Would this be fake?
I'm curious, the price seems too good to be true, but I wonder what you guys would say:
Linky
I'm not interested in buying anything, but for that sort of price, (remember it's in Australian dollars)...
What are your experiences with eBay too? Is it easy to be ripped off? m.
Linky
I'm not interested in buying anything, but for that sort of price, (remember it's in Australian dollars)...
What are your experiences with eBay too? Is it easy to be ripped off? m.
Comments
Originally posted by Merovingian
Is it easy to be ripped off?
Absolutely. I opened it up just to inspect it...really!
doesnt appear to fit the scam models (except for the lack of payment options - some of them protect consumers, heaven forbid).
Before using eBay, best to do your research...
ebay scams by flipshark.com
I've never bought anything off eBay, anything I bid on goes over a reasonable price within a day after Ive bid... its a strange phenomena that others have noticed too !
Hope this helps.
Originally posted by AsLan^
Probably stolen at that price !
I couldn't care less!
Originally posted by AsLan^
doesnt appear to fit the scam models (except for the lack of payment options - some of them protect consumers, heaven forbid).
Before using eBay, best to do your research...
ebay scams by flipshark.com [/B]
Error 502. m.
you can see the frontpage in the google cache but thats not much use is it.
Just do a google for "ebay scams" and browse through, there are other sites, I just remembered flipshark being a decent read.
PB 17" "Unfortunately, I have to sell it because I need extra money for the holidays."
15" TiBook, no reason given.
The 15" PB as mentionned.
A hand-painted screen (not computer screen) :S
It seems odd that a person would have 3 high-spec Apple laptops to sell at once unless he was getting them very cheap from somewhere (i.e. stolen), or representing a company or something. Interesting that he only has one bit of negative feedback, though.
Originally posted by Mike Peel
PB 17" "Unfortunately, I have to sell it because I need extra money for the holidays."
I wondered about that reason. If he needed money for the holidays, I suppose he could sell it for $3000 or maybe $4000.
Originally posted by Mike Peel
15" TiBook, no reason given.
The 15" PB as mentionned.
A hand-painted screen (not computer screen) :S
Meh...
Originally posted by Mike Peel
It seems odd that a person would have 3 high-spec Apple laptops to sell at once unless he was getting them very cheap from somewhere (i.e. stolen), or representing a company or something. Interesting that he only has one bit of negative feedback, though.
This is baffling.
If these laptops were indeed stolen, how could one steal them this new? Perhaps his father is the head of an Apple reseller, and the seller is his favourite son or something.
The overall positive ratings are a mystery.
He sells an unusually high amount of Xbox games... Black market? m.
Of course that is american, I don't know how that translates to Australian.
I've always dreamed of owning something stolen
So 2000AUD = 1530USD = 850GBP
Approximately, anyhow.
Originally posted by CubeDude
And now its gone.
Probably a scam, then. Unless someone bought all three ? unlikely.
Though it could have happened, as the buyer could have made at least a grand off of each one. Seems far-fetched, but I know someone who sold their entire belongings to a guy through the local South Australian newspaper, for AUD$500. This price included fridge, TV, tables, chairs, Honda motorbike... m.
I found an ebay item listing 4 15" Powerbook Ti's at about $1000 discount to normal price. New, in-box, warranty, not stolen, etc. is what the guy promised. "I ordered the wrong items from my supplier and need to get rid of these quickly so I can free up my cash to buy the correct equipment." The auction was listed as approved bidders only, so I wasn't approved before the auction ended (this is part of the scam).
So, I tell the guy I am interested (I was a little suspicious because the ebay ID was kind of feminine and the email was written from a guy) and he tells me "Well, the auction ended, but I will have eBay Trust Services (or some other bogus name) contact you to set up the transaction so that we will both be protected." I knew the guy was BSing me now because I knew there was no process on ebay to facilitate a transaction after the close of an auction.
Low and behold, I get an email that claimed to be from the Ebay Trust Services (or whatever it was)complete with ebay logos and links. I was suprised to see that ebay's official emails included such badly broken and misspelled english. It gave me the instructions to send payment to someone in Bulgaria or Hungary or something and that only cash and western union were accepted. Of course I look at the (spoofed) email and check out the headers. The mail was sent from Bulgaria based on it's IP address.
I spent a lot of time researching this guy and turned all the stuff I found into the FBI unit that deals with electronic crimes. He kept checking to see if I sent the money and I kept telling him that western union was having trouble, all the while I was gathering more info on the guy. He had hijacked an ebay account and changed the email address that was associated with it so he could pose as someone with a good feedback record to rip people off. I was able to find tons of stuff about him, even a picture of this jerkoff. I also contacted his internet service provider and the US consulate in bulgaria, ebay, yahoo (where he sent some of his emails from) and a couple other organizations that I thought would be interested in his shinnanigans. Only ebay ever got back to me.
