Fellow forum users beware of scam!!!

aerobandit

aerobandit

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Piotr
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Hello all. I've spent my saturday night shift searching the net for good deal on photo equipment. I've also checked gumtree and look what amazing deal I found:cuckoo:







we all now that: "If something seems too good to be true, it probably is". Anyway I emailed the person to find out in what way he/she will be extorting money from me.
This morning I've received this:eek: :







I'm still tempted to play along and ask if its possible for him to send it to my workplace or something but I think I'll give up for now.

Just be careful guys, lot of thieves these days:(
 
Anything for a few hundred quid! Mind you, do 5 a day, that's an awful lot of dosh!
 
personally, I wouldn't touch Gumtree with a barge pole. Seems to be the place where all the ebay scammers call home :)
 
A simple check. If someone calls it shipping, it's a scam.
 
Marcel said:
A simple check. If someone calls it shipping, it's a scam.
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Why does using the word shipping make it a scam? :shrug:


I'd be more wary of the fact the price is given as 200£, rather than £200 and they talk about paying all the taxes, that would imply to me that there was a fair chance the "seller" wasn't in the UK....
 
The throw away email address would ring alarm bells for me :thumbs:

I would only collect in person an item of any value from gumtree, or at least get a landline number and home address and leave it if anything seemed suspect.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Why does using the word shipping make it a scam? :shrug:


I'd be more wary of the fact the price is given as 200£, rather than £200 and they talk about paying all the taxes, that would imply to me that there was a fair chance the "seller" wasn't in the UK....
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Because on gumtree you arrange to meet the person in a safe environment, check the item and walk away with it. If the item can't be seen, the item won't be sent either.
 
i think its the same kind of scam as: "you've won $10000000 in nigerian lottery just give us your name and tel number" or "my father has been killed during war in rep. of congo but before he died he deposited money in the bank".
 
I agree with all the above, and the 60D doesn't heave an international warranty AFAIK?

Of course, you could tell him not to bother with shipping, if he's in London, because you can just meet there and do the deal over a coffee/pint?
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Why does using the word shipping make it a scam? :shrug:


I'd be more wary of the fact the price is given as 200£, rather than £200 and they talk about paying all the taxes, that would imply to me that there was a fair chance the "seller" wasn't in the UK....
Click to expand...

The word 'shipping' is generally an international/foreign thing. In the UK we'd just call it 'posting'.

As stated the misplaced pound sign and talk of taxes (of which there aren't any) also implies the seller has probably never been, or traded with, the UK in any way.
 
Gumtree is full of scammers, a few genuines people there too admittedly. I've had 2 good experiences (bought a small freezer and found a real flat that I lived in for a while) but there are so many scammers, you have to have your wits about you when you're looking at ads.

OK to get your google ratings up a little though...
 
That email is written just like a Nigerian lottery scam email, for example "now I am in London" rather than "I am now in London".

I would only ever deal face to face when using Gumtree, or any of the free ad papers.
 
SarahLee said:
And when was Liverpool relocated to Anglesey? :lol: :lol: :lol:

That screamed "foreign scam" before I even read the text.
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That could be interesting then, as it's a site field rather than a user designed one; ie it's created by Gumtree not the seller!

Edit: Ignore that- the user can select their local area! :D
 
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"Shipping" isn't really a give away. It comes from the US, but Amazon use it in the UK and it's common enough in a few other places. I do a fair amount of work with US companies and find myself using "shipping", "speak/meet with" and "calendar" (for diary) more than I should!

Your read the whole advertisment and try to spot the scam triggers. In this case; the webmail address, the poor English, the 260 views over two months, with no takers at a sweetheart price, the reference to "shipping" and odd taxes, the unexplained price drop from £450 to £200 for a brand new 60D, the international warranty and the misplaced £ sign. None of these are necessarily damning on their own, but there's no way I'd take a chance when they all appear in the same ad.
 
As full of scammers as Gumtree is I don't think it's as bad a thing as Amazon is right now.

Gumtree don't offer any kind of payment scheme etc, it's simply a place to advertise goods. I think in their blurb they even say that you should meet the seller rather than do things by post. That's why there's a Gumtree site for every major city in the country, so you can find stuff local to you and meet up to do the deal.

Amazon on the other hand is all done by mail order and electronic payments and is chock full of scammers.

In my opinion things go:
Ebay - not nearly as cheap as it used to be but reasonably safe for buyers, especially if you pay using Paypal.
Gumtree - full of crap and tat because ads are free but there's sometimes the occasional bargain but things MUST be done face to face.
Amazon - I don't even bother looking.
 
Gumtree lol :nono:

Some guy is "selling" this
Canon Zoom Lens EF300mm f/2.8L IS USM - NEW for just under £2000.

In a moment of boredom I mailed him and asked if it was the one that sell for over £4000.

He replied that he was selling at that price because he was in a hurry!!

