Individual International Seller Scam


I recently became a victim of a scam. A parasite advertised the sale of  Dali Euphonia MS 5 speakers located in Denmark. I offered him his asking price and in our communications reminded him to formally accept the offer through Audiogon. He committed to the offer in our conversations and we agreed on wire transfer to his HSBC Bank in London. Once the money cleared he sent me an email the speakers were being shipped but that turn out to be a lie. It was the last communication I had with him. he did not respond to several followup email.

The parasite's login is pedersenh62. I have notified Audiogon support and they quickly suspended his account. Audiogon has also been very helpful with what to do. I have filed a report with my Bank, FBI internet Fraud online both locally and the Denmark office based on the address the scam artist provided.

I hope no other members have been duped by the same guy.

My advise is not to deal with INDIVIDUAL international seller unless it is  agreed  that only COD,credit card or some form of escrow is in place and such escrow only released upon confirmation of delivery.

Audiogon may also want to review the policy on individual international sellers. It verifies dealers but maybe it should consider that only sellers who agree to above payments will be allowed to advertise or for that matter demand that such sellers deposit equivalent money for sale with Audiogon.

Thank you for opportunity to share my experience and I hope else gets defrauded.

Taiye
taiye

Showing 4 responses by sevs

Agreed:
1) No bank wires
2) Use PayPal but with CC, no PayPal balance or linked bank account. CC payments thru PayPal gives extra level of protection
3) If the amount is high enough to be painful to lose (this example here would be in the "extremely painful" category for me!!) then use Escrow service.
I just wish I followed these simple rules myself, as it is I am certified "fool" according to my fellow a-goner  ;-(
elberoth2, yours is really solid advise BUT a bit too much complicated. Totally agreed, using cash and "driving distance" is a bit paranoid, sounds like my last Boss who won't use his CC so that FBI won't locate his favorite burger joint (he is HarleyDavidson dude!) 
ESCROW service is my advice, I never used it for a-gone transactions because I always presumed that folks here are like me and all the scammers precipitate on eBay, but I did use it more than once on my LabX transactions...  
Sorry, I was not quite clear that I totally agree with your points. With most transactions thats all you need to do. For $10+K I feel safer using Escrow, and paying extra fees, but thats just me.
You make a good point about sellers safety, I never thought of that. Don't know if Escrow makes it safer for the sellers, maybe it does not. 
Why did Poland get singled out is beyond my comprehension skills as well...