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Suspiciously Cheap MacBook Pro

R

Rescaping

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 17, 2013
5
0
Hey,
I'm considering buying a MacBook Pro from gumtree, and I came across one for £300, i7, 16gb of RAM, retina, 750GB of memory, 2012, firstly that seems unbelievable, I asked why it was so cheap and the seller said "I need the money for my daughters 18th as really skint and her birthday is Tuesday"
This doesn't seem too far out, but she won't use paypal because she claims to have been scammed before with it, and she lives too far away for me to pick it up, so she suggested transferring through the bank, and gave me her sort code and acc #, she's also sent pictures with the macbook with name and date written on it.
She said this when I confronted her about the sketchy nature of it
"I totally understand what your saying although all I use is bank transfers I pay for most things online by this from gumtree etc.. I'm not about to scam anyone if that's what you mean. No1 can ever afford to loose £300 not just by Christmas. I can assure you that you'll deffinatly get the MacBook and will be very happy with it"

Basically I'm on the edge about this, it was "arranged" yesterday - just need some advice if anybody has any? Or some form of reassurance/talking me out of it.
 

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I live in north Wales and it's in south East London haha, it's not possible.
 
Beezy253 said:
No Paypal, no deal. Seems sketchy.

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Do you have any Friends or Family Members that live in the area?
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Not that I know of, that would be ideal.

Edit: it says retina in the ad description, not sure, just going off of that.
 
not retina

Beware, the MacBook in the picture is not a Retina MacBook.

And the whole thing seems a bit fishy. I've come across plenty of scammers on Craigslist, and Gumtree is probably no different.
 
Beezy253 said:
Retina Macbook Pros don't have the branding on the screen.

and the box it's sitting on is for a cMBP.

Pretty sure this is a scam.
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Ah, I see. I wasn't actually interested in the retina part of it, but I guess it's a lie that proves she's not above it, or is just uneducated on it, she did mention her ex husband bought it.
I'm going to try messaging her saying I'm paying, while simultaneously messaging her from a disposable email asking if it's still available, if she says it is, even after I've said I'm paying, that's the end of that, otherwise, eh - might be real. Still wouldn't put my mind at rest though.

rgeek said:
And the whole thing seems a bit fishy. I've come across plenty of scammers on Craigslist, and Gumtree is probably no different.
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You're probably right, but I recently sold my PC and I'm trying to replace it as fast as I can, probably need to slow down and think.
 
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I'm not sure, but in Poland we have post service which includes payment on arrival and then post office wires money to sender.

Can't you convince her to send it that way? Otherwise - I wouldn't risk it.
 
This has scam written all over it, down to the sob story of her needing the funds for her daughter's bday, she'll not accept PP because of being scammed.

Too many red flags being raised on this. OP, I'd stay away from this sale. You lose all protections if wire the money to her.. With PP you can dispute the sale and get your money back if the it is a scam
 
Rescaping said:
I'm going to try messaging her saying I'm paying, while simultaneously messaging her from a disposable email asking if it's still available, if she says it is, even after I've said I'm paying, that's the end of that, otherwise, eh - might be real. Still wouldn't put my mind at rest though.
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Please err on the side of caution. 300 pounds clearly falls into the category of too good to be true.

I'm sure you've thought all of this through, but to put it plainly as possible:

The situation where she does not accept the offer from the disposable email wouldn't bear any additional proof in favour of the truth of the original listing. She may very well list multiple listings under multiple phone numbers/emails.

I would say picking it up, no matter how serious the inconvenience would reduce the risk of this deal greatly.
 
This is 100% a scam. I've seen it over and over. Don't even waste your time with this guy. Seriously.
 
"I won't use paypal because I've had bad experiences with it" = 100% scam scam scam scam.

Do not pass go, do not collect £200.

This is no different to ebay sellers who contact you and try to get you to pay for auctions outside of ebay's systems (i.e., no paypal or payment through the site) to "save you money on fees".

It's a certain scam. Walk away.
 
The fact that you think this could be legit reminds me that so many people fall for these scams daily
 
Too many red flags here. Walk away if I was you.

Or, arrange to meet them. What's a train ticket? £100. Money well spent IMO, if legitimate then still got a bargain.
 
stridemat said:
Too many red flags here. Walk away if I was you.

Or, arrange to meet them. What's a train ticket? £100. Money well spent IMO, if legitimate then still got a bargain.
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that's excellent advice and it will quickly uncover whether its a scam (it is a scam). If you opt for this, make sure you meet in a public place
 
I would only do this in person or via PayPal. If it were in person I'd meet somewhere public and safe then have them turn the computer on a verify it's specifications and ensure it works properly. Then I'd hand the money over. But for that price she's offering it makes the whole thing unseemly.
 
This follows ALL the classic scam things:
An excuse to not use Paypal.
A price that is way to good to be true.
Saying they need money for something really fast, saying its their kids birthday is a classic excuse to get some compassion.
The seller almost ALWAYS say they are women, because people have a tendency to trust women more, over the internet.
Also its much easier to fake "not knowing" technical things, and that's why price is low, as a woman.

The fact that you got a picture of a totally different model, is also a red flag.
Because a rMBP for such a cheap price lures way more people then a plain MBP. And most people cant see the difference on a picture taken that way, you didn't so its fair to say not many do.

Even if she says its sold on E-mail if you contact her, you have NO guarantee anyway.
Scamers are not stupid, and do understand that the email might be from the buyer just to check if he/her is getting scammed.


Do not fall for this, you will get scammed. Offer her to pay buy paypall or money on delivery service.
The fact that the computer she/he has is a totally different machine should also change things.
 
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It's a little too late and I don't have an extra 100 right now, her "daughter" has her birthday tomorrow, so bail on it seems the best idea. Cheers haha.
 
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