Another scammer - VicH (review before you try to buy anything)

[mjfreudy]

If you post 'looking for X' and someone messages you directly... even if they have an older account. Even if they have made posts... Even if they seem really nice... Even if the a reverse google image search comes back clean... Do not purchase. VicH and I chatted for awhile, messaged each other, shared pictures, talked about cars - but he's a scammer.

If you really want to make the purchase... reco's to avoid: Only deal locally (pickup and pay in person). Speak to the person on the phone. Call them and ensure their phone isn't a 'text mail subscriber' (used by businesses and scammers). Post the pictures of the product they send and ask what others think of the quality (maybe someone else will be 'sold' the same product'). Confirm their existence (ask for address, verify address matches their name, you can also lookup property tax/owners as well). Pay through a common payment platform as a business transaction (this protects you - to some degree).

 

[Jersey50]

If you post 'looking for X' and someone messages you directly... even if they have an older account. Even if they have made posts... Even if they seem really nice... Even if the a reverse google image search comes back clean... Do not purchase. VicH and I chatted for awhile, messaged each other, shared pictures, talked about cars - but he's a scammer.

If you really want to make the purchase... reco's to avoid: Only deal locally (pickup and pay in person). Speak to the person on the phone. Call them and ensure their phone isn't a 'text mail subscriber' (used by businesses and scammers). Post the pictures of the product they send and ask what others think of the quality (maybe someone else will be 'sold' the same product'). Confirm their existence (ask for address, verify address matches their name, you can also lookup property tax/owners as well). Pay through a common payment platform as a business transaction (this protects you - to some degree).

Sorry you had a bad experience. But as someone who has made dozens of successful transactions from this community, I disagree with some of your “advice” here.

First, this is a “Want to Buy” message board; it is literally Tesla owners asking if someone is selling something they want. So the exact behavior of someone messaging them “I have X” is fully expected. I have reached out for buyers on this platform and have plenty of happy “customers.”

Telling someone “Do not purchase” is a bit extreme, my friend - might as well delete the entire message board then. Yes, there are plenty of scammers on here; I’ve been targeted as well. It’s up to the community to promptly report them to the Mods. Maybe you could share exactly how the other user tried to scam you since those details are lacking.

Not sure what “reco’s” are (forgive my small brain), but I do agree with calling or better yet, FaceTiming, to feel more comfortable with the character of the seller and legitimacy of the ad.

I also totally agree with utilizing a payment platform that offers buyer protection such as PayPal and Venmo when having items shipped to you. But, you also insisted that buyers only deal with in-person transactions. Read the fine print - PayPal and Venmo do not offer protection for in-person transactions.

Also, unless the transaction is planned to occur at the seller’s residence, why would a seller provide their personal address? I have to disagree with you there as well. The seller has a right to some degree of privacy and does not have to divulge their and their family’s address. And no, not all tax records are publicly available online.

Perhaps instead of making a blanket statement and painting sellers all with the same broad brush, could you please inform us specifically about what the seller did in this particular case?

Respectfully,
Jersey50 (Ian)

 

[Jersey50]

That being said…I actually do have a like-new set of Inductions available!

 

[mjfreudy]

Sorry you had a bad experience. But as someone who has made dozens of successful transactions from this community, I disagree with some of your “advice” here.

First, this is a “Want to Buy” message board; it is literally Tesla owners asking if someone is selling something they want. So the exact behavior of someone messaging them “I have X” is fully expected. I have reached out for buyers on this platform and have plenty of happy “customers.”

Telling someone “Do not purchase” is a bit extreme, my friend - might as well delete the entire message board then. Yes, there are plenty of scammers on here; I’ve been targeted as well. It’s up to the community to promptly report them to the Mods. Maybe you could share exactly how the other user tried to scam you since those details are lacking.

Not sure what “reco’s” are (forgive my small brain), but I do agree with calling or better yet, FaceTiming, to feel more comfortable with the character of the seller and legitimacy of the ad.

I also totally agree with utilizing a payment platform that offers buyer protection such as PayPal and Venmo when having items shipped to you. But, you also insisted that buyers only deal with in-person transactions. Read the fine print - PayPal and Venmo do not offer protection for in-person transactions.

Also, unless the transaction is planned to occur at the seller’s residence, why would a seller provide their personal address? I have to disagree with you there as well. The seller has a right to some degree of privacy and does not have to divulge their and their family’s address. And no, not all tax records are publicly available online.

Perhaps instead of making a blanket statement and painting sellers all with the same broad brush, could you please inform us specifically about what the seller did in this particular case?

Respectfully,
Jersey50 (Ian)

First of all - you rock. Amazing response, thank you!

As you can tell, I'm pretty fired up, so once bitten twice shy. I admit my post is rather negative, but I am 0/1 on here (my own fault for falling for it).

Reco's = recommendations.

