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padders
··Oooo subtitles!As has been shown on several recent threads, Omega serials are stamped so badly often you don’t need to obscure them to maintain anonymity!
Probably the most stupid question of the year (just before year-end)....
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janice&fred
·People who have lived their cushy lives in the safe first world may claim this to be 'paranoia', but ignorance is bliss when your biggest life problems are e.g. squirrels or watches.
you may have your viewpoint backwards. at least in our example. 15 years under our belt working in the Philippines. we've seen just about everything good or bad that can come one's way, so the off-chance someone is going to copy a serial number from one of our watches and then set in motion an elaborate scam to connive ownership isn't going to get so much as a second thought. we would rather roll the dice and enjoy our hobby.
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STANDY
··schizophrenic pizza orderer and watch collectorI am not a native English speaker, so maybe I should not bother replying and not being completely understood . Of course everything under 10 k is not simple. I don’t mean that . And yes , there IS a Rolex database, and of course there is also an Omega database.
Anyway... I am trying to just give some comments for discussion and all I get is irony.l from some of you . thank you people
Man give me some space .
Ok, I give you a apology for the simple watch comment I made. 👍
I am just letting you know there is no database that police report $10k watches to or one where they can search easily. ( recovered watches are usually sold at police auctions, ((in another country)) or the likes )
Scammed people don’t report the watch they were scammed of as stolen if they didn’t receive it even if they know the full serial #. the scammer took their money not their watch.
They were scammed not robbed.
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Archer
··Omega Qualified WatchmakerI am not a native English speaker, so maybe I should not bother replying and not being completely understood . Of course everything under 10 k is not simple. I don’t mean that . And yes , there IS a Rolex database, and of course there is also an Omega database.
Anyway... I am trying to just give some comments for discussion and all I get is irony.l from some of you . thank you people
If you have not already read this thread, you should:
https://omegaforums.net/threads/alert-major-theft-to-report.103749/
I'm not sure where you live, but in most developed countries the police are not going to spend a lot of time on a stolen watch. You will get a police report that YOU can then take measures with to spread the word, but to suggest the police themselves are going to spend time calling AD's and adding watches to lists is just not reality in most places.
I am going to ask Omega this, but I'm quite sure they do not keep any sort of database of stolen watches. There may be third party lists out there, but I'm quite sure someone had asked Omega this before and they said they don't keep such lists.
People who have lived their cushy lives in the safe first world may claim this to be 'paranoia', but ignorance is bliss when your biggest life problems are e.g. squirrels or watches.
Since these photos are posted on the internet (a.k.a the world wide web) and are available for pretty much the entire world to see, I don't think where you are located has much effect on your likelihood of being scammed using watch serial numbers. There's no ignorance involved - I've seen all kinds of scams with watches and anything else you could imagine - people here get scammed on the phone every day, but not using watch serial numbers.
Wherever there is money, there is greed, and nefarious intent.
Which makes it even more surprising if the risk is so great, that in 2 decades of reading about and discussing this specific issue on forums, I've never seen one documented case of someone being scammed, having their watch confiscated, or having their serial number used on replicas (the three most common scenarios put forward for covering them up) on any watch forum I've been a part of. If people are so creative with their scams, I would expect to see lots of cases where exposing a serial number specifically caused a scam to happen...
it is your property, you do as you please and see fit.
Absolutely agree 100% If it makes you feel better to hide them, then hide them. What good it actually does is unclear though...
Cheers, Al
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Evitzee
·This situation is pretty simple, if you don't think serial numbers on small, valuable, portable items have any value to an increasingly clever criminal element that operates worldwide, often in countries rooted in corruption, then just snap pics of your watches and paperwork and freely post them. Those who are a little more mistrusting of mankind's ability to wreak mayhem with data can blur out identifying numbers. No need to mock or get all self righteous on either practice. Do what you think is best for you.
