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Close call? Scammer lucian23

paddymoran
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M matmunk
That’s a relief to hear, thank you. I feel stupid to fall for this, but the guy had several positive references. Apparently built up since his last “run”.
And I’m confident that the feedbacks are legitimate - I did review them and I know a few of the members who left positive feedback. However, it seems the MO is to sell low value watches to build up feedbacks and then list higher value watches for sale - with no intention of following through on the sale.
 
M
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paddymoran paddymoran
And I’m confident that the feedbacks are legitimate - I did review them and I know a few of the members who left positive feedback. However, it seems the MO is to sell low value watches to build up feedbacks and then list higher value watches for sale - with no intention of following through on the sale.

Yeah, looks like it. He has been planning this for a while. I looked at them too, and at least one of the profiles was a decade old, which gave me confidence that the seller was legit. I did not suspect that anyone could be so devious to do legit trades for almost two years to build up a profile. Live and learn, I guess.

As mentioned previously, I have already filed a claim and I don't think I can add any more details to it. I will PM my PayPal address to you, in case you have filed a claim yet.

I have not contacted my own bank to avoid interfering with PayPals processes.

If we get a refund through PayPay, do you know if he still profits? I can't stand the thought of him still profiting from this.
 
paddymoran
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M matmunk
If we get a refund through PayPay, do you know if he still profits? I can't stand the thought of him still profiting from this.

PayPal hold the funds for a period of time so I don’t think he’ll benefit - I’m sure they’d confirm if you ask them.
 
Appleseed6
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I, too, fell for this one. The forum mods pointed me here.

The Paypal account was named Vintage Kaleidoscope.
 
Eve
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The scammer sent me today an email to my paypal email address,
„Also if you are interested i intend to sell an Omega Apollo XVII limited edition watch..“
☕
 
Davidt
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I’ve no idea how it actually works or how successful it is, but previous threads suggested he managed to keep the money, the buyers got refunded and it was PayPal who footed the bill.
 
140dave
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paddymoran paddymoran
PayPal hold the funds for a period of time so I don’t think he’ll benefit - I’m sure they’d confirm if you ask them.

PayPal hold funds until proof of shipping which he/she/it provides just like they did for you.

Scammer then withdrawals the money before a claim is filed and closes bank account. PayPal goes after scammer through another route but scammer keeps the cash (at least short term). I’d bet that’s the master plan to “pay PayPal back” for taking his money (scammers words, not mine) but no clue how it can be done more than once without destroying your ability to have a legit bank account.
 
JwRosenthal
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What’s tragic about this is that it will shake the confidence so many of us have enjoyed about the sales section here with newer members/sellers. I remember how hard it was to build credibility when I started selling some of my pieces here (like trying to get a job that requires prior experience when nobody will give you any experience) and it takes trust and time.

The 200 post rule was to help safeguard against this, but clearly people who are playing the long game are savvy enough to fly under the radar and pretend to be part of the community.
I think it’s unfair for the mods to have to monitor the sales area more than they already have to considering this is not a sales platform and their time is voluntary. But I’m not sure what other low-tech protocols could be put in place to help avoid this kind of shadiness. Perhaps once someone sends payment they post in the thread that they have paid- but some don’t want to advertise their purchases or if the sale goes south and the seller has to lift the OHPF or Sold, then it burns the listing as people will be suspicious.
 
140dave
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Probably wouldn’t have helped in this case but there was talk a year or two back about adding an icon or some such for those of us that use the 2FA feature. I still think that is a good idea and will help with trust somewhat.

Yes, won’t prevent someone from selling goods legit for a while and then turning into a scammer, but what will? Answer that and you are pretty wealthy; eBay and every other market place will be interested.
 
JwRosenthal
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140dave 140dave
Probably wouldn’t have helped in this case but there was talk a year or two back about adding an icon or some such for those of us that use the 2FA feature. I still think that is a good idea and will help with trust somewhat.

Yes, won’t prevent someone from selling goods legit for a while and then turning into a scammer, but what will? Answer that and you are pretty wealthy; eBay and every other market place will be interested.
The difference here though is this isn’t a marketplace. The mods are nice enough to set up a table in the corner and we throw our shit on it.
I will say the members here sussed out the scammer well before eBay would have so kudos to community policing.
 
TexOmega
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Well, if the Mods got a piece from the seller and a piece from the buyer plus a piece of the shipping, they just might blink more often than not.......☕😵‍💫

Just spit-ballin' here, I have no inside knowledge of any pending changes📖

Carry on, nothing to see here....
 
140dave
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JwRosenthal JwRosenthal
The difference here though is this isn’t a marketplace. The mods are nice enough to set up a table in the corner and we throw our shit on it.
I will say the members here sussed out the scammer well before eBay would have so kudos to community policing.
I didn’t say OF was a marketplace, I said figure out the solution and eBay and other marketplaces will make you wealthy.

But, while I understand your sentiment,
for some OF is absolutely a marketplace. It’s not why most people sell here, but a lot of buyers are not regulars and there are plenty of sellers who do not participate in threads outside of sales posts. Add watchrecon and it’s certainly part of the watch marketplace.

And you are absolutely correct that OF has some of the best detectives out there! Way better than any fraud department I’ve worked with. There are a select handful of members here who are true detectives, that see and remember all.
 
JwRosenthal
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140dave 140dave
There are a select handful of members here who are true detectives, that see and remember all.
I was in college, I was young and it was only that one time..well twice but who’s counting!
 
DaveK
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140dave 140dave
Probably wouldn’t have helped in this case but there was talk a year or two back about adding an icon or some such for those of us that use the 2FA feature. I still think that is a good idea and will help with trust somewhat.

Yes, won’t prevent someone from selling goods legit for a while and then turning into a scammer, but what will? Answer that and you are pretty wealthy; eBay and every other market place will be interested.

I was thinking about that as well while reading this.
 
RevZMan123
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A few of the facebook groups have the mods offer escrow service and middleman the watch. They don't do it for free, but it it's only a few bucks. This is something that trusted members/mods/admins could potentially offer.
 
Fatcat
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When it looks to great because it is at 50% something is wrong but still people thinking making a deal.

2 years ago they have Apollo 17 at 20% than the market and a lot of sales ( was more or less selling g a watch a day I the forum) was close to start the things to buy until they told me was in Romania at this level was a dead end no one in Romania ca have such collection of watches and specially for sale , the only think from Romania I trust are the Dacia cars .
 
Davidt
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I don’t think location has much to do with it. If someone is selling well known watches at 50% of a well established market value, there’s something amiss.
 
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