OT: How to *NOT* get scammed.....emails offering to sell Elecraft equipment?

[dw-4]

I hope its ok for me to post an OFF-TOPIC query.
Here is my question:
Recently I was forwarded an email.....a ham offering to sell a slightly
used KX3.

I had a bad experience this summer with someone who I believe was posing
as a ham offering to sell something via email.  
It was in response to a "want-add" I had posted on Eham-swap looking for
parts.

I received an email a supposed ham wanted to sell me an item he claimed
was almost brand new.
I said thank you anyway....I'm specifically looking for parts.
He emailed me 2 more times trying to get me to buy.
I thanked him and repeated, I was only looking for parts.
He then emailed me saying he had another unit he would sell as parts.
I asked him for pictures.
I never heard from him again.
He was using a legitimate ham call-sign.

I believe if someone on this list were selling a used KX3, it would be
legit.
But other forums I suspect are subject to scammers.
Is there any way one can inspect an item at delivery before providing
payment?
C.O.D is kind of like that, but not quite.

** please no flammers **  
Thanks :-]
Duane - N1BBR
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[Jerry Flanders]

1) See if QRZ address matches the address he gives

2) Google search him to see if anyone complained on a list or
elsewhere. Also see if he ever posts to ham reflectors and what that
history is.

3) Does he have a land-line phone nr that can be verified against his
address on the internet phone book?

4) Use USPS money order for payment. Supposed to give protection
against fraud (possibly get the federal postal inspectors on your
side) . This helps both sides, actually.

If at least 3 of the above are OK, he probably is also.

Jerry W4UK

At 10:22 AM 10/3/2013, you wrote:

>I hope its ok for me to post an OFF-TOPIC query.
>Here is my question:
>Recently I was forwarded an email.....a ham offering to sell a slightly
>used KX3.
>
>I had a bad experience this summer with someone who I believe was posing
>as a ham offering to sell something via email.
>It was in response to a "want-add" I had posted on Eham-swap looking for
>parts.
>
>I received an email a supposed ham wanted to sell me an item he claimed
>was almost brand new.
>I said thank you anyway....I'm specifically looking for parts.
>He emailed me 2 more times trying to get me to buy.
>I thanked him and repeated, I was only looking for parts.
>He then emailed me saying he had another unit he would sell as parts.
>I asked him for pictures.
>I never heard from him again.
>He was using a legitimate ham call-sign.
>
>I believe if someone on this list were selling a used KX3, it would be
>legit.
>But other forums I suspect are subject to scammers.
>Is there any way one can inspect an item at delivery before providing
>payment?
>C.O.D is kind of like that, but not quite.
>
>** please no flammers **
>Thanks :-]
>Duane - N1BBR

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[Keith Heimbold]

Just a couple elaborations on these fine points.

1) QRZ email address is not always a sure fire protection against fraudulent posts. I had one gentleman I was going to purchase from who was unaware that his QRZ email was hacked. Get a phone number and references from another ham in his/her area if it is a big dollar purchase.

2) definitely communicate on the phone about the deal. Get additional pictures of the equipment. Trust your gut. If it feels wrong it probably is wrong.

3) I use Paypal and I realize it is expensive but I like the protections it provides. Cashiers checks is also something I have used with the name of the ham operator selling the equipment based on callsign on qrz or FCC database.

Just another couple elaborations on already posted good suggestions.

Good luck!

