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Scam warning

If anyone should happen to deal on fleabay with a certain user K.k.muller then let it be known he is a fraudster. Happily took my money for speakers and relisted them the next day for double the price hoping to make more money. A complete waste of space.
But you're lucky. You have eBay in your corner. I presume you paid by Paypal so you also have that protection: eBay insists sellers offer Paypal.
 
I don't usually get a problem with bank transfers. I use FB market which I believe is damaging eBay's core business because ebay are always offering £1 listings which tells me they're worried. FB market has a feedback system so that helps build trust.

A bit more detail would help us build the picture.
 
I won't name the guy here but only last week I engaged with someone selling a DAC on another forum at an excellent (too good to be true of course) price. We exchanged messages, he pointed me to his eBay account including phone number and did reply by eBay message, but refused to transact via that route, despite £1 fee offer at the time. I offered cash on collecton (from London); he had "two more interested buyers, first to pay gets". Alarm bells of course. No way I was going there. I did extensive checks which seemed to confirm he was who he said he was despite texting but resolutely refusing to pick up the phone and speak. London based, name and addres check out on 192.com, etc. More alarm bells? I asked for bank details and got the Wirecard/U Bank thing: appalling reputation for being Scam Central, not a bank at all, so I backed out sharpish. A few days later Wirecard went into administration and his personal website disappeared. He's still on eBay and no doubt elsewhere.

There was a lot, a lot more than usual, which stacked up here. The guys are getting clever. But "too good to be true" really does mean it.
 
Mistake made.
Yeah l advertised for a wanted Hadcock tone on on Here and received a reply saying a friend had one for sale and linked me an email address.
Yeah stupidly l contacted the address and was shown pictures of the etc,
Surface to say sent him my delivery address, but luckily went no further as he had reduced the inflated price to meet my request and realised too good to be true. So l stopped there but realised how easy it would have been to send money for no item.
‘‘Twas just the fact that l’m too trusting and assumed validity because l was on a Pink fish.
Who the heck has pictures of a Hadcock ready and waiting, so sad we can’ t relax and trust.

Ahh well tricky times

Seemingly even mentioning an interest in a product can now result in being PM'd out of the blue to see if you'd like to buy the product at an inflated price over what the seller paid just a few months ago, dead easy to check. There's chancers and scammers everywhere they can get a few quid.
 
eBay has (in theory) a feedback system for good sellers
Problem is ...these days NO ONE wants to leave feedback on what they have bought...
Even when you politely ask if they are happy and can feedback be left ... nothing

eBay could strengthen their business model by making sure feedback is left on purchasing
But they won't of course

Don't know if Facebook feedback is similar as I don't use it
 
I've just had dealings with a gentleman who seems to live in Germany, re an amplifier that was initially advertised on a Danish website (HIFI4ALL.DK) at a very attractive price. The amp was only on for a couple of days or so, but I had made an initial enquiry, and said that my brother lives in Denmark and could collect it. My suspicions were slightly aroused when he said that they had been planning a visit to Denmark to his in-laws, but didn't go in the end beacuse of CVD. This made more sense later on. He was very articulate, good English, and sent over some nice photos of the amp. I checked the web and couldn't find any of the images he'd sent, so seemed plausible. He wanted to use some system for delivery and payment which a 'friend' of his who works at Deutsche Post/DHL suggested - E-POST. This involves I think paying money up front which is then allegedly held by Deutsche Post/DHL until the purchaser is happy with the item. This was where I began to get suspicious. He sent a PDF purportedly from Deutsche Post describing the process - however the English is not very good, and it just didn't really sound plausible. I couldn't find it on the web anywhere, but what I did find was a warning from DHL saying that they only ever take money for transport and that there have been fraudulent attempts using their logo etc. See: https://www.dhl.com/global-en/home/footer/fraud-awareness.html
The PDF:

fiLmDDR.png


UheCOIk.png


This could be genuine, but somehow not sure. Also the English is not perfect, and you'd think Deutsche Post would get it correct.

I may have missed out on a bargain, but equally may have saved a lot of euros!

Apparently too HIFI4ALL.DK is reputed to be used quite a lot by scammers.

I'd be interested to know if any one has come across this delivery/payment scheme.
The person I dealt with seemed quite on the level in a way, and when I asked for ID sent me a scan of his passport, but when I subsequently asked for proof-of purchase of amp, photo of serial number, and confirmation of his identity in terms of work or home address, said he would rather sell it locally.
 
I've just had dealings with a gentleman who seems to live in Germany, re an amplifier that was initially advertised on a Danish website (HIFI4ALL.DK) at a very attractive price. The amp was only on for a couple of days or so, but I had made an initial enquiry, and said that my brother lives in Denmark and could collect it. My suspicions were slightly aroused when he said that they had been planning a visit to Denmark to his in-laws, but didn't go in the end beacuse of CVD. This made more sense later on. He was very articulate, good English, and sent over some nice photos of the amp. I checked the web and couldn't find any of the images he'd sent, so seemed plausible. He wanted to use some system for delivery and payment which a 'friend' of his who works at Deutsche Post/DHL suggested - E-POST. This involves I think paying money up front which is then allegedly held by Deutsche Post/DHL until the purchaser is happy with the item. This was where I began to get suspicious. He sent a PDF purportedly from Deutsche Post describing the process - however the English is not very good, and it just didn't really sound plausible. I couldn't find it on the web anywhere, but what I did find was a warning from DHL saying that they only ever take money for transport and that there have been fraudulent attempts using their logo etc. See: https://www.dhl.com/global-en/home/footer/fraud-awareness.html
The PDF:

fiLmDDR.png


UheCOIk.png


This could be genuine, but somehow not sure. Also the English is not perfect, and you'd think Deutsche Post would get it correct.

