Scam Technique to watch for
03-13-2011, 03:51 PM
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Scam Technique to watch for Watch out for this technique. Almost got me. Guy PM's me about a WTB thread I made. Says he has the item I want for sale and then says he doesn't have paypal. No posts or feedback. States that he knows what the item goes for new and then sets a low price to entice. Wants me to send money by mail. He then uses pictures from another user or online somewhere. Even lists the mileage on the item. All in all, pretty legit but I was suspicious. That's when I found another user's post with the exact same pics. Just be careful out there guys. FYI the user's name is cobraeater81 but obviously with no posts or feedback it's easy to change names. Watch out for these cats, bad news.
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03-14-2011, 06:59 AM
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I just read the rules of this forum (I know, should have read before posting), but I just wanted to warn everybody about this technique, not necessarily complain about the 1 user. It was better than I've ever seen.
Glad to hear others may have benefitted and keep watching out guys.
Glad to hear others may have benefitted and keep watching out guys.
03-14-2011, 09:21 PM
#13
I posted a WTB for a Edelbrock 2908 and some other small things. Within an hour I had a response, with one for $500...almost double retail. I thought this might have been one for L92s, and that could have justified the price. I see later that he included pictures in the first response, so I googled "2908 intake ports" and saw the SAME pictures, on this forum...from 2005. The address of the pics in the PM sent me back to a 73-ls1.com in the folder of someone elses website:
http://73-ls1.com/ SUPER73 /Intake /top02.jpg
Theres several folders if you back up, looks like a nice build. I did not look around enough to see if anyone was in any of them, nor did I notice any folders that looked like they would contain images of anything BUT a build.
Regardless, he wouldnt take paypal, said he got scammed for about $740 sometime in the past. I offered a post office money order, provided he would sign for it, as delivered by the post office. No response.
I *did* send $75.00 to someone ALSO in Indiana, box is on the way per usps.com, for delivery sometime this week. Should I not get what I was supposed to, I will post a user name, phone number, and paypal information. FWIW, the one I sent the money one to was a business.
We shall see...
Last edited by LXinMS; 03-14-2011 at 09:27 PM.
03-14-2011, 09:44 PM
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Thanks for the reply. I think it's always smart to do a quick Google search when sending money blindly to a stranger online. PayPal has kind of made us numb to this. A good way to protect yourself from this type of scam is to do a little homework.
1. Do a search for that image using a search engine like TinEye (http://www.tineye.com). You upload an image and it tells you where it is posted online. It's a useful tool though not 100% reliable. It did not work for the image referenced by LXinMS http://73-ls1.com/SUPER73/Intake/top02.jpg but you can try it and it's pretty decent and seeing who lifts your pics.
2. Download the picture and read the EXIF data from it. Windows 7 does this natively by viewing the picture details from that image above like this:
3. Get on the phone and talk with the person!
1. Do a search for that image using a search engine like TinEye (http://www.tineye.com). You upload an image and it tells you where it is posted online. It's a useful tool though not 100% reliable. It did not work for the image referenced by LXinMS http://73-ls1.com/SUPER73/Intake/top02.jpg but you can try it and it's pretty decent and seeing who lifts your pics.
2. Download the picture and read the EXIF data from it. Windows 7 does this natively by viewing the picture details from that image above like this:
3. Get on the phone and talk with the person!
03-15-2011, 09:36 AM
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After looking at the image address I noticed that they were from a Photobucket album and decided to look into that further. That's when I realized they were from another thread on this forum just 2 months ago (see post #9 in this thread for link).
He just takes other people's pics, then makes up a story. Here's what he PM'ed me:
"i have a yank ss3600 for sale, i dont have a paypal so i figured id let you know this upfront so local pickup would be preferred but if u cant pick it up i have no problem shipping it we would just have to figure out a different way to send the money. The stall is basicly new has about 1.5k miles on it, works great still have original box and paperwork. Wrecked my car and am parting out all my aftermarket stuff. LMK what you think either way please."
03-15-2011, 07:17 PM
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I just replied to another thread like this, about the same guy, in the Parts Wanted section of the classifieds. I was just about to finalize a deal with him for some injectors, but luckily I ran across these threads. I didn't get as far as sending money thankfully, but we did exchange info.