Just send the money and I will send the lens......I wonder if people actually fall for this kind of thing?
 
fabs said:
Why the email address?
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In isolation, nothing at all. I use webmail too, and so do hundreds of millions of other people. That's why I suggested the analysing the whole advertisment - the sum of parts. I'd feel pretty comfortable if the rest of it seemed legitimate, but the webmail address is just another factor that makes me uneasy.

I know it's easy to create a false mail address, but webmail is even more anonymous. That's one of the reasons I sometimes use it - for legitimate purposes.
 
How about a brand new EOD 1D MKIV for £1290 .... here on Gumtree :cool:
 
Ive never understood how people fall for these things, how can they not stop and think it just looks to good to be true, its extremely rare that someones going to be selling it for a fraction of the value or in the case of check scams your going to get money for nothing!
Simple really, if it looks to good to be true then it probably is.
 
andephotographic said:
As full of scammers as Gumtree is I don't think it's as bad a thing as Amazon is right now.

Gumtree don't offer any kind of payment scheme etc, it's simply a place to advertise goods. I think in their blurb they even say that you should meet the seller rather than do things by post. That's why there's a Gumtree site for every major city in the country, so you can find stuff local to you and meet up to do the deal.

Amazon on the other hand is all done by mail order and electronic payments and is chock full of scammers.

In my opinion things go:
Ebay - not nearly as cheap as it used to be but reasonably safe for buyers, especially if you pay using Paypal.
Gumtree - full of crap and tat because ads are free but there's sometimes the occasional bargain but things MUST be done face to face.
Amazon - I don't even bother looking.
Click to expand...

I buy a LOT off Amazon and have never been scammed, and I have never heard anyone else refer to Amazon in the way you have...

As for ebay, you can't even leave negative feedback anymore - I'll let that speak for itself...
 
andephotographic said:
As full of scammers as Gumtree is I don't think it's as bad a thing as Amazon is right now.

Gumtree don't offer any kind of payment scheme etc, it's simply a place to advertise goods. I think in their blurb they even say that you should meet the seller rather than do things by post. That's why there's a Gumtree site for every major city in the country, so you can find stuff local to you and meet up to do the deal.

Amazon on the other hand is all done by mail order and electronic payments and is chock full of scammers.

In my opinion things go:
Ebay - not nearly as cheap as it used to be but reasonably safe for buyers, especially if you pay using Paypal.
Gumtree - full of crap and tat because ads are free but there's sometimes the occasional bargain but things MUST be done face to face.
Amazon - I don't even bother looking.
Click to expand...


I have been buying from amazon for 5 or 6 years, spent more money on more items than I care to remember, and never yet been scammed. Yes, as with all things, some care is needed if using the marketplace, but it knocks crummy places like gumtree into a cocked hat imo. Been scammed once on ebay, and paypal rectified almost immediately. Paypal is not 100% safe, and again, care should be taken there, especially checking your account regularly and changing passwords on a regular basis.
 
studioworks said:
Ive never understood how people fall for these things, how can they not stop and think it just looks to good to be true, its extremely rare that someones going to be selling it for a fraction of the value or in the case of check scams your going to get money for nothing!
Simple really, if it looks to good to be true then it probably is.
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It's simple, greed takes over and common sense goes out the window in pursuit of the "bargain"....
 
Selling on ebay is almost as dangerous as buying sold 3 items recently and problems with all 3, in fact i still have one item 2 months later cos the buyer wont collect it.

On another i have had to wait 3 weeks for paypal to release the money as the buyers bank recalled it and i had to prove it was posted despite the buyer leaving positive feedback :bang:

The 3rd the guy opened a dispute 2 days after he won it, although to be fair be withdrew it on the monday when the item arrived :shrug:

makes my head hurt tbh :(
 
I would be interested to know more re your 'Amazon' comments as I have been buying from them for a few years now and in recent times have made a purchase virtually every week for quite some time without any problems. They have great prices and speedy delivery. Its thumbs from me for Amazon all the way.



andephotographic said:
As full of scammers as Gumtree is I don't think it's as bad a thing as Amazon is right now.

Gumtree don't offer any kind of payment scheme etc, it's simply a place to advertise goods. I think in their blurb they even say that you should meet the seller rather than do things by post. That's why there's a Gumtree site for every major city in the country, so you can find stuff local to you and meet up to do the deal.

Amazon on the other hand is all done by mail order and electronic payments and is chock full of scammers.

In my opinion things go:
Ebay - not nearly as cheap as it used to be but reasonably safe for buyers, especially if you pay using Paypal.
Gumtree - full of crap and tat because ads are free but there's sometimes the occasional bargain but things MUST be done face to face.
Amazon - I don't even bother looking.
Click to expand...
 
I've bought all sorts of things from, and through, Amazon over the last four or five years. 100% good service, and no worries.
 
Used Amazon for years, superb to deal with, however beware of Market Place sellers having their account hacked, as my experience HERE

I spotted the warning signals, so did not get caught, and in fairness Amazon were very quick to respond and remove the items from the Market Place sellers page.
 
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