Almost scammed today........but my wife smelled a rat

Suzuki4evr

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So I am in the market for a dividing head and looking for good condition or new.

My wife put an ad in on Gumtree "Wanted dividing head". I get a call today and the old guy says he has one wich he got from his dead sons estate. I must make an offer because he doesn't know how much to ask. So I make an offer wich he accepted an I can pay half before and half after. He didn't even tried to bargain with the price so I thought this is the bargain of the year for me.
I asked him to send pictures so I can see how it looked. This is what he sends me.

B(2).jpg
Dv(2).jpg
Mi(1).jpg
Dv1.jpg

Firstly he did not even argue about the price and would deliver with a truck that is heading in my direction about 1500km away,but I must act fast. He could not give an account number or bank to transfer the money to and he wanted me to pay in a way I have never heard about before.

He send me a lot of information including a copy of his ID document. Soooo my wife put on her detective cap. She googled the guy and found out there is no such farm he claimed to be on and it doesn't exist. His daughter is also in on it by the way. My wife found evidence using his ID that he has scammed someone else and the best of all is the pictures is pictures that is posted on the Internet before and they just edited it so that some details that are on it showing other names of a company is not on it. So he isn't even in possession of any dividing head whatsoever. That is also why he could not give me any dimensions.

Luckily I didn't give any information of mine,wich he wanted. I thank my wife for being a sceptic,otherwise I could have lost a lot of money.

I am sad that this OLD guy of 65,no offense to our members in that age group,is crooked and scam people in the name of dead people who probably doesn't exist.
So buyers be ware my friends.
 
I must add that this is the main reason why I don't want to use ebay. If I can't touch and inspect it,I struggle with the thought of paying my money to someone I don't know far away from me and HOPE I get the item.
 
Their MO is looking up "Wanted" and whatever you are looking for and then they do a little research and then call you and say they have what you want. It all looks very legit and you would think......."what could go wrong",but everything could have gone wrong if my wife did not dig a bit. I get mad thinking about it, because I want to trust people,but people like these makes it difficult and makes it difficult to do good honest business.

Thanks for letting me rant on this sit. I hope none of you are ever scammed in any way or form. But I will pray for this guy and his daughter tonight,but I am still mad :mad::mad::mad::mad:
 
In reality, Ebay is generally pretty safe- and if you pay by credit card you are doubly protected. I've had a couple occasions where I couldn't get satisfaction from a seller and my CC company stepped in and got my money back. They want you to be happy using their card.
Take your smart wifey out to dinner to thank her for saving you a big headache ;)
Mark
 
Yes, I quite agree that E Bay is about as safe as safe gets, I have had some problems with sellers that really do not know what they are selling and one item (a dividing head) that arrived broken due to the seller not packing it properly and I think I got a partial refund and found another for parts and ended up with a good working unit; this was a Brown & Sharpe universal head, specific to my milling machine. The seller was, I think Eastern European, and presumably spoke as he wrote, broken English.
 
So I am in the market for a dividing head and looking for good condition or new.

My wife put an ad in on Gumtree "Wanted dividing head". I get a call today and the old guy says he has one wich he got from his dead sons estate. I must make an offer because he doesn't know how much to ask. So I make an offer wich he accepted an I can pay half before and half after. He didn't even tried to bargain with the price so I thought this is the bargain of the year for me.
I asked him to send pictures so I can see how it looked. This is what he sends me.

View attachment 263316
View attachment 263318
View attachment 263319
View attachment 263320

Firstly he did not even argue about the price and would deliver with a truck that is heading in my direction about 1500km away,but I must act fast. He could not give an account number or bank to transfer the money to and he wanted me to pay in a way I have never heard about before.

He send me a lot of information including a copy of his ID document. Soooo my wife put on her detective cap. She googled the guy and found out there is no such farm he claimed to be on and it doesn't exist. His daughter is also in on it by the way. My wife found evidence using his ID that he has scammed someone else and the best of all is the pictures is pictures that is posted on the Internet before and they just edited it so that some details that are on it showing other names of a company is not on it. So he isn't even in possession of any dividing head whatsoever. That is also why he could not give me any dimensions.

Luckily I didn't give any information of mine,wich he wanted. I thank my wife for being a sceptic,otherwise I could have lost a lot of money.

I am sad that this OLD guy of 65,no offense to our members in that age group,is crooked and scam people in the name of dead people who probably doesn't exist.
So buyers be ware my friends.

Craiglist is full of scammers like this. Guy selling a John Deere tractor pulled basically the same stunt. Smelled out the rat right away and reported him, but then I'm the suspicious sort. ;)

Now I either buy from a real bricks and mortar store, or Ebay and do just fine
 
Yep, sellers packaging items has been my worst experience with ebay. I swear someone in the Denver post office must have a heck of a tool collection. But for the most part, my experience has been great. I tend to stay away from the lots of many small to med tools.

I think I have had more issues with Craigslist sellers. Went to one seller, and the bandsaw was not even the same brand or color as the pics they posted. Another time, I talks on the phone with the seller for over an hour about a 14" lathe he had for sale. Told him, I just needed to line up a trailer, and we agreed I would meet him at his place like 2PM the next day. The next morning, I called him, and spoke to his wife, told her I did line up a Uhaul trailer, and will be there at 2. After picking up the trailer, and driving over 2 hrs, I was less then 15 mins from his house, and he calls me and says he just sold the lathe. Had another seller want a deposit on the bandsaw, before I drove down to take a look. claimed he had too many buyers not show up. Well, neither did I

Definitly a buyer be aware world.
 
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Scams are avoidable on CL and other local selling boards, simply by dealing with people face to face at a safe place, no exceptions. Stay away from seedy locations, keep your money and wallet off your person (or well hidden) until you have a deal, and have not smelled a rat. There are lots of scammers and other crooks in the world, just don't play their game, play your own, which is keeping from getting burned or robbed. If anything sounds at all strange, be on your highest alert from the beginning.
 
I get annoyed by all the scammers that text me when I list an item on CL. Just went through it again this weekend. I do get some satisfaction sending replies to them. Not the sort of thing that could be posted on this site....LOL. They leave me alone after that.
 
What gets me more than anything is finding a nice item in great shape, winning it on Ebay for a nice price, then having it get destroyed in shipping because the seller has no clue on how to package anything-- arrrgh! I've tried holding the payment until you get them to agree to pack the item properly but even that fails sometimes- :rolleyes:
 
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