of threads about how it is a scam. very glad i did not go through with it...
thanks all for advice - i did a quick search on the www.safedeals-online.com site and saw a ton of threads about how it is a scam. very glad i did not go through with it...
p-p-p-powerbook!
For an excellent example of the internet's favorite blood sport, Scam-Baiting, see:
PPP-Powerbook!
http://apple.weblogsinc.com/entry/4575937614860237/
The scam was in reverse, though. This guy was selling a powerbook and the scammer tried to get him to send it to England, promising payment through a fake escrow service.
Sadly, www.ppp-powerbook.com seems to be down right now, but here's a mirror! http://www.mannequin3d.com/powerbook/ .
The best part was where the scammer had to pay a 27% duty tax on an item listed at $2100 on the package.
But, in this reverse case, they're done with you once you've registered your bank or credit card information with their fake escrow service. Not sure how to play the bait game with that sort of situation, except maybe to register fake information and watch them twist in the wind trying to "charge" you. Maybe hundreds of people could register fake bank credit card information so they'll waste their time some more.
And the Western Union thing means no escrow service is in place at all, real or fake. I'm glad to see that nobody's fooled by that one. I prefer to watch professional scam-baiting on the elaborate scams with multiple levels of deceit since it tortures the scammers more.
I'd report it to Amazon at the very least. This reflects poorly on them.
For an excellent example of the internet's favorite blood sport, Scam-Baiting, see:
PPP-Powerbook!
http://apple.weblogsinc.com/entry/4575937614860237/
The scam was in reverse, though. This guy was selling a powerbook and the scammer tried to get him to send it to England, promising payment through a fake escrow service.
Sadly, www.ppp-powerbook.com seems to be down right now, but here's a mirror! http://www.mannequin3d.com/powerbook/ .
The best part was where the scammer had to pay a 27% duty tax on an item listed at $2100 on the package.
But, in this reverse case, they're done with you once you've registered your bank or credit card information with their fake escrow service. Not sure how to play the bait game with that sort of situation, except maybe to register fake information and watch them twist in the wind trying to "charge" you. Maybe hundreds of people could register fake bank credit card information so they'll waste their time some more.
And the Western Union thing means no escrow service is in place at all, real or fake. I'm glad to see that nobody's fooled by that one. I prefer to watch professional scam-baiting on the elaborate scams with multiple levels of deceit since it tortures the scammers more.
I'd report it to Amazon at the very least. This reflects poorly on them.