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eugeneandresson
·Since these photos are posted on the internet (a.k.a the world wide web) and are available for pretty much the entire world to see
Even more reason to hide them IMHO. Who (apart from the owner) has any right (or should have any care to see) this information in the first place...and why should it matter to the world wide web if its hidden? (It shouldn't and doesn't)
Since these photos are posted on the internet (a.k.a the world wide web) and are available for pretty much the entire world to see, I don't think where you are located has much effect on your likelihood of being scammed using watch serial numbers.
I never (said / implied / made the point that) 'location has any affect or likelihood of being scammed with serial numbers' in anyway whatsoever (thats quite a silly thing to think or say imho).
The point I made was :
the levels of creativity that people go to to do bad things (like steal, embezzle and deceive) is beyond imagination and when one learns of the mechanisms thought out, it is simply breathtaking
-> just because one can't imagine how low/devious/evilly-clever someone may go with whatever info one provides, does not imply that it cant or wont be done and used against them -> in some countries one learns this the hard way -> in others (like most orderly first world countries), not. Being cautious is not 'irrational fear of the serial number boogyman'.
Anyways, I am done with this thread. The OP asked why people do it. I have stated why I do it, and why I shall continue to do it. Reader, decide for yourself. I am not here to defend the 'stupidity' or 'paranoid' reasons I don't want this information of my private property on the world wide web. Its mine. My choice. Accept it or not, I don't really care, just as, I don't care if you want to display all your info on the WWW, got nada to do with me.
Happy new years folks 👍
PS: OP, another reason why people might do it, is so that the sales history of an item (well, at least a new-ish one, that doesn't have defining flaws) can not be traced on the WWW.
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Archer
··Omega Qualified WatchmakerThis situation is pretty simple, if you don't think serial numbers on small, valuable, portable items have any value to an increasingly clever criminal element that operates worldwide, often in countries rooted in corruption, then just snap pics of your watches and paperwork and freely post them. Those who are a little more mistrusting of mankind's ability to wreak mayhem with data can blur out identifying numbers. No need to mock or get all self righteous on either practice. Do what you think is best for you.
If I see evidence showing that it's a real, true risk to not blur out a serial number on my watches, I'll do it. Until then, there's no emotion involved for me - people can do as they like.
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Archer
··Omega Qualified WatchmakerEven more reason to hide them IMHO. Who (apart from the owner) has any right (or should have any care to see) this information in the first place...and why should it matter to the world wide web if its hidden? (It shouldn't and doesn't)
I never said anyone had a "right" to this information, so that's a straw man. As I've said, if you want to blur them, that's completely up to you.
-> just because one can't imagine how low/devious/evilly-clever someone may go with whatever info one provides, does not imply that it cant or wont be done and used against them. Being cautious is not 'irrational fear of the serial number boogyman'.
I freely admit I don't spend my days trying to figure out how someone could scam me using a watch serial number I post on a open forum. Is there a possibility that someone could do this? Maybe? I have no idea. But again I have yet to see any evidence that showing a serial number poses a real security concern of any kind. If the concern were as great as many people make it out to be, it would seem that by now we would have plenty of documented cases of it happening, but we don't.
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izydor
·Absolutely agree 100% If it makes you feel better to hide them, then hide them. What good it actually does is unclear though...
I did that (blurred s/n), probably because I've seen others do it. 😁 But it also makes me feel better. And yes, it might be some sort of paranoia.
Maybe no one has ever heard of real "fake steal" (you name it) scenario, but I wouldn't like to be the first one to describe such case on forums based on my own experience. Also I believe that proving provenance of inherited watches might be a problem sometimes.
It doesn't do any good, but nothing bad either. Blur if you like. 😜
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Evitzee
·If I see evidence showing that it's a real, true risk to not blur out a serial number on my watches, I'll do it. Until then, there's no emotion involved for me - people can do as they like.
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Archer
··Omega Qualified WatchmakerIsn't it good enough that it makes someone feel better? 😉
I did that (blurred s/n), probably because I've seen others do it. 😁 But it also makes me feel better. And yes, it might be some sort of paranoia.
Maybe no one has ever heard of real "fake steal" (you name it) scenario, but I wouldn't like to be the first one to describe such case on forums based on my own experience. Also I believe that proving provenance of inherited watches might be a problem sometimes.
