EVERYONE MUST READ THIS THREAD -- SCAMMER
07-31-2008, 09:02 PM
#31
Hey, this thread is stickied at the top -- I was going to suggest that. The scam thread is a pretty classic example and I hope a lot of people can learn from it.
This site remains, in my opinion, a great place to buy and sell and there are always great deals. You just need to be smart about it and exercise a bit of caution. I consider myself an e-commerce veteran -- I even have an e-commerce site of my own from which I derive a significant portion of my income. I usually spot the traps from a mile away and have no excuse for falling for this one. I got complacent and was excited to finally get some transponders
.
Hopefully the other victims get their money back as well and some consequences befall SamPD.
This site remains, in my opinion, a great place to buy and sell and there are always great deals. You just need to be smart about it and exercise a bit of caution. I consider myself an e-commerce veteran -- I even have an e-commerce site of my own from which I derive a significant portion of my income. I usually spot the traps from a mile away and have no excuse for falling for this one. I got complacent and was excited to finally get some transponders
.Hopefully the other victims get their money back as well and some consequences befall SamPD.
08-01-2008, 04:21 AM
#32
I had to do some initial legwork with my first few sales to earn my rating. providing pics, proof of whom i was, etc. I think it should be a lesson that somebody require these things from somebody with no feedbacks and few posts. I joined the site to sell off all of my spare stuff and pick up other things. so not a lot of posts in anything other than the FS/T section. But this guy came on fairly obvious. I've seen all these signs on computer hardware forums like Anandtech and HardOCP's forums You guys might want to take a look at the scammer threaqds over there as kindof a safe buyer's guide of sorts.
Shane
Shane
08-01-2008, 09:35 AM
#34
Im just curious, how much would you charge? 100? 200? So to a scammer thats nothing if he could turn around double that like. Dont get me wrong i'm not looking for an argument. Its sucks that this has happened, but how can you blame RC Tech when the warning signs were there. How much did this jack ass take 500 / 1000. So even if the payment was 100 to sell he still made 900. Dont get me wrong, I dont have the answer, but IMO this is not either.
08-01-2008, 10:28 AM
#36
I'm with him 110% I think personally my idea was a good one here, someones got to physically have a hand in this and if this isnt done just being on the occasional look-out isnt going to do much.. I bust scammers all the time and I know what chain ya have to follow in order to get anything done.. Filing with just internet fraud isnt going to make your money show back up or the scammer go away. Someone ask John the mod of the for section of RCU how many of those loosers I get off that site a year.. I have NEVER lost someones stuff and I got call backs from different PD's with news of the scammers being arrested... 38 so far and still going.. Alot of times their kids who get nothing but a slap on the wrist but other times its behind bars! But something needs to be done here!!
1) get a phone number and call the seller
2) get a return address
3) insist on shipping with a tracking number -- pay a little more for it if you have to.
4) ask if a friend of yours in the area can come pick the stuff up at the seller's convenience.
If they are unwilling to do any of the above, bail.
Once I was buying an expensive used computer off of eBay, and was nervous because the price seemed a little too good to be true. I asked if I could have a friend who lived in the area come by to pick it up and the seller said that that wouldn't be a problem at all and gave me his home address. Of course, I had no friend in the area so I "changed my mind" and just had him ship it. I felt better and received the computer no problem, as advertised.
Still, it wouldn't hurt at all to have one or more active moderators of the "For Sale/Trade" section. If jldjlaudio has the track record, the time, and the desire then I say by all means let him have at it. What would it hurt?
08-01-2008, 12:21 PM
#40
No it's not the answer to end it all, but I can pretty much gurantee it will cut alot of it down. You have to make a change somewhere. In life, it's proven people are afraid of change and that is what our vandals and theives pray upon. See it how you want, I personally just decided I will not be a statistic here. It has got way out of hand and no one is doing anything to combat it. Also, take a look at the sale section....I went through 13 pages just between yesterday and todays ads. Why so many, because people are so leary about buying anything. I have been on rctech a long time. I have sold and bought a ton of stuff, I have never seen that many pages in 2 days. The scammers are hitting this site hard and more and more people are becoming aware of it.
exactly, its not the answer. Someone who scams is not going to care about a price to sell. If they scam just one person out of say 500, you really think they are going to care about an entrance fee...I doubt it. The only ones its going to affect is the guys who are ligit. Ive been there....Ive done that. Also you cant blame the site when folks get ripped off, its not there fault that theres crooks out there. Besides case in point...this guy couldnt or wouldnt take pics....either way I would not send even 10 bucks for something sight unseen. It just my opinion, but thats me. As for the guys who got ripped off, I hope you get your $$ back.
08-01-2008, 12:44 PM
#42
Look -- a lot of people are missing the point here. The reason I wanted this thread stickied was to help buyers learn how to protect themselves. There is no anti-scam measure more powerful than an educated buyer. There is a reason the saying "caveat emptor" (let the buyer beware) has been used for thousands of years. We are not the first ones to come across a situation like this. The day the first market opened somewhere in ancient fuckin' East Jesus there was some a-hole there ripping people off. They've been making rules and laws about it since then and look where it's gotten us.
If you require a fee to sell, scammers will pay it (see eBay).
If you require pics to sell, scammers will find some (see eBay).
If you educate yourself about how the scammers operate and take some simple steps to protect yourself the chances are slim that you'll be victimized. Simple as that.
If you require a fee to sell, scammers will pay it (see eBay).
If you require pics to sell, scammers will find some (see eBay).
If you educate yourself about how the scammers operate and take some simple steps to protect yourself the chances are slim that you'll be victimized. Simple as that.
