Scammer Warning

Castro · March 2022

Good evening

This morning I received an email from a Donald Conte offering to sell me a Bartel Sugarland. What follows is the email tennis:

'How did you get my details?'

'through the forum your email is on there'

Hi Donald. Thanks for clarifying, I tend to be hesitant when I get an unexpected email. What's the asking price?

'Its fine I understand. I will be willing to sell it for £2500 including shipping. Where are you located?'

I live in Chippenham, Wiltshire. But £2,500 is more than I want to pay so I'm going to wait to see if I can grab a less expensive one. I'm aware of two others that are about to be listed and my aim is to get one much closer to £2,000.

£2000 will be fine with me if you will cover the shipping cost which is not much we can have a deal today let me know

Could I ask where you live? Also I will need the weight and dimensions of the shipping box.

'i'm in scotland - Dimensions 20" x 17" x 10.5" - Weight 33lbs - That wouldn't be so much'

I have a good friend in Scotland who I could ask to collect it from you and pay you. Which town/city are you in?

'I'm sorry i will only post'

Yeah right! He is using this email address - donaldconte06@gmail.com

His surname is sounds like the expletive I use for such scumbags.

I do not have a friend in Scotland.

Be vigilant people!

Castro

andrewaward · March 2022

Donald - from Scotland …. Guys really done his back story homework !

These scammers are really upping there game :-)

I’ve noticed a lot of scammers on Reverb recently also , it’s as if a new glut of them have appeared

Roland · March 2022

We are currently receiving a spate of these. Scammers are using PMs and emails to try to avoid attention.

guitarjack66 · March 2022

I assume the scammers are private sales rather than music shops or businesses? I like reverb so tend to stick to shops for my lurchases.

springhead · March 2022

You needed to ask one final question - "Donald, where's your troosers?". That would have shown him.

TTony · March 2022

Castro said:

I do not have a friend in Scotland.

No-one does.

fastonebaz · March 2022

What a Conte!

kentuckyklira · April 2022

Good for you. Regardless of how far away the seller claims to be I always ask if I can come around as I "have friends in the area", "will be near there for vacation" or whatever else. Dodgy excuses always mean no deal and a warning to eBay, facebook or wherever else the as**ole is trying to do his thing.

2volume1tone · January 2023

I got ripped for £530 on eBay SELLING! Was on eBay 20 years. Basically all they do is immediately lodge a dispute with the seller once they do unless you know what’s going on - and I didn’t - being a decent guy you’re on a slippery slope. Bottom line avoid EBay ax their buyer protection is so weighted as a seller even in spite on 20 years feedback is ignored and they will find in buyers favour scammers know this and play the eBay system -guy had very convincing questions to ask me etc etc seemed 100% genuine great communications etc etc
goes by Mark Mckeown in Scotland -

Hellsbells87 · January 2023

2volume1tone said:

I got ripped for £530 on eBay SELLING! Was on eBay 20 years. Basically all they do is immediately lodge a dispute with the seller once they do unless you know what’s going on - and I didn’t - being a decent guy you’re on a slippery slope. Bottom line avoid EBay ax their buyer protection is so weighted as a seller even in spite on 20 years feedback is ignored and they will find in buyers favour scammers know this and play the eBay system -guy had very convincing questions to ask me etc etc seemed 100% genuine great communications etc etc
goes by Mark Mckeown in Scotland -

Thanks for flagging this. Curious to understand how it works? Like the buyer bought something from you, paid, you posted it, then they opened a dispute and eBay forced you to refund the price without having to return the item?

fretfinder · February 2023

guitarjack66 said:

I assume the scammers are private sales rather than music shops or businesses? I like reverb so tend to stick to shops for my lurchases.

You’ve invented the perfect word for GAS-fuelled spontaneous buys - first you lurch towards the item then you purchase!

guitarjack66 · February 2023

fretfinder said:

guitarjack66 said:

I assume the scammers are private sales rather than music shops or businesses? I like reverb so tend to stick to shops for my lurchases.

You’ve invented the perfect word for GAS-fuelled spontaneous buys - first you lurch towards the item then you purchase!

Bloody lausage fangers!

justtt007 · April 2023

I had a very similar awful experience with ebay, sold a custom shop relic strat with all the paperwork seller opened a dispute over its condition.... (that should've been enough to raise alarm bells!) PayPal refunded the seller within 10 days and I got a mim strat sent back to me in a gear for music tweed case! I'm still fighting PayPal as I type! Ebay is an easy place for scum to target honest sellers!

OnTheHunt · April 2023

Just had my first (in 21 years!) eBay issue this week. Buyer bought a vintage Boss pedal - received it, loved it, left +ve feedback noting how happy he was with it. Then 2 days later a request for a return, the pedal now mysteriously damaged (he'd yanked one of the wires out of the battery connector). Spoke with eBay and absolutely amazed that they said to allow a return and eBay themselves would refund the seller - so I get to keep the payment plus the pedal. Apparently a goodwill gesture for being a customer so long and making them loads of £££.

Shady character, damaging the pedal and requesting refund instead of being honest with the buyer's remorse.... but big credit to eBay for sorting me out!! Bucks are in the bank and pedal is back with me.

merlin · April 2023

OnTheHunt said:

so I get to keep the payment plus the pedal. Apparently a goodwill gesture for being a customer so long and making them loads of £££.

Shady character, damaging the pedal and requesting refund instead of being honest with the buyer's remorse.... but big credit to eBay for sorting me out!! Bucks are in the bank and pedal is back with me.

I had a similar experience with an item on Reverb that was sent from the US. The item arrived and wasn't as described. I sent pics of the item next to a genuine item, and they agreed it wasn't as listed. I got to keep the item and get a full refund from Reverb.

rossi · September 2023

I want to seel my GIbson MIdtown but scared to be ripped off Not sure what to do .

S56035 · September 2023

To be fair, isn't the "sending someone else to pick it up" technique a scam as well? Maybe he's sat on another forum saying "contacted this bloke about an amp and now he's trying to scam me" :-D

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