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PAYPAL SCAM HELP!!!!

#41
Here's my idea.

We get a good TB-er in Summit to respond to the ad for the guitar gear - take a friend with you. Go in check it out, act interested and then instead of reaching for cash, reach for a photo of QPumaLocoQ's bass. Pull it out and ask, pointedly, if the jag has ever seen the bass in the photo before.
Give him the "yeah, I know who you are and where you live" death stare and leave.

It may accomplish nothing more than making the little turd look over his shoulder for a while, but it would be twisted fun.

I HATE SCAMMERS!
 
#42
Likely what happened is, this douchebag is Nigerian. He gets a patsy here in the US, to receive "purchased" goods for him, and he sends out fake Paypal notices saying the payment is received (that's why you need to go to your Paypal account directly to check). Paypal would NEVER suggest using Western Union I can guarantee you that. So the whole thing is BS to make you think you got paid, and get the item on the way to the patsy. What the patsy does with the item I have no idea.
Now the scammer (Nigerian scumbag) goes farther, saying you got an overpayment and suggesting you wire the difference back. Uh, Paypal does refunds and partial refunds, so you KNOW, you just gotta KNOW that's ********. But the whole thing is a big scam and ******** right from the get go. So if the scammer gets a real live one, he's got money you wired him (NEVER NEVER EVER do that!) he's got your item with his patsy who probably doesn't know it's stolen and he's safe in Nigeria so it's not like you will be able to ever touch him. His government LOVES seeing Americans who they hate get screwed so the odds of them caring or doing anything are roughly the odds of finding a snowball in hell.

Bottom line, always go directly to Paypal, forget emails, forget links, and verify everything. NEVER wire money, EVER. And may someday Nigeria be nuked off the face of the earth and every scumbag worthless criminal in it. Just my opinion there but if the nukes fly I hope they get it first.
 
#44
QPumaLocoQ said:
I'm sorry I don't exactly understand your first question. Do you mean it's like a mirror from another mail?

The 2nd question: I'm not sure actually, I'd have to ask my friend Robbert.
Click to expand...

Emails can be faked, easily and you can be thrown to another site that is not really paypal.

So... log into paypal.com - is there a record of your transaction anywhere? Or do you have an account with paypal at all? Hoping you didn't sign up for something through some link that was sent to you.

In the emails, if you hover over the paypal.com address, what does it say in the location bar? The hotlink can be to another address other than what is stated.

In the emails, if you are using outlook, you can view - options and see the source. Copy and paste that. If you are using webmail like hotmail/yahoo/gmail, go into the options in the right hand corner of the message and show original. Paste the results or even email me what it is, but don't just forward the message. My address is myusername here on talkbass - at - g mail dot com
 
#45
The payments where all done via my friend Robbert's account, I can't view those right now.
I'll try to get you the link you're talking about too, but I'll need Robbert for that also.
Here's a picture of the bass by the way:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
The package is about 1 meter long though, 'cause I unscrewed the neck to fit in the box.
 
#48
Yeah it used to be active, but it was made passive and the bartolini's were replaced by ChiSonics.
The two small knobs do nothing, the big knobs are: volume, volume, tone. The first volume is also a push/pull for series/parallel.
 
#49
QPumaLocoQ said:
I noticed.. Everyone just keeps saying: 'yeah you should call these guys, they'll help you!'. 2 seconds later you've already called about 10 people and haven't gotten to anything yet.:hmm:
Oh by the way, this is his e-mail and name, don't trust him!!:scowl:

Aaron Martinez ([email protected])
Click to expand...

The singer/songwriter in ym band is named Aaron Martinez. But thats not his email AFAIK. And he lives in California.
 
#51
Yeah that's true, but I did save the ad, in case it may be usefull later.
Also e-mailed PayPal and visited the Police Office here in Holland. Lastly I got some guys working on intercepting the bass at TNT in the USA, but it's not sure this is possible.
There's hope though...
 
#52
When you're dealing with folks throughout this, remember that they will probably start from the position of doing nothing, and it's not a very bad statement about them. Consider how they could see YOU as the potential scammer here:

You agreed to sell bass.
That guy sends you valid payment.
You immediately start recalling the shipment.

How would the shipper know that you DIDN'T receive payment? So to avoid ANY role in this, they take a stance of simply doing what they were paid to do -- ship bass from point A to point B and deliver.

Just keep that in mind as you deal with folks. And if they seem skeptical, just be prepared to find ways to (a) stall the bass, and (b) address their concerns. If you can just get someone to stall the delivery, THEN you have a chance to make your case, hopefully with the help of law enforcement or other officials, to get it back.

Rooting for you!!

ltt
 
#53
QPumaLocoQ said:
Yeah I contacted the police in Summit (where the bass is going), but they where very rude and wouldn't help me.
I haven't contacted the Dutch police yet, I've been very busy with other things to get the money or bass. I guess I'll do that tomorrow too.
Click to expand...
Forget about paypal helping you. You've been scammed and it's not their fault.

Get the Dutch police on the case quicksmart. They will get onto Interpol and they will get up the lazy arses in NJ police. You've got an address and a name. Too simple to solve.
 
#54
LilloEsquilo said:
Likely what happened is, this douchebag is Nigerian. He gets a patsy here in the US, to receive "purchased" goods for him, and he sends out fake Paypal notices saying the payment is received
Click to expand...
I'm kind of liking this theory but more the possiblity that Alvaro is the scumbag.

Going back to the Nigerian mastermind plus local patsy theory, does that mean "Nigerian" runs a quick firesale on item representing himself as OP, sending from Holland, so as to get the cash from said patsy buyer via Western Union? Seems like a hell of a lot of trouble to go to get cash out of patsy?
 
#56
Ya. Try to get the FBI and Interpol into this. You don't know how many people this guy scams per day. He could be gettin' filthy rich by scaming average Joe's all around the world. The best thing to do is to get 'em busted before they can do more damage.
 

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