Scams abound


Hello all,

I was just wondering if anyone else has seen the recent seemingly scam ads posted lately. There have been many recent for sale ads that seem to be too good to be true. Thankfully, it seems the fact checkers here suspend these ads pretty quick. They seem to be targeting mostly McIntosh and mark levinson products. These ads are posted by users who seem to have just joined Audiogon and have zero feedback. Just curious if others have noticed these ads.

Happy listening!

skipper320

There was a Boulder amp for auction starting very low (I don’t recall the exact price) by a user with 0 feedback.  Most bids were by another user with 0 feedback, who upped one of his bids by $4k for no apparent reason. 

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A craigslist scammer tried to buy my power conditioner.  They sent me a cashiers check for the unit and shipping.  I called the bank and the company that was buying it.  All fake and I sent all my correspondence to the company. 

Come on @ebm seriously??

What if that person was recently widowed and her husband was the audiophile?  What is that person lived within driving distance of you, would show you not only the product, but actually let you listen to it and would show you proof of ownership?

I understand being careful.  one must really.  But extreme paranoia?  there are always examples of good people that are just trying to sell their stuff.

But, you are correct.  high priced equipment over long distances, would be difficult without verifying conversations with the seller.  

enjoy

 

I'm very good at spotting scams, very tech saavy.  The volume of scammers seems to have increased over the past few months.  You MUST do your due diligence or there is a good chance you're gonna get screwed.  Ask as many questions as reasonable, get phone numbers to discuss, etc.  Check references.  

I'm selling a pair of speakers now and just for kicks I put them on my local craiglist yesterday.  Within 10 minutes I had two scammers - both well worded messages to me.  I asked for phone numbers of both, for a quick chat, and neither responded again.  

More than ever - be careful out there!  If you're not comfortable, don't do it.  

I think I'm pretty good at spotting scams but it is good to know what level of scam activity is ongoing.  Thanks for the warning. --Jerry

OTOH, I see prices that are so high as to be ridiculous. Someone had Maggie 1.6 for more than they cost new 12 years ago.

There’s a scammer posting an ad for a Lumin T2 presently.

As far as I can tell, it first landed here on Saturday. Listed for $1500, about half the usual asking price, photos taken from an eBay ad of the same unit listed for over $3000.

The add went down for a while then reappeared yesterday (Sunday 27 March) and is still listed as of today, Monday.

 

I don't peruse the classifieds as much as I once did. However, I see many scams in every internet sales channel I look at. Try looking for an apartment on Craigslist! I'm a small landlord and I've had my Craigslist classified ads hijacked by scammers on more than one occasion.

Scammers are everywhere. Do your diligence before sending funds to anyone. ANYONE! 

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