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Warning: Scammed by Xyzkum and "Keith M."

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J

jono1

Member
Joined 2009
#1
I was contacted by Xyzkum that he had a "friend" ('Keith M.') who had an OPT transformer I was seeking.

'Keith M.' sent me several photos of the part from highlandox@aol.com, along with details.

I sent payment to his "wife's account" - 'Deborah Barclay'.

No response after that. I missed or ignored the signs, having transacted on audio sites and never having been ripped off until now. Buyer beware and learn from my mistakes.
 
#2
Speaking as myself, that is a wise observation. Someone randomly PMs you and their friend happens to have what you need. They have strange payment details.

They also take the conversation off-site, since here we banned this one several days ago.
 
#7
First, dishonest people are everywhere. I hope you are living on this planet
long enough to know that.
Never engage in the transaction with the people of questionable reputation
and without intermediary provided protection. Never let the crook of the hook.

Second, how did you transfer the money? PayPal? Credit card? Is it to late
to file the claim? The sooner, the better.

Third, we don't want to learn from your mistake. We already have enough
input from other people experience:
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/be-careful-of-scammer-replying-to-wtb.380455/
 
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#8
jono1 said:
I was contacted by Xyzkum that he had a "friend" ('Keith M.') who had an OPT transformer I was seeking.

'Keith M.' sent me several photos of the part from highlandox@aol.com, along with details.

I sent payment to his "wife's account" - 'Deborah Barclay'.

No response after that. I missed or ignored the signs, having transacted on audio sites and never having been ripped off until now. Buyer beware and learn from my mistakes.
Click to expand...
If you have any feeling there might be dishonesty:

-Ask for whatsupp videocall or similar, they can show that they have what they are selling on live. Scammers never have the thing they are selling..

-Pay with normal paypall. If problems, there is customer service that almost always sides with buyer and you get your money back.

-Only trust people that have long history (in years) in forums, if someone has made account one month ago, do not buy..
 
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#9
I’ve had such good transactions with people here in this community, I tend to let my guard down a little bit…well maybe a lot. I can see being scammed by someone taking advantage of that. Hopefully not too much $$ was lost. I always prefer to have phone conversations with the seller before making a big purchase.
 
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#10
In communities like this, it’s easy to become comfortable and drop one’s guard.

The thing to remember is, anytime someone, or something (AI) directs a monetary conversation away from the host venue, you should put up your personal firewall and firmly state the communication must not stray to another platform. If you start seeing names in emails that seem inconsistent or keep changing, bow out of it fast and alert the host venue’s staff.
 
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#15
AllenB said:
Noted, thank you. In the above case, those particular measures would have been false comfort as the perpetrator waited them out.
Click to expand...
That's why I mentioned technical posts. 🙂
So only posts in technical topics, not like "the lounge", "swap meet" etc etc.
In that case a scammer can't just wait, since an active contribution is required.

I don't know if this is possible, but I guess it's even possible to count the amount of words over these posts?
To prevent scammers to just say; "yes" , "no", "great" in those minimum amount of posts.

Just only a time limit is never enough in my experience, because like you said, scammers wait them out.
 
#16
It's always going to be a problem. We just have to accept that there's always risk. People go off the rails with a personal crisis, past performance is not always a reliable guide, but reading past interactions is about as good as it's going to be. So far I've no complaints and the mods run a tight ship, I think we're about as safe as it's possible to be, doing what we do.
 
#17
 
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