Keith
AK6ZZ

Sent from my iPhone please excuse typos

> On Oct 3, 2013, at 7:38 AM, "Jerry Flanders" <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> 1) See if QRZ address matches the address he gives
>
> 2) Google search him to see if anyone complained on a list or elsewhere. Also see if he ever posts to ham reflectors and what that history is.
>
> 3) Does he have a land-line phone nr that can be verified against his address on the internet phone book?
>
> 4) Use USPS money order for payment. Supposed to give protection against fraud (possibly get the federal postal inspectors on your side) . This helps both sides, actually.
>
> If at least 3 of the above are OK, he probably is also.
>
> Jerry W4UK
>
> At 10:22 AM 10/3/2013, you wrote:
>> I hope its ok for me to post an OFF-TOPIC query.
>> Here is my question:
>> Recently I was forwarded an email.....a ham offering to sell a slightly
>> used KX3.
>>
>> I had a bad experience this summer with someone who I believe was posing
>> as a ham offering to sell something via email.
>> It was in response to a "want-add" I had posted on Eham-swap looking for
>> parts.
>>
>> I received an email a supposed ham wanted to sell me an item he claimed
>> was almost brand new.
>> I said thank you anyway....I'm specifically looking for parts.
>> He emailed me 2 more times trying to get me to buy.
>> I thanked him and repeated, I was only looking for parts.
>> He then emailed me saying he had another unit he would sell as parts.
>> I asked him for pictures.
>> I never heard from him again.
>> He was using a legitimate ham call-sign.
>>
>> I believe if someone on this list were selling a used KX3, it would be
>> legit.
>> But other forums I suspect are subject to scammers.
>> Is there any way one can inspect an item at delivery before providing
>> payment?
>> C.O.D is kind of like that, but not quite.
>>
>> ** please no flammers **
>> Thanks :-]
>> Duane - N1BBR
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
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> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

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[Lewis Phelps]

One more suggestion:

ask for photocopy of a sales receipt, or an invoice, showing that he purchased the item from a legitimate source (e.g. an Elecraft invoice).

I recently answered a Craigslist listing for an iMac.  Price seemed too good to be true. It was. I smoked out the fraud by asking for sales receipts. Seller suddenly went into radio silence.

Lew


Lew Phelps N6LEW
Pasadena, CA DM04wd
Elecraft K3-10
Yaesu FT-7800
[hidden email]
www.ntlew.us



On Oct 3, 2013, at 8:17 AM, Keith Heimbold <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Just a couple elaborations on these fine points.[snip]
>

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[Mark Stennett]

Be careful trusting what you see on QRZ. There is a recent trend where an
unsuspecting victim clicks on a link to view whatever a scammer is offering
via email. That link leads to a QRZ.COM fake web page where the victim is
asked to log in. After providing name and password, the victim is then
directed to the real QRZ.COM.

The scammer now has the login information he needs to get on QRZ and change
the email address to something he controls. You would also not be surprised
how many hams use the same password on multiple sites. They change other
accounts as well and then scam ads are posted under legitimate user
accounts. A lot of us site managers have gotten together and share
information so  these scammers are shut down fast but they still sneak
through.


73 de na6m


-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry Flanders <[hidden email]>
To: dw <[hidden email]>
Cc: [hidden email]
Date: Thu, 03 Oct 2013 10:38:18 -0400
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] OT: How to *NOT* get scammed.....emails offering to
sell Elecraft equipment?


1) See if QRZ address matches the address he gives

2) Google search him to see if anyone complained on a list or
elsewhere. Also see if he ever posts to ham reflectors and what that
history is.

3) Does he have a land-line phone nr that can be verified against his
address on the internet phone book?

4) Use USPS money order for payment. Supposed to give protection
against fraud (possibly get the federal postal inspectors on your
side) . This helps both sides, actually.

If at least 3 of the above are OK, he probably is also.

Jerry W4UK

At 10:22 AM 10/3/2013, you wrote:

>I hope its ok for me to post an OFF-TOPIC query.
>Here is my question:
>Recently I was forwarded an email.....a ham offering to sell a slightly
>used KX3.
>
>I had a bad experience this summer with someone who I believe was posing
>as a ham offering to sell something via email.
>It was in response to a "want-add" I had posted on Eham-swap looking for
>parts.
>
>I received an email a supposed ham wanted to sell me an item he claimed
>was almost brand new.
>I said thank you anyway....I'm specifically looking for parts.
>He emailed me 2 more times trying to get me to buy.
>I thanked him and repeated, I was only looking for parts.
>He then emailed me saying he had another unit he would sell as parts.
>I asked him for pictures.
>I never heard from him again.
>He was using a legitimate ham call-sign.
>
>I believe if someone on this list were selling a used KX3, it would be
>legit.
>But other forums I suspect are subject to scammers.
>Is there any way one can inspect an item at delivery before providing
>payment?
>C.O.D is kind of like that, but not quite.
>
>** please no flammers **
>Thanks :-]
>Duane - N1BBR

