Michael Brookes - Scammer Alert

Wow. Does it seem like he actually has a Croft that he took a photo of? If there's a serial number, could you ask Croft if anyone registered it?

Just thinking aloud... So sorry to hear about this!

 

Yet if someone can't sell something on here within 5 minutes they list it on eBay and pay their exorbitant fees for a very average service without even thinking about it. Funny old world!

 

How about a badge of some sort for someone who is >50 posts AND has hit the Donate once or twice? That might give some extra confidence, and a traceable bank/PayPal account. Not compulsory, just a useful flag.

 

Average service?...probably the biggest exposure in the world with an underwritten buyer protection service? and most wise private sellers utilise the 80% off selling fees promotions that come every two weeks, but still, I see your point over paying fees somewhere as sellers are less protected on eBay.

The seller is certainly fraught with potential scammers on eBay, whereas on forums its often the buyer listing wanted ads.

 

You can set up a fake PayPal account to send money in seconds. Its the receiving of money when over the EU Money Laundering threshold that is a little more difficult to circumvent (around 1850 give or take) under that has limited barriers, so I don't think that would really do much and just add a load of admin to Tony.

Its really simple. Don't send money by Bank Transfer unless, at the very least, the person you have been dealing with has history on the forum and/or can be vouched for by someone who is and their address confirmed. Check through posts and see if they are not just adding one liners to random threads, look at their engagement and the things they say.

The 'adding a post it note to a photo' is the easiest thing in the world to do on Photoshop if you have some basic knowledge. However, taking a video, with todays newspaper isn't as easy to do. Ask for a video, not a photo.

In reality, its just a black or silver box , you don't actually NEED it, so chill until something comes up closer to home you can collect or sold by someone that is a regular. Otherwise, use eBay, or ask the seller to use eBay and pay a little extra to cover fee's. Let them protect you.

 

Another site I use has a VIP badge for people who have made a donation (of any size).

Obviously in the People's Republic of PFM all members are equal but I think a 'supporter' badge could work. Once a few people get them everyone would want one : )

 

Yes, I have this with another forum on a completely unrelated hobby. It’s £30 for 3 years or lifetime membership for £50 I think. Folks buy and sell accessories etc from each other all the time. The common interest and credentials you build over time mean people have confidence. Never any problem or scammers. The range of people looking on here must be vast and it’s easy to get taken in by a convincing story. There are plenty of established, trusted members who I’d happily send an item to and say pay me if you like it. On the other hand there will be others I wouldn’t deal with at any price. I do think wanted ads are best avoided unless approached by an established member with credentials.

Sorry to hear this @Nagraboy. Your bank might help but otherwise pour a drink and sit in comfort knowing you are not thieving scum and can sleep at night.

 

If it was an EBay sale then surely you would get a refund on the basis of item not as described, in this case air instead of headphones. What you have described is what can happen to a seller, you sell something and the buyer then tells you there was nothing in the box. So he/she gets the item for nothing.

 

Personally I’d rather it stay as-is, it’s unfortunate that Nagraboy has possibly lost some money but it’s a virtual non-issue here on PFM due to the existing system that seems to work remarkably well at sorting the wheat from the chaff.
Paying a fee for a badge or access to a hidden sub forum isn’t going to stop anyone with intent and it’s not unheard of for existing members of Audio forums to behave badly and rip each other off from bullshitting about descriptions to just walking away with your money.
If people really want to splash a few quid in appreciation for the safety and peace of mind the classifieds already brings in spades send Tony a donation or use the criminally underused Charity room to sell stuff and split the funds between a charity of your choice and PFM, I’ve done it a few times and it’s simple. He also sells records and CDs…

 

If there’s pictures with dates on, there may be location data, especially if taken by phone?

 

Even if there is it is likely to have been manipulated. The fraudsters are putting as much planning and thought into this as we do into our day jobs. Given the stakes, probably even more.

 

It's horrible to hear that this has happened.

I guess you're right, but I'd urge people to think twice before sending money to someone they only know via an online forum, no matter their posting history. Ten years ago I was cheated on the Wam - thankfully only to the tune of £5, for a CD. But three or four others were cheated by the same person at the same time, and they lost more than me. The scammer was an established member with lots of posts, who just disappeared off the radar.

He is a long-term member here with over 1000 posts, however. And he sells quite a lot of high end gear - three items this year, at the last count. As far as I can tell, he has never caused a problem on PFM. But the point remains that a history of posting doesn't guarantee honesty.

 

Name the tea leaf, I got scammed on another forum for £50, these people are scum!

 

"Michael Brookes" is probably chuckling to himself reading this thread

 

The only people I would pay via PayPal F&F or Bank Transfer are those that have a significant posting history that I deem trustworthy, or someone that I actually know.

Anyone else can either suck up the PayPal fees or build them into the price of the item.

A BT or F&F request from a random is a massive red light for me, and it should be for anyone who’s remotely sensible too.

 

It’s clearly an impossible dilemma for Tony. Anyone could pay to be approved, and then get scamming until they were called out. I really like the community of PFM and would like to think that everyone is trustworthy. Certainly everything I’ve bought has gone without a hitch, though I’ve sold more than I’ve bought. A couple of years ago I sold something for £4,000 or so, and was paid by bank transfer over a month before it was collected. I’d like to think that everyone was honest but it seems it’s not the case. I recently sold quite a lot of stuff but chose to put it on eBay rather than PFM, largely because I couldn’t face the messages asking why I was selling and offering really low offers. It would be good if the classifieds could be more transactional, as others have said, but that would involve so much moderation as to be pretty impossible. Fortunately, bad experiences seem to be very rare, and it would be a real shame to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut, annoying as that nut might be.

 

I feel so sorry for @Nagraboy , I was once scammed on gumtree for a considerable sum and never got it back. Problem with it was it was something I very much wanted at the time. I placed a wanted advert and was offered at the price I was prepared to pay, and I stupidly paid via bank transfer. Money never was recovered but I learned my lessons, saying that though there were some Naim Amps ( 250 DR ) listed on Gumtree last week and seller only lived 30 mins drive from me ( or maybe he or she didn’t in reality ) so I planned to drive and pay only to find out via a gumtree alert the following morning that it was a fake advert!. I guess it happens more on there than anywhere else. How all these scammers know the hifi names accurately is troubling, me thinks some of them must have a bit of knowledge at least.

On a similar subject I wonder how a seller can be protected from the “ I received a box of cornflakes or similar” when selling an item on eBay, I guess taking video of everything before sending it rather than photographing things as has been mentioned is the only way and I thank those who mentioned that above.

once again to @Nagraboy hope that your bank can do something.

 

I only ever had this problem on the Wam forum. The spamming in my PMs with people pretending to have the thing I wanted was relentless. I reported it every time and the mods did what they could, but I imagine it’s hard to combat it.

 

Police ought with the co-operation of the bankto be able to identify the "owner' of the bank account to where the money was sent(identifible online by branch specific sort code) and although I doubt the money is still there they might be able to nab him/her?

Last time I notified Action Fraud I heard nothing from them so contacting your local police or the police in the town where the receiving bank branch is located (check sort code online) might be more fruitful.

Good luck

 

Action Fraud are about as useful as a chocolate teapot, a complete waste of time.

(Based on my own personal experience, and that of many others).