I had been taken for $1,000 in 2000 for a video camera, but eventually got my money back from the guy after tracking him down and sicking the feds on him. He eventually went to jail (anyone ever hear of Raj Trivedi or Rajsoft?). This guy in Bulgaria was pretty easy to spot as a fake, but it seems he was a little too far geographically for me to hurt him much. The lesson I learned the first time is: If it seems too good to be true, it definitly is. If the seller is trying to make you think that you have to act fast, then be willing to walk away from the deal.
Read up on this info on ebay for ID hijacking and the "western union" scam.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/spoof-email.html
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.js...20040120130524
I got lucky on both of my involvements in these scams, but I am the exception. And, I am sure this was pulled due to fraud, if it was a completed item you would still be able to view it.
He eventually went to jail (anyone ever hear of Raj Trivedi or Rajsoft?).
*bing*!
We bought an iBook from him, what, three, four years ago. It is still humming away in my son's room (broken LCD and all --- unrelated to the purchase).
For $1100 I was willing to get a $300 airline ticket to go to San Diego and beat his a$$, but he eventually paid me back after I threatened him with my fictitious lawyers. I had a friend that ordered at the same time I did and he actually made money off the deal because after he initiated a dispute on his CC charge, Raj sent him some money.
We were both suckered into the "This is too good to be true, we better act fast before someone else buys them all up" mentality.
Glad your deal went down without any problems though.
Originally posted by muah
I didn't get to see the item you guys are talking about, but I can offer this story:
I found an ebay item listing 4 15" Powerbook Ti's at about $1000 discount to normal price. New, in-box, warranty, not stolen, etc. is what the guy promised. "I ordered the wrong items from my supplier and need to get rid of these quickly so I can free up my cash to buy the correct equipment." The auction was listed as approved bidders only, so I wasn't approved before the auction ended (this is part of the scam).
So, I tell the guy I am interested (I was a little suspicious because the ebay ID was kind of feminine and the email was written from a guy) and he tells me "Well, the auction ended, but I will have eBay Trust Services (or some other bogus name) contact you to set up the transaction so that we will both be protected." I knew the guy was BSing me now because I knew there was no process on ebay to facilitate a transaction after the close of an auction.
Low and behold, I get an email that claimed to be from the Ebay Trust Services (or whatever it was)complete with ebay logos and links. I was suprised to see that ebay's official emails included such badly broken and misspelled english. It gave me the instructions to send payment to someone in Bulgaria or Hungary or something and that only cash and western union were accepted. Of course I look at the (spoofed) email and check out the headers. The mail was sent from Bulgaria based on it's IP address.
I spent a lot of time researching this guy and turned all the stuff I found into the FBI unit that deals with electronic crimes. He kept checking to see if I sent the money and I kept telling him that western union was having trouble, all the while I was gathering more info on the guy. He had hijacked an ebay account and changed the email address that was associated with it so he could pose as someone with a good feedback record to rip people off. I was able to find tons of stuff about him, even a picture of this jerkoff. I also contacted his internet service provider and the US consulate in bulgaria, ebay, yahoo (where he sent some of his emails from) and a couple other organizations that I thought would be interested in his shinnanigans. Only ebay ever got back to me.
I had been taken for $1,000 in 2000 for a video camera, but eventually got my money back from the guy after tracking him down and sicking the feds on him. He eventually went to jail (anyone ever hear of Raj Trivedi or Rajsoft?). This guy in Bulgaria was pretty easy to spot as a fake, but it seems he was a little too far geographically for me to hurt him much. The lesson I learned the first time is: If it seems too good to be true, it definitly is. If the seller is trying to make you think that you have to act fast, then be willing to walk away from the deal.
Read up on this info on ebay for ID hijacking and the "western union" scam.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/spoof-email.html
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.js...20040120130524
I got lucky on both of my involvements in these scams, but I am the exception. And, I am sure this was pulled due to fraud, if it was a completed item you would still be able to view it.
Interesting reading. I'm glad you got your money back after all that. How did you get the guy's photo???
Well, a PBG4 at AUD$2100 did seem nice, but suspicion arose due to the fact that not even supereseded, store demonstration models, refurbs, or even models that have been superseded a few times, are that cheap. m.
You have to be willing to make some assumtions that the "John Smith" who is active in his church and is 56 years old isn't the ebay fraud that "John Smith" who is 23 and reads a lot about UNIX scripting and creates websites for his friends.
In both of my run-ins with fraud, I could tell you where these people live and who they hang out with. The first time, I even got ahold of one of Raj's old work associates who basically said "Raj got to the point that he was passing off really bad work (in their website moonlighting business) and when the customer would complain he would just tell them tough. It doesnt' suprise me that he has continued to bend his morals to the point that he is scamming people on ebay."
Apparently word hasn't gotten out about how good a googler I am