I may have missed out on a bargain, but equally may have saved a lot of euros!

Apparently too HIFI4ALL.DK is reputed to be used quite a lot by scammers.

I'd be interested to know if any one has come across this delivery/payment scheme.
The person I dealt with seemed quite on the level in a way, and when I asked for ID sent me a scan of his passport, but when I subsequently asked for proof-of purchase of amp, photo of serial number, and confirmation of his identity in terms of work or home address, said he would rather sell it locally.
Alarm bells all over. Nicely swerved!
 
One to be aware of, sellers of Quad cd 66 on ebay who pull the S1 tda1541 and replace with a boggo spec chip and fail to mention it. Always worth asking, just saved myself a nasty surprise.
 
Another dodgy selling...
Mark Levinson 5805 advertised on Facebook and some audio forums by Dan Bittman as a new amp.
No proof of purchase, date code shows 2019 and that's the cash only transaction.
You will listen to unbelievable stories how bad Paypal is for you and he might become a little bit aggressive at that point.
That's "a private driver deliver option" only but it looks like I don't want you to collect it because you will see where I live.
You will be told "you will never find another one" :eek::p:D
 
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After reading this thread I could do with some guidance on how to sell or buy items under the current covid lockdown.

I can see some people insist on bank transfer and that works as a seller but are buyers really OK doing that ? I get the PayPal clawback concerns if going that route so what is the general consensus on how to do things carefully and sensibly as a private seller whilst not discouraging buyers ? Also how to go about buying and doing checks if sellers only want to accept PayPal gift or bank transfer. Thread has given me a good idea on what not to do but I still have gaps. Currently reading everything I can on this, couriers, insurance, double boxing etc etc so I can get to work trying things in a second system. Buying / selling would all be under a £1000.

Any advice greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
Few months ago I sold FTA Callisto USB cable to Lars from Denmark, everything was fine....Lars, hope you are satisfied with this amazing USB cable :cool:
It was our first communication and he asked me to buy newspaper and shoot a picture with date.
I did something better....shoot picture with cable in my hand and part of the communication from computer screen.
 
What I did recently was to send the buyer a picture of my passport and a utility bill in my name to reassure him that the bank account he was paying into (in my name) matched the above
This evidence was all in picture with the item for sale



It's not an unreasonable thing to do when a buyer is parting with a few grand on trust!


It's also all a scammer would need to pretend to be you, surely? Damn but this is a minefield :(
 
It's also all a scammer would need to pretend to be you, surely? Damn but this is a minefield :(


I was happy with the buyers authenticity...I just wanted to assure him that I was genuine and had the goods to well
It all worked fine
Obviously I wouldn't send my details out willy-nilly to everyone
 
A few days ago I posted a wanted add on one of the hi-fi sales sites in the US and got contacted by a chap supposedly working for sales on BanJaf LTD. When asked questions he mentioned the item would be shipped from Virginia US, but when I checked the 'company' is located in the UK. He also mentioned that the payment method would be via CashApp (which I don't use) and when I mentioned that if he did not accept Paypal I'll be passing the offer, he never replied.
 
Chap from USA advertising a arc ref 6 tonight for 5000 euro !! Got that taken down quick , most certainly a scam ( hi fi for sale )
 
<moderating>

Just to clarify the mechanism of Nytechy’s breach above: there appears to be a scammer out there somewhere with a copy of a hacked leaked email/password list from elsewhere (e.g. Yahoo or any of the sites that have had a publicised hack) and enough knowledge of the audio market to put two and two together and try logging in on sites like here, WigWam (which had an identical event recently) etc. If you are using an old common password you are now at very real risk of being compromised.

*** If you have used the same email and password for multiple sites I very strongly advise changing it ***

PS I’ll make this post as a broadcast announcement later.
 
Buying/selling via t'web is a nightmare. I got accused of being dodgy on here last night because I'd put a few items up for sale at the same time. Another member offered a ridiculous lowball on the same item (I know if you don't ask you don't get, but even I've got limits on that one). It's a moot point now, because the item in question has now been sold via eBay at a higher price than I was asking here, but I'm seriously considering making my remaining item sales on PFM cash on collection only.

Sadly the warnings in this thread are well-founded - too many dodgy people out there, and it seems they zero in on people with a passion as easy targets. The best advice I can add to this thread is to stay cynical; If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Ask for photos of the article itself, and use google image search to see if they've been stolen from elsewhere on the web. Unless you trust the seller, make sure you've got some protection in place. If the seller is using a website to trade fraudulently from, report it to their hosting provider - Try to get them taken down so they can't trick others.
 


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