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Possible scam?

M

Mongeddavid

pfm Member
I was contacted on here by a new member I will not say who and for what. They may or may not be genuine. We have exchanged some Private messages about doing a swap for some HiFi gear.
We have agreed in principal that the items are of equal value and i was happy to drive down CV19 permitting and exchange the items. He however is asking for us to both pay each other for the items via Paypal goods and services so lets just say 3k as a way of providing some insurance. I have got good feedback here and 900 on ebay with 100 percent record the person contacting me has not given me any indication of if they have a good or any history of feedback anywhere as of yet.
I have given a phone number to discuss but we have not yet spoken.
Does this sound fishy to anyone? I would normally just call and discuss things and have done so with many items sold here exchanging HiFi stories and talked about the items were selling etc.
Just seems a bit odd to me but maybe some of you guys have done this sort of transaction in the past?
 
I think you are quite right to be suspicious. He knows you are genuine but you don't know anything of him.

It could easily be a scam.
 
If you are swopping then why do you need to pay for the goods at all ? Sounds very dodgy to me & l would say to you to walk away from this one if he insists on a single penny being involved.
 
To my mind it's either a swap or a sale. Swaps will always be best in person, unless both parties know and trust each other when other arrangement could be made. As this is someone you clearly don't know, I'd pass on by.
 
Sounds odd to me. A swap is a swap, the fact that money is changing hands each way would make me nervous. Not sure why, but I just don’t get it.
 
You shouldn’t even entertain exchanging funds when I’m pretty sure I still have something special that I might be prepared to put up as collateral.

Now they might look like ordinary beans...
 
Being a cautious person, I wouldn't go near it with a bargepole, esp. at this time of year AND with CV19 getting out of hand. Why do you have to do the trip? There is nothing in the scenario you've outlined, David, which doesn't fill me with misgivings. You could do a half-way swap if he's genuine but even then, how d'you know his stuff works . Forget about the advance payments business; it's irrelevant in this context.
 
**** no. Not with a bargepole. If the goods are equal value nothing more needs doing. Write out two bills of sale and sign them and photograph each other holding them. The PayPal bit is 100% superfluous and scammy.

I bet if you're honest about it that you feel the transaction might even be slightly in your favour, thats the hook.
 
"When their is doubt there is no doubt, that's the first thing they teach you". While it's a quote from a film (Ronin) it's not bad advice i.e. if you think it might be a scam, then treat it like it is one - as it's the only safe option.
 
Mongeddavid said:
I'm more and more convinced its a scammer but a pretty eloquent one in some respects.
Click to expand...

Eloquence is not indicative of sincerity. On the contrary, it's a useful skill to convey a false honesty, as evidenced by the many people defrauded via convincing telephone calls.
 
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