Almost got Scammed BEWARE!!
 

Maybe this is old or maybe not...... I am selling two 496HO's on OFO. I was contacted about a week ago by a guy that sounded very proper and like he knew what he was talking about. Long story short we agreed upon a price and he stated that he was in Florida and that his brother would come pick up the motors. I told him that was fine and that I was in MD. At the end of the conversation he asked me if we could use pay pal so that his brother did not have to travel with 16K in cash. He said he wanted to put the money in my account in full that way the deal was done ASAP. I told him that I would get back with him.

I then called pay pal and this is what they said...... There is a large group in Florida and across in sevral other states that are running a scam. They place the money in your account, pick up the motors and all seems good to go. After 3-5 days they then file a complaint with pay pal saying that they never got the product. Pay Pal then calls the seller and request that the tracking number is given to them. Since there is no tracking number Pay Pal requires that you refund the money to the sender ( a temp. BS Acct. ) or they then will take you to court. Pay Pal said that there services are used for shipping and long distance transaction along with assuring both people make out and not a make shift bank.

So.... I called the gentleman back and simply told him that he could pay me through pay pal and I would ship the motors or just have his brother bring a bank check. Needless to say I never heard back from him. Just wanted to give people a heads up. The deal sounded very legit and the guy knew his stuff but was a scam artist all along.

Thanks for posting that, you have to be so careful any time you sell something. Do you still have the engines? I may know someone who is interested.

That's a new twist. I wonder if pay-pal could prevail in court though. Anyway, it's best that you did your homework.

Scam
 

I got a very similar call on a set of Alcoa wheels I have for sale. I knew something was not right and declined. I told him that "cash is king and first come first served" and he said he would call back. Needless to say I never heard back. What ever happened to "buyer be ware"? Now that I know for sure that this was a scam I will do my part to spread the word. If everyone else who reads this tells a person or two maybe this group will be a least slowed by having to come up with a new angle.

this is the way of the current market... scams have been around for as long as I can remember, but today it seems like every 3 of 4 inquiries is that of a scam!! as you said Heavanie, CASH IS KING!!

Cash for sure but be careful about a few phony benjis mixed in. Also don't over rely on the counterfeit detection pens. Newsprint tests good. Not many people know that. Every bill must be inspected and use the counterfeit pen as a back-up.

Bad cashiers checks being passed around too. I've used wire transfers but keep a seperate acct open for all transactions from ebay and other deals. I take out the transfered money as soon as it clears and I don't keep any balance in my paypal acct either which is linked to the same acct. Document the sale, copies of photo ID from anyone picking up the items and on larger deals have them go to a notary near you to witness the deal like you would a title transfer etc. Any legitemate buyer shoulldn't object to a short delay to make it a solid deal for all involved.

thanks for posting

i got took for about 24k a few years ago guy in oregon bought 8k worth of satelite tv parts off of me that i was selling for a guy from IN 3 months after the whole deal was over with and i had already paid the guy in IN his share the guy in oregon filed a chargeback thru paypal well the online tracking was gone by then and i couldnt prove he recieved the parts they took 8k from my paypal account so i fugure i am out 24k total ( all of the parts 8k, the 8k paypal took back and the 8k i paid the guy i sold the stuff for ) it took me a couple of years to recoop from that one

looking back on things now ( yep hindsight 20/20 ) the guy in Oregon set me up from the beginning to rip me off if i ever get to Oregon i may end up in jail

That sucks. Say no more!

Gee...you just can't do anything anymore. We'll probably go back to a cash society before long if this keeps up.

Cash has always been my preferred method but government would love to see a cashless society where every dollar spent is taxed and accounted for! BTW, I closed my pay-pal account a year ago.

phuck ebay, they phucked a member on here, close to the same thing. ebay said the money was in the acc, then 3 days later wanted it back. friend lost the money and car.I'll never use them again.:angry-smiley-038::angry-smiley-038::angry-smiley-038:

Paypal will NOT and has never supported the seller!!!! The seller ALWAYS gets screwed if there is a dispute!!

I will agree 100% on this statement. The seller has zero protection from Paypal.

Thanks for the post!

Motors
 

Have a guy coming to look tomm at 2pm. I will put a sold sign on them if they sell on the add in the classifieds if they sell. If not they will remain listed. Or have the guy shoot she a text or call monday if he's interested and ill let him know the status. Thanks Don 443-790-4381

now just for curiosity sakes, what would have happened if you said yes and had a video and copy of drivers license of him picking up the engines. just asking out loud, next time i sell a big ticket item i will make them sign a bill of acceptance. wonder what they would say then?

