Scammer on the Herald

bebop · Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:45 pm Post subject: Scammer on the Herald

We have scammers on the Herald again. The same message. I need the item right away, is it in working order-give me your best price. But now they say they can pay through Paypal. That sounds strange to me. What are they after? Any thoughts?

acritzer · Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:58 pm Post subject:

I just got a couple of these after putting my horn on the marketplace. Fairly obvious when they asked for pics and the condtion (which are both right in the ad).

musicalmason1 · Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 5:52 pm Post subject:

I got it too, a couple of hours ago. Pretty obvious...not even worth the time to reply. Scum like this is pretty unavoidable online.

JonathanM · Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 6:50 pm Post subject:

I got their message a few weeks ago when I put a horn up in the Marketplace. I didn't notice they were offering PayPal then - that may be a new wrinkle.

Frankly, it's a major disappointment for lowlife's to infiltrate our forum. Where's Dirty Harry when you need him, huh?

_________________
Jonathan Milam
Trumpets: Mt Vernon M Strad, 18043B w/ Blackburn leadpipe, 18025, Edwards Gen II, Benge 4x, P Mauriat 75TLB, Olds: '34 Symphony, '47 Super, '48 Standard, '52 Recording
Puje: American Belle

jhahntpt · Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 7:05 pm Post subject:

me too! I'm not even going to respond..

Their message: Hey mate,
I saw your item on trumpetHerald and i am interested in buying the item for my lovely daughter ,so i will like to know the condition of the item and the final asking price,you can also email me with the picture of the item. Get back to me as soon as possible.
Regard.Note i have someone coming to your location for the pickup as soon as i make the payment Via PayPal.
Mark

was it something like this?
_________________
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C: Shires 4S/W1B
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Cornet: York Eminence

trpthrld · Heavyweight Member Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 4767

Best thing to do is report it to the mods. I think there's one specifically for scammers.

They have a way of dealing with them. What that is I have no idea. I can only hope it includes forced listening to "Wind Beneath My Wings" as performed by the last-place winner of the American Idol Bagpipe Band competition.

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Tim Wendt

www.trumpetherald.com/marketplace.php?task=detail&id=143413&s=The-Best-Trumpet-Lead-Pipe-Swab-EVER-

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loweredsixth · Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 7:08 pm Post subject:

Crap. I got almost that exact same message for a mouthpiece I just listed. The whole thing sounded too weird, so I told them they would have to pay cash for a local pickup. I haven't heard back from them since.

What are they after? I couldn't figure out what the scam could be.
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supportlivejazz · Heavyweight Member Joined: 05 Jan 2003 Posts: 3757

With only 5 posts required to gain access to the Marketplace, I'm surprised there have not been some "sellers" looking to take $$$ for horns that don't exist. It's only a matter of time.
_________________
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Olds LA Special Model Cornet

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Leonel Leon · Veteran Member Joined: 11 Jan 2011 Posts: 145

Yeah, I got a email about three or four weeks ago like that. But on a item I was looking for so it made me want to laugh a little bit. They said they would buy my Ny bach stop nuts. Just needed pictures.

TBrassMan · Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 7:51 pm Post subject: Scammers

I had the same message today for a mouthpiece I have listed. I didn't think to submit it to the TH moderator before deleting.

Hey mate,
I saw your item on trumpetHerald and i am interested in buying the item for my lovely daughter ,so i will like to know the condition of the item and the final asking price,you can also email me with the picture of the item. Get back to me as soon as possible.
Regard.Note i have someone coming to your location for the pickup as soon as i make the payment Via PayPal.
Mark
_________________
TBrassMan

Kanstul French Besson
Kanstul MEHA C French Besson
Charlie Melk custom '55 Olds Ambassador
Yamaha 233S Cornet

Pickett Brass 5C & 5D* and Curry Cornet 7's

"Praise Him with the sounding of the Trumpet..." Psalm 150:3

ford850 · Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:20 pm Post subject:

Remember if they do use PayPal they can dispute the transaction if there is no proof of delivery (local pickup may be difficult to verify)...cash is king here.
_________________
Mark LaSavio
Shires CVLA
Kanstul Destino Bb
Getzen Renaissance 20S
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loweredsixth · Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:39 pm Post subject:

