Michael Brookes - Scammer Alert

I have a suggestion to put which may help not having to change the site in anyway, this is a wake up call to those of us who have read it and will obviously help protect us all in the long run by being more vigilant. My suggestion is for as many of us as possible to put a £10 into the kitty if @Nagraboy isn’t successful in getting his money back. If he does then the raised funds can go to the running of the site?. I know it isn’t much but the thoughts there?. I know I was pee’d off for months when it happened to me and it surely would help him have a bit of faith in the goodwill of fellow audio enthusiasts. Maybe members on wigwam (but not here) as well might be up for this - just a suggestion though. I do understand though that falling for scamming is such a widespread worry and problem that folk may be against my idea.

 

Thanks @Wayne C - there is already such a thread on Hifiwigwam raising donations in case the bank doesn’t reimburse me. I’m very touched by the kindness of the members on Hifiwigwam, some of which I’ve known online for many years and others not at all. I like the idea of giving the money to the running of the forum if it comes to it.

 

Me too with a certain company..whose name cannot be mentioned....They did nothing and quite a few people filed a complaint about the company but 'Action Fraud' ..or 'Inaction Fraud' did nothing.

A chocolate teapot IS useful as you can eat it... perhaps a better example is 'Ashtray on a motorcycle.'

 

Action Fraud is, AFAIK, a database not a fraud prosecution unit. It’s about collecting data on fraudulent firms or fraudsters, not prosecuting them. The name is a bit misleading if I’m right.

 

I've had a couple of supposed sellers stop communicating when I offered to collect and pay cash instead. One I meant to do, the other I was calling bluff when it suddenly didn't feel right.

Neither via PFM.

 

Or just ask to speak to them. Quite often the criminals will ask (typically in pigeon English) that you message them. As soon as that happens it’s always guaranteed to be a scam.

 

So sorry to hear of your experience. Scammers seem to be ever present in our daily lives.
Many thanks for your post alerting us to this problem.

 

All too common now and people are balsey.

I had someone on AVF recently who PM’d me saying he’d pay asking price for something I was selling but he wanted it shipping to a storage facility in London as he lived in Africa.

 

Not uncommon tbh, I have lots of customers who do that as many of these storage sites are mail forwarders. I use a mail forwarded facility in the States myself also.

 

I sold something on eBay and he wanted it posting to big yellow for forwarding. Thought it was a scam and called them and they said he has an arrangement with them to forward him things so I sent it and all was good

 

Before I buy I do a check list do I know the name, how long on Pfm are they posting just in the classifieds?

Usually these are enough but if I still really wanted to buy something and the seller didn’t check out according to the above and I couldn’t arrange a personal pick up I’d only buy using PP with buyer protection and never a bank transfer.

ps
Charging wouldn’t stop because then a scammer prepared to pay would be actually be more trusted and would someone looking to scam £900 be put of by a £20 fee?

 

Sorry to hear of Nagraboy's woes. A heartless act by some half human moron.

The kitty idea is great and shows the community spirit. No doubt this case is genuine, but such a scheme would in the future have to have some kind of authenticating process to avoid itself being scammed.

The kitty idea is how the original concept of insurance began. The good will of house owners paying into a fund to help each other should their house burn down. The original concept is now way more expensive because of profiteering by the insurance companies and fraud by the insured.

One simple and costless way to add extra safeguards to the forum is to up the time and text count before sales can be advertised. One watch forum I frequent has a 50 post count and 60 day policy before you can even see the sales forum. To sell, you have to have 250 posts and 180 day membership.

 

Whilst I see the need to discuss this horrible problem via forums,all we are doing is letting the scamming b******s know what we are planning,so they can be even more devious and informed to be able to releave us of our money.

Is there not a way this can be discussed privately between us,so as not to forearm the scammers via a public post ?
Maybe a warning button only visible to established members could be a way of keeping these discussions private?

 

It was eBay who originally said no to the refund request as they had proof of delivery, that seemed to be all they cared about. I then took it to PayPal who also sided with the seller. This was despite me having 20 years worth of regular positive eBay feedback with £1000s a year in HiFi, PC and MTB purchases and sales. The seller had 3 feedback. I was absolutely furious.

 

Though we do occasionally get someone making endless inane posts just so they can reach the 50 post threshold. Encouraging them to post x5 as many could backfire...

 

Frantic posting does occasionally happen, and is usually called out by members. In itself, frantic posting is useless because one has a 180 days to wait and this puts off a lot of chancers.

 

If the 50 post and 60 day policy is needed just to see the sales forum, then a lot of scammers wouldn't even know of our discussions.

 

I’ve been frantically posting since 2003. Buy with confidence.

Thanks for the nudge/reminder, I’ll do that with a pile of goodies soon.

@Nagraboy So sorry, I hope you get this sorted.

 

Got caught out selling a camera body on eBay a few years back.

Got paid via Paypal & then the buyer collected. Next day the payment was reversed by Paypal as the account had somehow been hacked. Lesson learned....if receiving Paypal payment only mail to the registered Paypal address.



Hope you get a good outcome.

 

I'm surprised to hear someone could send an empty box following Paypal payment and PP washed their hands of it. What sort of protection is that?