What happened: Pretty much what I said under 'even if...' - Didn't have a new account, some posts (in looking back, most on 1 day - first red flag). He didn't respond in my post that I had made, but directly (second red flag). English was good and articulate (wouldn't be a red flag per se, but I have seen a lot of 'fake' PayPal invoices with very poor grammar). User name and email didn't align (not uncommon, but something to note?). Price was fair (not 'to good to be true'). He was very detailed in the wheels - how long they were on, tread-life, etc. We exchanged the pictures and I did a reverse google image search to make sure they weren't pulled from this forum, ebay, etc. We continued to exchange emails, texts, and on forum. I felt like it was legit and paid, money took a few days to go through - he said he was having trouble on his end with his PayPal account and once that was cleaned up, he would ship. I told him that was fine as I was waiting on the car. Then he went quiet, not responding. Once I got a date range I tried to call and got the 'text mail subscriber' - which is used by businesses and scammers and knew I made a mistake. Kept waiting / reaching out just in case I was being paranoid-no luck. Last night I looked online and saw other people fall for the same scam just different wheels and my heart sunk. Couldn't sleep... took the dog for a long walk in the cold this morning... and was like - I gotta make sure other's don't make the same mistake I made.

I didn't know that about PayPal/Venmo for in-person - good to know, but that really wouldn't be an issue as you could pay in cash / cashier check. Additionally, the exchange takes place immediately, you can review the product and take possession at the time money is exchanged, so there is less risk if you do pay with one of those services.

For the seller's address - I see your point. However, if you've ever sold anything and had it shipped, you usually put your return address on it - so the person receiving it will see/know your return address anyway. We have received a lot of packages from eBay, Amazon Marketplace, Etsy, etc with the seller's (home?) address right on the package. The person purchasing doesn't have that privacy and companies selling products to you don't have that privacy (very different thing, I admit). If I would sell something for thousands of dollars and receive payment up front, I wouldn't mind giving my address, or at least some information to make the person feel comfortable sending money to random stranger.

Apologies for all of you who aren't scammer a-holes who I offended. To those of you interested in making a purchase on here (or anywhere for that matter) where you're sending money to someone you don't know in exchange for a good/service to be sent to you, be careful.

 

[Jersey50]

@mjfreudy I'm certainly not offended (you'd have to try a lot harder than that!), but I wanted to clear up any misconceptions or doubts that potential buyers on this site may have after reading your post.

Everyone should definitely perform their own due diligence when vetting a seller, but I've found this two-prong approach works: FaceTime/video chat communication and a secure PayPal/Venmo goods-and-services payment method. Even if a seller "sells" themself over video chat, there's always the buyer protection in place that is offered by those platforms.

And yes, my return address appears on the shipping label, but by that time, the payment is already confirmed and I know I'm dealing with a legitimate buyer, and not with some phishing scammer or otherwise.

 

[speedysilverz]

First of all - you rock. Amazing response, thank you!

As you can tell, I'm pretty fired up, so once bitten twice shy. I admit my post is rather negative, but I am 0/1 on here (my own fault for falling for it).

Reco's = recommendations.

What happened: Pretty much what I said under 'even if...' - Didn't have a new account, some posts (in looking back, most on 1 day - first red flag). He didn't respond in my post that I had made, but directly (second red flag). English was good and articulate (wouldn't be a red flag per se, but I have seen a lot of 'fake' PayPal invoices with very poor grammar). User name and email didn't align (not uncommon, but something to note?). Price was fair (not 'to good to be true'). He was very detailed in the wheels - how long they were on, tread-life, etc. We exchanged the pictures and I did a reverse google image search to make sure they weren't pulled from this forum, ebay, etc. We continued to exchange emails, texts, and on forum. I felt like it was legit and paid, money took a few days to go through - he said he was having trouble on his end with his PayPal account and once that was cleaned up, he would ship. I told him that was fine as I was waiting on the car. Then he went quiet, not responding. Once I got a date range I tried to call and got the 'text mail subscriber' - which is used by businesses and scammers and knew I made a mistake. Kept waiting / reaching out just in case I was being paranoid-no luck. Last night I looked online and saw other people fall for the same scam just different wheels and my heart sunk. Couldn't sleep... took the dog for a long walk in the cold this morning... and was like - I gotta make sure other's don't make the same mistake I made.

I didn't know that about PayPal/Venmo for in-person - good to know, but that really wouldn't be an issue as you could pay in cash / cashier check. Additionally, the exchange takes place immediately, you can review the product and take possession at the time money is exchanged, so there is less risk if you do pay with one of those services.

For the seller's address - I see your point. However, if you've ever sold anything and had it shipped, you usually put your return address on it - so the person receiving it will see/know your return address anyway. We have received a lot of packages from eBay, Amazon Marketplace, Etsy, etc with the seller's (home?) address right on the package. The person purchasing doesn't have that privacy and companies selling products to you don't have that privacy (very different thing, I admit). If I would sell something for thousands of dollars and receive payment up front, I wouldn't mind giving my address, or at least some information to make the person feel comfortable sending money to random stranger.

Apologies for all of you who aren't scammer a-holes who I offended. To those of you interested in making a purchase on here (or anywhere for that matter) where you're sending money to someone you don't know in exchange for a good/service to be sent to you, be careful.

Wow this guy ViCH contacted me too for some model X turbine wheels...I haven't given him the money yet nor called his provided number. Thank you for the heads up!

 

[mjfreudy]

Forgot to mention - his PayPal and email are Simon Knoll

 

[speedysilverz]

Forgot to mention - his PayPal and email are Simon Knoll

I offered to use Zelle or Venmo but he preferred Paypal

 

[mjfreudy]

If anyone is interested in purchasing from Jersey50, he is legit. Described the wheels perfectly, great pictures, fair price, quick shipping, excellent packaging.