Audio Purchase scam that is happening almost every month

[cjf]

EBay is another haven of dirtballs. Audiogon isn't too far behind these days either.

I've had to withdraw the Sale of several pieces of audio equipment over the last few years due to shady buyers.

Its seems another common thing is for the buyer to provide the shipping address of abandon buildings and corporate offices. Then they try and do a similar cancelation of funds move (with Paypal) as discussed here by stating they never received the package.

I now Google Earth the sellers shipping address before sending out any packages or accepting funds. Its not fool proof but its another thing that can be done to gain some semblance of comfort that the transaction will be legit.

I think until the authorities start taking all this fraud seriously it will never stop (The Banks and Authorities really seem to act helpless whenever it happens).

I personally wouldn't mind seeing these dirtballs being treated like Mel Gibson at the end of Bravehart in a nice public setting. I suspect we might see a drop off in events if that were the default punishment for them

 

[Steve Williams]

EBay is another haven of dirtballs. Audiogon isn't too far behind these days either.

I've had to withdraw the Sale of several pieces of audio equipment over the last few years due to shady buyers.

Its seems another common thing is for the buyer to provide the shipping address of abandon buildings and corporate offices. Then they try and do a similar cancelation of funds move (with Paypal) as discussed here by stating they never received the package.

I now Google Earth the sellers shipping address before sending out any packages or accepting funds. Its not fool proof but its another thing that can be done to gain some semblance of comfort that the transaction will be legit.

I think until the authorities start taking all this fraud seriously it will never stop (The Banks and Authorities really seem to act helpless whenever it happens).

I personally wouldn't mind seeing these dirtballs being treated like Mel Gibson at the end of Bravehart in a nice public setting. I suspect we might see a drop off in events if that were the default punishment for them

“FREEDOM”

 

[Ron Resnick]

I just wasted part of the morning interacting with someone I suspect is a scammer on U.S. Audio Mart:

1) He will send only a check

2) He will not make a bank wire transfer

3) He uses a @USBC.BE email suffix which according to the Internet is some disposable email address used by fraudsters

4) He did not ask about a reduced price on the Grado Aeon 3 cartridge I am selling

5) His telephone number 607-674-0077 is a Google Voice number

I would suggest staying clear of:

Raymond Williams
Rudno Express
322 Gordon Pkwy
Syracuse NY 13219
rudnoexpress@gmail.com (he also gave me this email address)

 

[Ron Resnick]

 

[Tuckers]

I have been selling on USAudiomart the last couple of years. I now sell things exclusively via Paypal Friends & Family. Friends and Family transactions cannot be reversed, and do not have any buyer protections, refund policies etc. Paypal is not going to do any legwork for Friends and Family transactions because they make no commission. Of course the buyer needs to have faith in me, but I have a perfect reputation on USAudiomart and other places that I can refer them too. I've even had buyers bring up my participation here as a plus. I have sold gear up to $5,000 USD this way.

 

[poonbean]

Hey - thought I'd share a recent scam adventure - this guy was quite convoluted and clever, but not enough.

So, I recently posted a want ad on usaudiomart for an amp.
Within minutes tonysunshine responded via audiogon, weird, but his response was informed and articulate. He was offering the monoblocks at an aggressive, though borderline reasonable price.
I asked why these werent' simply advertised, and he responded that he did not want the agon fee. Jut to play along, I did not ask the obvious as to why not post on the freebe usaudiomart. I then asked for photos. Oh, and he agreed to be pd via ppal, so that's a good sign.

He sent photos using tonysunshine at proton.me. I"d not heard of proton.me. Looked them up, based in switzerland offering untraceable emails. So, I set up my own account and responded.

He then provided a like to "his" stellar feedback on head-fi. Sure enough, there's a tonysunshine on head-fi with stellar feedback. So, after setting up an account on head-fi (I'm not much of a headphone guy), I emailed tonysunshine about the amps, and he replied that I got the wrong dude, confirming my suspicion. I responded back to the real TS just to thank him and explain the background.

Then I emailed Agon to let them know. They suspended his account, so TS responded to me using TS01 ! still looking for a sale.

Fortunately, I've only bumped into two scammers over these many years, and have not succumbed. The first one was from London, I got his bank account numbers and reported him.

 

[dionisofun]

Just before the pandemic I was scammed by a Netherlands based store called Solid-State Audio. Unfortunately, I found out too late that this store was a total scam.

SCAM high end audio site BEWARE - Fraud Warnings • Canuck Audio Mart Hifi and Audio Forum

www.canuckaudiomart.com

Solid-state audio from Holland

has anyone ever had shopping experiences with these guys?

pinkfishmedia.net

 

[dionisofun]

I think the WBF should make a black list of scam sellers. Would this be possible?