Yeah, that and take the money out of the paypal account so they can't touch it. My paypal used to be attached to a separate bank account for that reason but I stopped using pp.

i only use paypal for small amounts..they will have to do something is they don't want to lose their customer's trust...but i think it's already started

They don't have to do anything. They protect the buyer. THere are more buyers in the market than there are sellers. Therefore, based on raw numbers, they protect the majority (the buyer). The seller gets charged the fees, not the buyer. So until Paypal starts screwing with the buyers, people will continue to make purchases through Paypal. If a buyer can't purchase from a seller with paypal, they will move on to a seller who does ofer paypal. With almost 100% buyer protection, even if the buyer is a theif, lier, and a cheat, the buyer gets a warm and fuzzy when making purchases with Paypal. Paypal/ebay aren't dumb a$$es........ Crooks yes!, Dumb a$$es, no.......

wont matter they will just come after you for the money in courts if necessary they will get the money one way or another they will trash your credit if they cant take the money right back out basically the same way as wrting a bad check

That sucks! Just got sacked myself on a car i sold on evil-bay Thank god it was only the deposit $. Your man in oregon will get his someday Karma will catch up! Rich I'm Finished with e-bay aswell as paypal!

:duel:I Dumped E bay&Pay pal after a Rolex deal where 2 scammers tried to set me up?? I said meet me at bank they had a lot of excuses why they could not!??Pay pal was billing me for$150 a month with no transactions??Thats when I ended dealing with both!:bsflag:

Exactly. Paypal ripped me off, doesn't matter how much proof you have they don't want to hear it. Paypal is good to use if you're buying something but not if you're selling.

Thats because paypal is owned by ebay and if you've ever sold anything on ebay then you know all they care about is the buyer. A seller can't even report a deadbeat buyer to other sellers.

I was in Home Depot this morning and noticed they take PayPal at the u-scan now. How does a big company like that keep customers from pulling this stunt? Obviously they have the evidence of the customer ringing out, and video of you leaving the store, but if PP does not accept any dispute from the seller, what then?

Use Amazon and you can pay with a credit card. After reading this I'm glad I closed my pp.

i use to get surveyed by ebay all of the time but the last few times they did i went off on the person about their buyer protection deals like no negative feedback i always ask them how much money a buyer spends with them and they would just change the subject i guess i need to change my screen name as i am done with selling on ebay i will still buy but let some one else pay the bill now

Paypal has always been shady.

Kind of like a recco Lawyer:evilb:

Yes be careful with CASH! The new spin is they are printing 50s and 100s on bleached 1 and 5 dollar bills. This way the paper test pen still works!

Use test been and verify the strip. There was a dateline story about a guy selling a car cash and the bank and the feds coming after him months after his deposit. Bleached bills. He also got hit with accepting over $10k in cash, gov't doesn't like it I guess?

ill tell you what happens. they try to screw you. i sold a watch to a guy. he paid w/ pay pal . he isnsisten on hand to hand exchange. i let the money clear pay pal and hand delivered the watch. have a copy of his passport , a picture of the tranfer taling place and an e mail trail 200 pages the last one of which he says... thanks " love the watch. " i clear the money out of pay pal LONG before the watch is delivered...
sure enough. 2 days later he claims the watch was supposed to be ' shipped" and he never got it. IP address is his, all the documentation and evidence is iron clad.

paypal says " sorry. e mail no good, copy of passport no good. and photo of him holding the watch no good. need a tracking number" i say... " but HE defined the delivery terms" that means HE breached your agreement. this is a scam " now get this... paypal actually says to me... ' yes , we know its a scam but we have to pay him anyway and we'll sue you for the money"

i said... if you pay him knowing its a scam you are on your own. serve me and ill see you in court.

i didn't lose any money they they tried like hell. i simply can't believe how stupid they are...

they have never sued me but i would LOVE to see what a judge or jury does to them if they ever tried to pursue this. i can't believe they are still in business...

want another story ? seller sends a violin to canada... 5500 sale. buyer THREE MONTHS LATER claims its counterfeit. seller has carved in stone provenance but says send it back and ill refund. pay pal says NO.. item MUST BE DESTROYED because its counterfeit. so they MAKE the buyer crush it and pay the buyer and grab the money out of the sellers acct... so he has NO money and no violin...

they should be in jail

kinda scary....:angry-smiley-038:

happened to me too,but i was on the receiving end...bought a gibson guitar on ebay...lots of pics,but all dark...when i got it ,it was a very cheap imitation with gibson decals (guitar made of plywood)...got my money back,plus shipping...i even offered to return the pos,but they didn't want me to...ebay asked me to destroy it

I heard this story and what i heard is the violin was a very old one.

When accepting cash, I always tell the seller we are both going down to the bank to deposit the money. I let the bank check the cash. That's what I did with a car where the seller wanted to pay cash.

Michael