I thought about that... never use Paypal unless you are shipping to a verified address. But isn't the local pickup thing an awful lot of trouble for them to go through?
_________________
The name I go by in the real world is Joe Lewis

Brad361 · Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:11 am Post subject:

Here's what I got from these as*****s:

"........Thanks for your swift respond,i am an Navy Officer and am currently offshore, i am buying the item as a gift for my daughter,i want to make it a surprise gift for her,so she won't know anything about the gift until they get delivered to her. I can only pay through paypal. So pls kindly get back to immediately so i can proceed with the payment and after the payment has been done,i have a pick up agent that will come around to pick the Item up immediately after payments.......
Looking forward to hear from you soon
Thanks
Mark Pratt......."

And then this:

......"Thanks for your effort,I'm about to make the payments when i had this little problem with the picking up of the Item, I think you remember what i said in my previous mail that I'm working presently offshore and i am buying the item for my daughter so i tried to secure booking with my pick up agent, but they asked me to pay first before they can make the booking, and they only accept Western Union Money Transfer for payments and they don't accept PayPal or bank transfer.

So I tried to send the money online but it's not going through and I am on the sea there is no way i can find a western union agent to make the transfer to my pick up agent, so i wanted to ask if it will be OK for me to include my pick up agent's fees together with your payments through PayPal,So you will help me wire the pick up fee to them via western Union Money Transfer immediately i pay you.I don't mean to bother you I'm sure you understand that I'm presently on the sea and there is nothing i can do to that.
The bottom line is after I have made the payments via PayPal,you will help me wire my pick up agent fee to them through western union money transfer, I just wanted to seek your consent before going ahead with the payments,I will be very happy if my offer is given a favorable consideration,Respond as soon as possible so that i can send out your Payment........"

We always need to be careful, and this is pretty typical internet-scam verbage.

Brad361

Brad361 · Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:19 am Post subject:

tubbs831 · Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:32 am Post subject:

I had a similar situation about a month ago.

Guy was buying for his dad who was coming home from off shore. He was located in the UK, and also wanted me to use some sort of bizarre looking home pick up site. I stopped responding. At first it didn't seem as sketchy as previous scams. But when it came to the home pick up, like someone said above, I wasn't about to give out my home address to them.

TrumpetMD · Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:41 am Post subject:

The scammer is most likely using a fraudulent eBay account.

I've purchased several horns using eBay, Craigslist, and TH. So far, I've been fortunate. Here are the rules I follow.

- I only accept or send PayPal payments to verified PayPal accounts.

- On eBay, I won't deal with people with new accounts or low ratings.

- I always require cash when dealing in-person.

- I won't do anything out of the ordinary (stop an auction early, ship to a different address, etc.)

- I won't purchase or sell a horn to anyone without speaking to them on the phone first.

I lost at least one sale because I insisted on speaking to the seller by phone. I'm sure he was a good guy. But he couldn't understand my caution. Better to lose a sale than to get scammed.

Mike
_________________
Bach Stradivarius 43* Trumpet (1974), Bach 6C Mouthpiece.
Bach Stradivarius 184 Cornet (1988), Yamaha 13E4 Mouthpiece
Olds L-12 Flugelhorn (1969), Yamaha 13F4 Mouthpiece.
Plus a few other Bach, Getzen, Olds, Carol, HN White, and Besson horns.

trumpetherald · Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:06 am Post subject:

Autigermania · Regular Member Joined: 11 Mar 2009 Posts: 29

Yep, same guy hitting me up on a trumpet right now....using the same verbage as all the other posts.

I contacted Paypal and confirmed that local pickup eliminates your paypal protection.

I'm ignoring this MARK PRATT contact and would advise you to do the same.

I'll try to forward to the TH moderators.

Derek
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Legends Brass
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trmptz · Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:11 am Post subject:

Uh, it's painfully obvious that this is a scam. Really no question about it. Once you read the offer common sense alerts you to this. Ignore!

Mikeytrpt · Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:22 am Post subject:

Todd, thanks for adding the advice. I have 3 items in the marketplace right now; 2 very expensive trumpets and a gig bag. I've received the same message as the others. I don't bother responding.Thanks again for keeping the Marketplace. I think we do a good job of keeping an eye on the scammers, and we save Ebay fees!