Heads Up! Recent scam on Reverb

[Mister Molina]

I'm selling a lovely jazz bass and i got this message twice on reverb:

Hi there! I'm making an inquiry for my Dad about your bass guitar, I really do hope it's still available because I have sent some pictures which you have posted to him, You can reach out to him through his email [email protected] to discuss the purchase. thanks.

And then the email that goes like this:

I want to know why you are selling and the condition it is?. My son is buying it and He will be
using the services of a mover for the pickup ... they will be there on next long haul to pick it up.He will send a cashier's check to cover the cost, please provide me with your

(1)Full mailing address
(2)Name to be on the check
(3)Phone number
(4)Final price

so he can make out the payment check immediately for the final price. Please do delete the ad,the pick up will be made after the check has cleared in your Bank account.

I don't know if this type of scam was already mentioned here, but just wanted to share.

BTW: It happened there but it could be any online selling platform.

 

[Zooberwerx]

Pretty standard scam template. Don't know if it would be the worth the trouble of reporting to Reverb.

Riis

 

[Spidey2112]

And the Prince of Nigeria wept, with full knowledge of being replaced by another grifter, on the event horizon of sham.

 

[rj1972]

It's a recent thing on Reverb. I have gotten 3-4 messages like this lately on different items. I ignore them. There will be people who fall for it unfortunately.

 

[Dominic D]

This scam is older than the internet.

 

[rushproject]

Checks all the boxes for a scam. Should you want to find out how exactly it works, I guess that responding with some made up name and address will prompt the final email, which delivers the punch line. That said I would not waste any time on this.

 

[EagleMoon]

I see these things on Craigslist all the time. People get sucked into it all the time.

 

[Iridescentone]

I got this one twice on my Reverb listing. I just reported it to Reverb Support, they blocked the scammer.

"please can you zend this pics to jusbarkley14 at g m al for purchase? I will buy it"

 

[_One//Man//Mutiny_]

Yeah I don't know who falls for those scams, I especially like the scam that starts with "I hope this isn't a fake or a scam"
But if it takes more than receive payment, ship item. I probably am just going to stop responding. Here is different since it's a community of reasonably like minded people who have come together for the discussion and camaraderie of the bass guitar. But on reverb, no thanks at all

 

[porterbass]

Yeah I don't know who falls for those scams, I especially like the scam that starts with "I hope this isn't a fake or a scam"
But if it takes more than receive payment, ship item. I probably am just going to stop responding. Here is different since it's a community of reasonably like minded people who have come together for the discussion and camaraderie of the bass guitar. But on reverb, no thanks at all

I agree with this, but I've become very nervous selling anything online the past few years, which is why I have way more basses than I would normally have. With both basses and classical/flamenco guitars, I've been a "buy it and try it" guy as I've built a small collection that works for me. I just haven't sold off anything I don't really need so I'm sitting at about 20 instruments too many. The funny thing is, I have 2000 all-positive feedback ratings on eBay and Reverb, yet the only bad transaction I've had was selling a Rick Turner bass here on TB. But, I chalk that up to that one individual, so TB is really the only place I don't feel like I'm rolling the dice on a sale. The community aspect of TB means a lot.

 

[Wasnex]

It's a recent thing on Reverb. I have gotten 3-4 messages like this lately on different items. I ignore them. There will be people who fall for it unfortunately.

Probably whac-a-mole but I suggest reporting suspected scams to Reverb. If enough people report the problem hopefully the frequency will go down.

I have not reported any scams on Reverb because I don't sell. But I have reported multiple scams on Ebay. The Ebay scams involve someone hijacking a seller profile and then listing a bunch of high value items with a statement encode in an image that says, "bids will be cancelled: if you are interested email at (^*&Y*&%)" (supposedly a pawn shop). I think the idea is you pay outside of Ebay where you don't have any protection, so they can rip you off.

I have seen the same vintage Orange Matamp listed on multiple sellers pages. The photos were always the same and the message was always the same, except a new email address and pawnshop name were used each time a new account was hijacked.

I took me a few times seeing the amp before I realized it was a scam. The listed price was about $3,000 and the amp appeared to be in great condition. IMHO, that's high market for the amp, so I am not really interested. But eventually I got curious and started browsing the images. This is when I noticed the message about buying outside of Ebay. Next I clicked on the store front and noticed thousands of listings in about the $3k range with the same offer.

Usually a day or so after I report the problem to Ebay, all of the scam items are removed from the account, and they only items left or the normal items the seller offers, which are usually some sort of trinket.

Haven't seen the scam for quite awhile. I would like to think I had a hand in it.

 

[Marley's Ghost]

Do you think they would accept Western Union?

 

[Gasman]

Wow, this one is still around? I remember it from like 2010. I guess it's hard to kill a classic, and I suppose they only need a couple of victims a week to make it worthwhile.

But to the OP, yes this is a scam

 

[Relsom]

I had one of my Craigslist ads copied into a scammers CL ad in another state. I stumbled on it when doing a Search All of Craigslist.
I had a little fun with the guy for a couple of weeks before posting my own ad in the scammers city alerting other shoppers about the scam.
I eventually sold that bass here on TB.

 

[andvari7]

I have received this scam at least a dozen times on Craigslist.

I'm having a career crisis right now; I think I should apply for the position of Nigerian Prince.

 

[andvari7]

Do you think they would accept Western Union?

My boss kept a couple of phone scammers on the line for about two hours, where they asked him to wire money through Western Union to a Wal-Mart in Florida, and they'd get him a cashiers check for $250,000 and a new Corvette. We were on a job site, and we used the form template you find on Western Union's website. I'm surprised they lasted two hours.

 

[Dana R Gregory]

This is the old phony check cashing scam. I never saw it on Reverb until this year. A dead giveaway is that they give a gmail address to respond to instead of responding through Reverb. You see this on CL all the time and at least on CL, you can flag the message as a scam. Can't do it on Reverb. I no longer sell on Reverb and have closed my account. Facebook market place is loaded with the same scammers as well. One hacked into a legitimate Facebook account and tried to scam me. I responded that I would only accept cash face to face. Never heard from them again. I will now only sell on CL, cash only, face to face.

 

[Lammchop93]

I got the same message. I ignored it since it looks like a stereotypical scam message

 

[dangevans]

This is happening everywhere while trying to sell anything online. Trying to sell a car on Facebook marketplace or Craigslist locally? Sure, I am getting messages from people from all these Latin American countries and no where else.

 

[lark_z]

Any response I get on (insert site here) OTHER than "when can I show up with the cash?" is immediately deleted.