It doesn't do any good, but nothing bad either. Blur if you like. 😜
There are many risks in life...for me this is so far down the list of things I'd be concerned about it's really not worth the effort to blur anything. Having said that, I don't really post photos of my watches all over the place, and that is probably a bigger "risk" than showing the serial number when you do post them.*
One could argue that blurring the serial number makes it easier for someone to misrepresent the watch. For example we have many threads here where people have kept track of specific watches by the serial number as they are bought and sold, following changes made to the watch as it moved through various dealer's hands and being able to see what was changed, and then claimed to be "all original" when it was clearly not. Blurring the serial makes that harder to do...so that is a real world example of when showing the serial number has exposed bad behaviour on the part of some sellers.
Cheers, Al
* - note that I don't refrain from posting my watches out of some fear, just not something I really do a lot...
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Kargol
·What I do is this: I send the serial number of the watch and the serials in every card to the buyer after I have sold the watch. In my opinion serial numbers for important and expensive pieces of jewelry, should be hidden.
But this is my humble opinion. You can all act as you like.
I still think that police keeps records of stolen goods, as they do with stolen cars, bikes etc. if somebody declares that a product is stolen they have to keep track of it. Somebody should ask people (lawyers, detectives), who know about this things and then stop spreading false rumors .
I think i am also done with this thread .
Happy New Year everyone!!
But this is my humble opinion. You can all act as you like.
I still think that police keeps records of stolen goods, as they do with stolen cars, bikes etc. if somebody declares that a product is stolen they have to keep track of it. Somebody should ask people (lawyers, detectives), who know about this things and then stop spreading false rumors .
I think i am also done with this thread .
Happy New Year everyone!!
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Archer
··Omega Qualified WatchmakerI still think that police keeps records of stolen goods, as they do with stolen cars, bikes etc. if somebody declares that a product is stolen they have to keep track of it. Somebody should ask people (lawyers, detectives), who know about this things and then stop spreading false rumors.
I'm sure if you report it to police, and they make a report that includes the serial number of the watch, yes of course they will have a record of it since it's in the report. The idea that the police will then sit down and call all AD's with this information - well that goes into the "false rumour" category for me.
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janice&fred
·well I for one am glad this thread is spreading the news on this very real danger. keep up the good work I say!
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Andy K
·I am firmly in the "there's no harm in posting serials" crowd, but on a watch I posted for sale I had a potential buyer back out of the deal because I hadn't blurred the serials. He was new to buying on the forums, and was afraid that pics of his serial number would be online. I eventually sold it to someone else but now I try to remember to obscure the serials to make the "never share your serial number" crowd feel better.
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Dan S
·I have read this thread with interest, and it has given me a better understanding of why some sellers deface serial numbers in photos. However, nothing I have read has convinced me that there is a serious enough risk for me to change my practice of posting full serial numbers. There are many hypothetical risks in this world, but people have been posting serial numbers on the internet for a long time now, and in the absence of any demonstrable evidence that it truly leads to problems, I'm going to conclude that the actual risk is too small for me to worry about. This is just my personal decision, and I'm not criticizing people who choose to do otherwise; in fact, this thread has helped me better understand their choice.
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janice&fred
·I have read this thread with interest, and it has given me a better understanding of why some sellers deface serial numbers. However, nothing I have read has convinced me that there is a serious enough risk for me to change my practice of posting full serial numbers. There are many hypothetical risks in this world, but people have been posting serial numbers on the internet for a long time now, and in the absence of any demonstrable evidence that it truly leads to problems, I'm going to conclude that the actual risk is too small for me to worry about. This is just my personal decision, and I'm not criticizing people who choose to do otherwise; in fact, this thread has helped me better understand their choice.
I admire your style and this is a much more gentle approach. you wouldn't happen to be running for public office would you? 😁
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Dan S
·I admire your style and this is a much more gentle approach. you wouldn't happen to be running for public office would you? 😁
Maybe it can be my New Year's resolution to make my 2020 posts more like this one. 😀
