Online scams, Buyer beware Options

[CAMAricer]

Hi guys,

Just wanted to share a real life story that happened to me recently. It actually happened on a reputable website (club lexus).

Club lexus scam
Scam link 2nd thread

Alot of what happened went down through PMs, but here's the jist of it. A (senior) member of club lexus stated that he was going through hard times so decided to sell off his parts from his car. Some of the other members of the forum actually has met with him in person. Anyway, he parts out his car, CF hood, fender, NOS system, etc. I paid him ~$300 for his fender and his stock hood for the SC430. Another member pays $3000 for the CF hood. It took several PMs back and forth to get the amount finalized, address confirmed, etc, but eventually I sent the money to him.

Then coincidentally the PM stop. A week goes by, nothing. PMs sent, nothing. So I start making waves and publicly make posts for the other forum members to see, asking where is my parts. Then the other member makes a post asking for the status on his item as well. At this point, the forum moderator decides to step in (apparently he's known the seller via the forum for several years now). The moderator explains that the seller is a nice guy, has a wife and kids, and is a stand-up fellow. Then he assures us that there must be some sort of miscommunication going on.

I was not convinced. Sorry for being such a cynic, but I don't trust people I meet over the internet so easily. Anyways, the seller finally responds to the other buyer that he was in a recent car accident and has suffered some injury and that the past few weeks he was in the hospital recovering from surgery. This explanation satisfies the CF hood buyer, but not me. I find the story too convenient because the time line does not add up to me. For one thing, one I offered money for the fender/hood, I got an immediate response. Then silence for two weeks. I then inquired about the NOS kit, which I got an immediate response. So long as anyone wanted to buy anything, responses would be made, but any inquiries about items shipped were ignored.

So to make a long story out of all of this, but I wanted to let people on this forum know that SCAMS on forums (all forums) happen all the time, even by "trusted" members who have been around for years. This seller, known by the forum moderators!, scammed some members out of lots of cash. He used the sympathy card (surgery) to buy him more time to scam other members. And when it happened to me, I researched online scam tactics and found out that this is a common, the seller will have multiple accounts on the same forum, use one to praise and legitimize the other account, and then proceed to sell items, apologize with excuses for delay in shipping, make inconsistent threads. The longer the seller can stall, the more sells he can make. Then sending out bogus tracking numbers that make the buyers go on a wild goose chase with the shippers, sending out incomplete items, all are intended to stall and buy more time. By the time people finally realize what has happened, it's been months and the seller is long gone.

So my warning to everyone, be diligent and wary. Scams prey on people's weaknesses like pride, arrogance, greed, and even sympathy.

This post has been edited by CAMAricer: Sep 14, 2009 - 3:27 AM

[forkee]

wow....i say hunt him down!

[Random_Stranger]

Did you pay through paypal? Whenever someone tried to scam me through them, they pulled the money right out regardless if they respond to my attempts of contacting them (the seller) or not. Since it has to be tied to personal information such as bank accounts or credit cards.

I know it isn't 100% but still doesn't hurt to try. I am really sorry that happened to you man.

This post has been edited by Random_Stranger: Sep 14, 2009 - 10:23 AM

[CAMAricer]

Actually, Paypal was one of the worst customer protection plan, if you can even call it that. Basically, they will try to contact the seller on your behalf by sending them an email. Big freaking whoopie doo! Isn't contacting Paypal the last resort anyways when normal communication attempts have failed? As far as being able to withdraw the money from the other person's account, that only happens if the scammer hasn't already withdrawn the money into an account. Paypal has ZERO authority when it comes to getting money out of someone's bank account, they can only move money that hasn't been transferred out of their "holding" account in Paypal. So in actuality, Paypal can do NOTHING for you if the scammer has taken the money and run. Trust me on this, I've have enough bad experiences with Paypal to know that they will do absolutely nothing (worthwhile) for you.

Eventually I had to contact my credit card company directly to get my money. Thankfully (and wisely) I only use Paypal via my credit card and NOT my actual bank account. Credit card purchases are protected against fraud and scams. Debit transactions and bank transfers are NOT.

The issue was resolved, I didn't lose my money. It only took about 4 months to clear this up because Paypal insisted in doing their "investigation" which takes about 2 months and finally the credit card company was allowed to step in and do their thing.
The scammer, however, got "away" but from what I hear, suffered some major karma retribution later (details of which I will keep to myself).

All and all, the point I wanted to make was that people need to read between the lines and see the truth when it yells in their face. If a scam is on, trust your instincts and speak up. It's sad that sometimes when someone is being scammed, there are others who get in the way of revealing the scam because they are too caught up in being "politically correct" and "civilized". I don't hesitate to throw punches if I feel like I've been doped and I wouldn't appreciate it if other people call me out for acting hostile (which is a reasonable way a person being scammed is entitled to feel).

Did you pay through paypal? Whenever someone tried to scam me through them, they pulled the money right out regardless if they respond to my attempts of contacting them (the seller) or not. Since it has to be tied to personal information such as bank accounts or credit cards.

I know it isn't 100% but still doesn't hurt to try. I am really sorry that happened to you man.

[Random_Stranger]

^^ Ain't that the truth

[SwissFerdi]

I never realized our cars matched. Good thing you got your money back man.