- Afraid of getting ripped off on a DVX100A

Rubix³

Rubix³

Well-known member
Hi everyone.

I'm the very definition of the word newbie when it comes to these cameras. I'm an actor who is interested in directing and mainly creating a few things to put on my reel.

I've been researching cameras, and I found a guy on ebay selling an AG-DVX100A camera with "contact me for purchase" demands. From what I've researched, this is a perfect "better than starter" camera for me. Upon contacting him, he replied

Hi,
The item is new,in the original box, including all accessories. They have 1 year international warranty. If you are interested and would like to purchase I await your order very soon for my best price of only 700GBP .This price includes the shipping and handling fees. For payment I accept Western Union Money Transfer and I will ship you the package via FedEx priority service in 1 Day, please go to www.westernunion.com insert you address at FIND A LOCAL AGENT. You will see there are a lot of western union agencies near you.
Visit a Western Union office and make payment to my name and address, after you have made payment the folks from Western Union will give you a MTCN# (Money Transfer Control Number), please email me this number and I will check on Western Union’s web page. If everything is fine I will ship right away with FedEx priority service and email you the tracking number. After you receive the package you need to email me that everything is okay so I may pick up the payment.
My payment information is:
(home address)
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This is about 1200USD. I replied back to make sure it wasn't a PAL camera and he claimed it was NTSC. I replied back again expressing my interest & I asked him for his number so I could contact him and ask a few questions. This was just a second ago so I don't have a reply yet.

Sounds too good to be true. What is your opinion of this deal?

Thank you for reading.
 
Great for you to ask this here, kudos! better ask the question, than get burned!
Yes, a scam it is. Someone is trying to rob you of your money.
 
Oh, haha!
That is the same guy (or gal) who keeps popping up on eBay with "contact me for purchase"; he has HMI lights for £200, and such. He/she is really hammering the pro-video equipment....I guess he thinks we have money to burn! :)
eBay normally kicks him (or her) out after a few days.
 
Thanks a million for such quick replies.

You're right about the guy popping up. Now he's got a Sony HVR-Z1U on ebay for the exact same price.

Isn't there some kind of security western union offers for stuff like this? For instance, I can't authorize him to take the cash unless I get the cam & test it? I've never used them before. What's this guy do, just take the money and send nothing? Or do you think he's dealing hot equipment?

Pisses me off. I've been looking forward to this all day.
 
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Rubix³ said:
What's this guy do, just take the money and send nothing? Or do you think he's dealing hot equipment?
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You get nothing, well, maybe an empty box.

You are annoyed right now, yes? Well, there's a remedy:
There's a guy that SCAMMED the SCAMMER and made HIM pay big time.
Here's a link to the PDF; it's quite long so be prepared for a good read, but you WILL feel better afterwards! :)
http://www.p-p-p-powerbook.com/files/thepowerbook.pdf
 
Never ever buy anything using Western Union Moneygrams, you will have a snowball's chance in hell of either getting the merchandise or your money back.

Take any part of that message such as "If you are interested and would like to purchase I await your order very soon for my best price of only" and Google it -- the message is just a template that different crooks use over and over with different items to try to rip people off.
 
Well fellas, you're all right. I feel a little silly for believing this for a second and not googling his address (or anything else for that matter) myself.

vidled - I didn't read the whole pdf, but I did browse the whole thing and caught some of the pictures. Nice. :kali:

*tears up script and pukes on the floor*
 
I've just gone thru 3 weeks of emails with ebay's fraud department safe harbor, luckily I didn't pay the guy it was for a mac g5 loaded with all the max upgrades I won the auction for $3700.00 man I was pretty happy until I went to apples site and found out it was worth $21,000.00. Needless to say after they told me to try and contact the seller (his phone # 333-4444) I reported the phone number was fake and they started investigating. They told me the emails he sent me outside of ebay and paypal were fake (they looked like the real deal). They didn't tell me if they suspended his account but they said they notified the authorities. I got lucky to get out of that deal hopefully the guy never gets back on there.
 
Standard rip-off and you have zip protection with a money order. That is why they ask for a money order. But there are some legit escrow sites that cost money. But well worth it on big purchases.
 
I got a reply back to my request for phone contact:

I want to take this opportunity to assure you that this deal is as legitimate as it could possible be.I have a familly, 2 kids, that means I would not risk anything to put them in danger or something like that for that kind of money, I have a career, I am a person of honour and a serious seller and I don't see any reason for not respecting you as I did with the other customers, Why should I be different with you ??? It makes no sense... I earned my money through hard work in this life and I don't force you to do anything that you won't like, at this price I can find easy another customer. I can guaratee you that you will be more than satisfied and be sure we will do more business in the future. I won't risk my career, my freedom and my future for anything in the world!!!
I would rather close this deal with other person than to know that you'll be very stressed hoping that I am a honest person, until you receive your package. Your peace of mind is a lot more important than this deal!!!
Building a long-lasting relationship with my customers means building trust.
Advertising and marketing efforts create interest and will initially pave the way, but the results are the core of my success in this tough business enviroment.
To be competitive on a highly dynamic market I must find new ways of improving quality of my products/services and reduce costs. Western Union payment services and FedEx delivery services are an excellent way to achieve a high level of profesionalism with a great impact on the results of our trade.
Please take into consideration my past experience with diffrent commercial services and the advantage gained from avoiding commercial charges and hidden costs. These are not neglijable aspects of our transaction and they allow me to offer you excellent products and services bellow the market value.
If you decide not to go through with it there is no problem. I got quite a few offers left. Get back to me and let me know what you decide.
Thank you for your time and interest. Whatever you decide I wish you good luck.
Click to expand...

I replied:

Right.

You’re a con-artist. A liar. A thief. The lowest form of life.

-Pat
Click to expand...


 
That's hysterical -- even the "I want to take this opportunity to assure you that this deal is as legitimate as it could possible be" phrase (including the typos and grammatical errors) is a boiler-plate reply that's been used verbatim in other rip-off attempts. Here are examples from eBay's Dutch auction site, one from a German computer site, and one from a German photography newsgroup on Usenet:

http://forums.ebay.nl/thread.jspa?threadID=600000982&tstart=80&mod=1141987006257

http://forum.computerbetrug.de/showthread.php?t=29117

http://groups.google.com/group/de.rec.fotografie/browse_thread/thread/6f16b99cad634261/323d2c1ae56292cc?lnk=st&q=&rnum=1#323d2c1ae56292cc
 
Yep. What a dark day it is when the crooks are too half-assed (or domeless) to even correct spelling errors. For crying out loud, if you're going to try and rip me off, at least have the decency to produce sentences that aren't run-ons. Disorganized crime.
 
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