______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft 
[http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft]
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm [http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm]
Post: mailto:[hidden email]

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net [http://www.qsl.net/]
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html 
[http://www.qsl.net/donate.html]
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[Jerry Flanders]

To be clear concerning the QRZ address check::

QRZ.com can give the official FCC contact postal address. This can
also be had on the FCC website. I recommend comparing that postal
address to the postal address he gives for sending the USPS money
order. I would NOT like a po box nr for this, and no address changes, either.

And using USPS Money orders gives a sort of fraud protection for both
the buyer and seller. Read USPS website. Looks like you can even
check the validity of the MO there.

Jerry W4UK

At 11:37 AM 10/3/2013, Mark Stennett wrote:

>Be careful trusting what you see on QRZ. There is a recent trend
>where an unsuspecting victim clicks on a link to view whatever a
>scammer is offering via email. That link leads to a QRZ.COM fake web
>page where the victim is asked to log in. After providing name and
>password, the victim is then directed to the real QRZ.COM.
>
>The scammer now has the login information he needs to get on QRZ and
>change the email address to something he controls. You would also
>not be surprised how many hams use the same password on multiple
>sites. They change other accounts as well and then scam ads are
>posted under legitimate user accounts. A lot of us site managers
>have gotten together and share information so  these scammers are
>shut down fast but they still sneak through.
>
>
>73 de na6m
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Jerry Flanders <[hidden email]>
>To: dw <[hidden email]>
>Cc: [hidden email]
>Date: Thu, 03 Oct 2013 10:38:18 -0400
>Subject: Re: [Elecraft] OT: How to *NOT* get scammed.....emails
>offering to sell Elecraft equipment?
>
>1) See if QRZ address matches the address he gives
>
>2) Google search him to see if anyone complained on a list or
>elsewhere. Also see if he ever posts to ham reflectors and what that
>history is.
>
>3) Does he have a land-line phone nr that can be verified against his
>address on the internet phone book?
>
>4) Use USPS money order for payment. Supposed to give protection
>against fraud (possibly get the federal postal inspectors on your
>side) . This helps both sides, actually.
>
>If at least 3 of the above are OK, he probably is also.
>
>Jerry W4UK
>
>At 10:22 AM 10/3/2013, you wrote:
> >I hope its ok for me to post an OFF-TOPIC query.
> >Here is my question:
> >Recently I was forwarded an email.....a ham offering to sell a slightly
> >used KX3.
> >
> >I had a bad experience this summer with someone who I believe was posing
> >as a ham offering to sell something via email.
> >It was in response to a "want-add" I had posted on Eham-swap looking for
> >parts.
> >
> >I received an email a supposed ham wanted to sell me an item he claimed
> >was almost brand new.
> >I said thank you anyway....I'm specifically looking for parts.
> >He emailed me 2 more times trying to get me to buy.
> >I thanked him and repeated, I was only looking for parts.
> >He then emailed me saying he had another unit he would sell as parts.
> >I asked him for pictures.
> >I never heard from him again.
> >He was using a legitimate ham call-sign.
> >
> >I believe if someone on this list were selling a used KX3, it would be
> >legit.
> >But other forums I suspect are subject to scammers.
> >Is there any way one can inspect an item at delivery before providing
> >payment?
> >C.O.D is kind of like that, but not quite.
> >
> >** please no flammers **
> >Thanks :-]
> >Duane - N1BBR
>
>______________________________________________________________
>Elecraft mailing list
>Home:
><http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft>http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>Help: <http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm>http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
>This list hosted by: <http://www.qsl.net>http://www.qsl.net
>Please help support this email list:
><http://www.qsl.net/donate.html>http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
>

______________________________________________________________
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Post: mailto:[hidden email]

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