buying machines online

[messyfuture]

Not sure where to post this but.......

I have bought alot of my studio stuff over the past few years from sites like sound on sound and loot.

I have never had any problems buying stuff, but last week i posted an ad on the sos site looking for a power supply for a roland R8 drum machine that i have had lying about.

i got an email for a guy in spain wanting to buy it and asking for a price for the R8 and how much shipping would be.

I checked out the shipping which cost £100 with DHL and told him that it would be £200 in total.

Got another email back today from him asking for my full nmae address etc so he could get his secitary to send out a check for £250

The thing thats in the back of my head is that this might be some sort of scam why would this guy want to spend 100 notes on a ok drum machine and pay the same again on shipping and throw in an extra £50

He has not asked about condition how well it works nothing, and there have been warnings in the sos forum about recent scams

Or do u think i'm just being paranoid :!:

[Basil Rush]

Yeah, we've had one of these weirdos. I'm not sure how the scam works mind you. Send him a rock or something first time and see what happens maybe?

[FILTERZ]

dont send it until the cheque clears, i cant see what can go wrong if you do this

[mux]

It's a scam. Check the Analogue Heaven archives.

The "cheque" will be a cashier's cheque that looks real - even your bank will think so, though they'll hold it for 30 days, and may not tell you depending on your level of trust with them. If you have a good standing, they may just cash it for you then take the money back out in 30 days, after you've already shipped the guy the gear.

Do NOT sell to people this way. You WILL lose your money and gear - it's a known scam.

[Jimfish]

yeah i buy and sell a lot on those kind of sites too but i only send or buy stuff when ive spoken to someone on the phone and had a chat about music etc - try to suss em out first - all the scammers seem to have some reason you cant talk to them on the phone.

also beware of peeps that dont haggle

[messyfuture]

just emailed the guy asking for his phone numbers

i'll keep you posted

[Jimfish]

i think mate this is definitly a scam - dont even waste your time on it please m8..

Ive done heaps of buyin and selling on sos, loot and ebay etc (in fact i sold you a filter once didnt i?) and ive seen hundreds of emails that sound just like yours.

heres some things to look out for:

foreign buyers - particularly with crap english and who dont really ask many questions about the item just instantly talk about sending payment.

buyers who are willing to pay way more than the item is worth

also they often talk about 'my secretary' or 'my associate' or some bollox.. presumably to sound respectable but its crap.

also never pay trough western union as its untracable if they dont send your item and never accept large payments through paypal as the other party can withdraw thier payment up o six months later and YOU will be liable (this hapened to me and cost me £700!!!)

anyway.. ignore this guy, i promise you 1000000% its a scam!

If you really arent sure send me a copy of the mail and ill check it for you and tell you if its genuine or not

[Jimfish]

but i can tell you now its not..

[messyfuture]

yup hes deffinetly a scamer

Did not send me any contact numbers only an address

so if anyones selling anything online and someone called bruce mills brucebox_01@yahoo.co.uk claiming to be from spain ignore him

[Basil Rush]

Judging by the volume of emails I am receiving from SOS readers selling gear on our site, it looks like the gang that perpetrate the Scam explained above are back!!

These guys have emailed lots of sellers on the site, and one or two trusting souls have been caught out unfortunately.

The cheques the Scammers send do clear initially into your account, because they are exploiting a little-known loophole in that high street banks (I am told) no longer verify cheques locally within each branch but despatch them to collective centres and it can take several weeks before a cheque is cross-checked against signatures or found to be counterfeit.

Thus, the cheque appears to clear and honest readers have sent the difference/balance on to the (scam) buyer, who has no interest in buying your keyboards or whatever, they just want the cheque for the balance to clear into their accounts. This leaves you out of pocket when the Bank eventually inform you that the cheque was indeed a forgery!

One poor reader who contacted me "sold" his studio kit for £3200 and got a cheque for £7000 and, being honest, sent off the difference to the scammers after their £7000 cheque appeared to clear OK (only for it to be returned by the Bank 2 weeks later).

By replying to these Scammers (scum?) and depositing their cheque, you leave yourself wide open to possible action from the Bank against you for trying to deposit a forged cheque! Frown

The Police have no time to investigate matters like these, hence the Scams continue to be perpetrated on our readers and most other web sites around where people sell things.

To protect seller identities from automatic harvesting programs that attack such sites, SOS already hides the email address of the Seller, but there are some clever people out there who find ways around anything.

In the end, you have to trust your instinct when you receive "scam spam" like the Nigerian email shown at the top of this thread. Walk away and do not reply. If the writing style is poor and it looks like they know nothing about your specialist equipment, then do not reply to such emails.

Be careful.

Ian Gilby
Managing Director/Webmaster

[Komplex]

Don't even bother with it. If u get a feeling that somethings not right, it isn't. Your instincts don't lie.

[sash]

Send him a dead bird

[MARKEG]

very interesting. isnt it crazy ppl are out there doing this and can get away with it. hmmm. i feel very sorry for those trusting souls out there that have been ripped off by these people.

[FILTERZ]

dont send it until the cheque clears, i cant see what can go wrong if you do this



best ignore me mate i reckon, sounds like stuff can inddeed go wrong

[messyfuture]

I'm not replying to any more of this guys mails

Definately better safe than sorry

anyone want to buy a R8??

[messyfuture]

haha have u seen the post in the insane asylum about scammers who get scammed?

http://www.blackoutaudio.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=20179


quality website i've been on it for hours