Possible scam

[3rdTennCoC]

Posted a WTB for a complete m38 carcano stock and was contacted by member hett75. Sent pictures of a stock, we negotiated a price and he asked to send via zelle, my bank did not support it so we went with PayPal where he asked to send the payment as a FF to jonathansimmons497@yahoo.com. since then I have had no co tact from them for a week with multiple texts and phone calls to the number provided

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[concretus]

Posted a WTB for a complete m38 carcano stock and was contacted by member hett75. Sent pictures of a stock, we negotiated a price and he asked to send via zelle, my bank did not support it so we went with PayPal where he asked to send the payment as a FF to jonathansimmons497@yahoo.com. since then I have had no co tact from them for a week with multiple texts and phone calls to the number provided

Sounds like you got burned by the same POS that burned me.

[Surpmil]

Wise to do a thorough google image search for whatever one may be thinking of buying to see if the purported seller is just using photos he took off the Net.

Some years ago there was a joker trying to do this with various expensive WWI & WWII scopes, which was reported here at the time.

[bigduke6]

I remember the scopes etc, I enquired about a German WW11 scope, I did a search and found the exact pictures, once I questioned the pictures he disappeared. Powel something ? I posted a heads up here.

There is a clever one who portrays to have a cousin in Scotland, he was a member here: erich51, his so called cousin is garretlee27@hotmail.com, pay pal was emilylyons or something lyons, lunfortunately, even I fell for the scam as the details and address all worked out, The advert was all correct, I googled the address and street search, at the time I had so much on with work and house extension, my attention to detail wasn't on the ball, the item in question seemed reasonable (Bren Gun tripod) so sent the cash via paypal, but my mistake it went as a gift instead of paying for an item...... so I couldn't get anything back from paypal, in fact they were as helpful as a chocolate bottle opener.

So lesson learnt, be fresh, look at all emails etc, this is something I looked at after and realised that some of the english in the email and sayings were not Scottish but very American, price drop is something there willing to do, when we ( the honest collectors and shooters amongst us) sell something we want the best price, we wouldn't drop by 30% etc, but scammers will.

Phone numbers, at the time there was a number, I'm sure we swapped Numbers and address, my concern is him/her using my address etc for the next victim.

There is a site regarding fraud etc, you give them as much detail and they will look at the case, I was ****ed off to say the least but it was one occasion were I dropped my Guard, the rest is history.

I just hope erich51 has a slow and very painfull death.

Searching google I eventually found the advert for the Tripod, it was a few years old.

[Flying10uk]

so sent the cash via paypal, but my mistake it went as a gift instead of paying for an item...... so I couldn't get anything back from paypal,

I'm not sure that you would get a refund with Paypal whatever method you used to pay because the item that you were purchasing, a Bren Gun Tripod, is gun related?

[ssgross]

I'm not sure that you would get a refund with Paypal whatever method you used to pay because the item that you were purchasing, a Bren Gun Tripod, is gun related?

people ask for PayPal friends and family to avoid the fee (4.5% I think). Whenever I do business with someone for the first time, I always offer to eat the fee, and ask for an actual invoice via PayPal. Going this route gives you PayPal's fraud protection. There is no protections with friends and family transactions. If you went with your credit card through PayPal, you may be able to make a fraud claim from your credit card company. Worth a try.

Weren't we just talking about this guy in another thread? Given the exponential increase in fraud, not just here - I would advise our members in the WTB to post a public thread before concluding business - just a simple "does anyone know member xxxx, or have done business with them before?"

[Surpmil]

Ah yes, Pavel Novak or something close to that. Purportedly based in Poland, but no more likely than Scotland probably, notwithstanding the 3m(?) Poles in the UK.

Gone on to bigger and worse things no doubt!

[jond41403]

Yes you should be careful and only use PayPal friends and family with members that you have done business with before or know and trust personally. It's a great tool to use that way and the cheapest, but you have to know the person first. Great for members you trust, not great at all for strangers. I have used PayPal friends and family with a few members here, but they are both long time trusted members.

[bigduke6]

I'm not sure that you would get a refund with Paypal whatever method you used to pay because the item that you were purchasing, a Bren Gun Tripod, is gun related?

They never questioned the item F10, just my mistake as I'd been using friends and family to pay for radio equipment...... and did automatic to pay for the tripod, too much going on in my life at the time, it happened some time back so its done and dusted, but at least more info on a other scammer.

[Flying10uk]

They never questioned the item F10

Perhaps it was before their ban on being used for transactions involving guns and certain related parts/accessories then.