What Scam Techniques have you seen?

[Red735i]

What I would like to start is a continuing dialog on scammers..... what is their line of malarkey?
Lately I have put WTB ads in GetDpi, and get responses for people that are new to the website.
The lines goes something like this.... I have what you want, and will send you pix of it. Send me your email address...
They send appropriate pix. They have a price which is always pretty low. You accept. Ask how to pay him/her. Either you or he suggests PayPal.
Now comes the warning sign..... Payment by PayPal is ok, but he/she wants you to send the $$$ via a Friends and Family method. That way they do not pay the 3% PayPal commission rate, or so they claim.
Why is this a red flag? Because it means that once you send the money, the deal can not be insured against scammers.... You do not have the payment protection that you get with the normal PayPal merchandise method. If you use the normal Paypal Merchandise method, when they send nothing, PayPal will reimburse you for the costs.
How can you tell that your seller is honest? Offer to pay by PayPal BUT pay enough extra money (3% approx) to make the net to the seller right.
Why does this prove the guy is a scammer? Because he will renege on the deal, even though you offered him the correct net payment.
Be Careful out there.... these guys operate at a level that amazes me.... LOTS of them inhabit this site....

 

[apophoto]

always pay extra for insurance. 3% is not a big amount.
FF is a big NO

 

[f8orbust]

Yup, never use PayPal F&F or any equivalent 'cash' transfer service. I've always found that asking lots of questions soon roots out the scammer from the genuine seller. Particularly technical questions. Or irritating ones like asking for a RAW file from (e.g.) the camera so you can check the serial in the EXIF data against the one listed/shown in the photo. Of course the EXIF could have been hacked, so you wouldn't reach a decision based on just this piece of info from the seller. Rather, based on everything you've learnt you've got to decide if the seller's whole 'story' makes sense. Also, scammers - whether online or cold calling - like to apply pressure (e.g. I've already got eight other people who want to buy this) becasue we tend to make bad decisions when under pressure. My advice in situations like this: 'Just walk away, and live to buy another day'. BTW, it's been a while since I used PayPal, and I haven't kept on top of all the 'changes to terms and conditions' emails I've received, but IIRC to be protected by PayPal, even if using non-F&F, you have to pay for the goods (+shipping) in a single transaction. A deposit + balance gives PayPal enough wiggle room to refuse your claim.

 

[huyu]

uhoh not even FF but a bank transfer request that I've been dealing with. Sorry, a big NO.
Even tho the thing he offered is tempting LOL

 

[anyone]

When it comes to payment modalities, it might be a little context dependend. Here in Europe, lots of transfers are handled with bank transfer and also Paypal friends.

Besides that, I completely agree to be very aware and sceptical. There are too many scammers in this world, and they increasingly target also high end photography.

 

[tcdeveau]

The scam requests I usually get on GetDPI buy/sell are similar to what OP describes. New member responds to "WTB" ad saying their friend or someone they know has what I am looking for and provides an email address that is not forum related to follow up with. I just ignore them.

Most serious buyers/sellers here on GetDPI are pretty friendly and helpful. As others have suggested, just asking questions and talking more to the buyer/seller (in addition to looking at forum history, googling, etc) can help weed out potential scammers.

 

[GrahamWelland]

If it's someone I personally know and have met or know well on the forums I'll do F&F. Anyone else it's regu;ar PP.

Also, the telephone is not a new technology and a call in person will also thin the scam herd IMHO.

I recently bought a high value Alpa Max kit here and an Alpa 90 HRSW from a friend and both transactions were perfect F&F sales.

 

[vsbhk]

Paypal is good in principle but in practice scammers can benefit from it too. Here is an example: a few years ago Paypal blocked the funds for a pristine Canon 85 / 1.2 after the buyer claimed that it was unusable upon reception. The description was so far from reality that there was no way the comments were in any way genuine. Weeks and many emails later Paypal / Ebay released the funds and dismissed the fraudulent claims, but for a little while I thought that the lens would be destroyed and the funds blocked forever.

 

[Red735i]

Got another one this morning..... same MO...... got what you want, send email......
Not even going to take the bait this time......

 

[anyone]

Same here, from the new member stereioa - not even taking the effort to write what it was about, but just referring to ‚item‘. Well, also scammers need to be efficient.

 

[huyu]

So I'm looking for a Hassy 500CM and a new member 'dennis47' has PM'ed me and said he got one that he's not using it.
We talked and agreed on the price, but til the payment term, I couldn't agree. He asked for either a bank transfer or a PayPal family! Of course, I refused! I doubt him & got free time and I started to investigate LOL
I found the same item on FM a year ago. He took the images and copied the descriptions then pasted them to me without changing a single word.

Lucky me!

 

[Frederic]

Same here, from the new member stereioa - not even taking the effort to write what it was about, but just referring to ‚item‘. Well, also scammers need to be efficient.

He also answered a recent WTB of mine, offering "items"

 

[Pemihan]

As a seller I only accept bank transfer. I despise Paypal and have closed my account, long story but I will never use them again. If that means I'll miss out on some deals so be it.
If it's smaller items I might I'll just sell them locally or get cash sent by a pigeon or something.

But yes be on a lookout when it comes to buying/selling, many xxxholes out there. Do your DD thoroughly and walk away if it doesn't feels right.

There's many ways to do your DD, I once bought a IQ280 from a guy on the other side of the world new to the forum. Asked for images from and got them, looked up his address, looked up his second address on Google Street view, there was a for sale sign with the phone # for the agent, called the agent and got confirmation that it was the right guy. I payed with bank transfer and every checked out and I got a nice back a few days later.

 

[Alkibiades]

bank transfer or a PayPal family-friends are for free therefore a perfect choice if you are dealing with a well known person here.
There are a lot of long time members here who were dealing with much other memebers- in that case are all payment methods OK.
If you use stadart Paypal you must pay 7% and more if you are dealing from Europe to States or Asia. This is much when you buy an expensive item.
Also it is very important to insure the package in full amount- paypal dont care when the package go lost or damaged, it is not that insurance that you think it is.
The more important issue is to know the person you are dealing with, rogues will always find ways to cheat, even whith paypal.
My strategy is: dont believe in too cheap deals, ask some technical questions about the item- mostly the rogues dont know really much about it and the textes that thay write are mostly
generally and not specific. Thay are not really clever. Guys who really own items like Alpa, Arca, phase one... really know much about they equipment...