Vancouver

I received the following e-mail from Bluesboy who is another anti-scam advocate. This one involves craigslist and Martin Guitars…

This appears Sept 27 in Vancouver BC Craigslist (and likely in other cities I bet)

UPDATE - I notice a TON of vintage Martins in the Seattle CL, almost certainly the same guy! “Too good to be true” prices everywhere — I will bait one or two, but don’t dare use same email addies, as I dont want to alert him….

1948 Martin D-28, $2700

“This is a really nice example of the wonderful guitars that made Martin the ‘gold-standard’ of acoustic guitars. It’s a 1948 D-28 with Brazilian rosewood back and sides with the original finish. It still has the original keys, original ebony bridge, and original bone nut and saddle. This is a 60 year old guitar and is a wonderful investment piece while being as fine a guitar to enjoy playing as can be found. These old Martins just gain value every year. Their value doesn’t go up and down like alot of electric instruments do. This guitar hasn’t ever had a neck set or repitch done on it and plays great. I have it strung with a set of regular light guage (12-54) strings and the action is very comfortable, .060″ 1st string and .10″ 6th string at 12th fret, with no string buzz. It has been professionally refretted and set up.The bridge was reglued in the seventies and has stayed down. You can see in the pictures that the pick-guard pulled up around the edge in a couple of places and was reglued.There is one tiny chip of it missing. It has never had a strap button hole drilled and has about average wear on the back of the neck. It has one crack on the back close to the neck block that has been glued and cleated. It can been seen clearly in the pictures. There has been one about 3″piece of ivoroid binding replaced on the top on the treble side 2 inches from center. I got this guitar from the son of the original owner.”

I faked interest, and got a reply from Steven Randy stevnrandy06@hotmail.com

“Hi,
The guitar is in great condition and the price I`m selling it for is $2700, which is including all shippings charges.
I live in Vncouver but I`m currently working in the UK (London) and I`ll be staying here for the next approximately 7 months, anyway I`m using MoneyBookers services so I can sell this guitar without difficulty. I left it at their warehouse before leaving to the UK. They will take care of the delivery with a 14-day return policy so you will have the chance to inspect it before final decision.
If you want to purchase it, let me know and I will explain you how MoneyBookers works and how we can move forward.
I am waiting your email.
Thanks”

I told him I wanted details, he replied:

“Hi again,
the guitar is in Calgary (at MoneyBookers storage facility). If you want to purchase it, let me explain you how MoneyBookers works and how we can proceed:
To start the official transaction, I need your full name and shipping address.
As soon as I receive your info, I will forward it to MoneyBookers, they start the transaction and will notify you with all the instructions (payment, shipping, my account status etc.) One of their agents will be assigned to receive and handle the payment. You have to make the payment using the exact details they will provide you with and when the payment is complete, you have to send them the transfers information, they verify it and will take care of the delivery. You will have a 14-day return policy, so you will have the chance to inspect the guitar and decide either you keep it or not. If you decide to keep it, they will release me the funds, if not they will be responsible for the return shipping and you will have a complete refund within 3 days.
Anyway, they will explain you detailed the entire process.

I am waiting your email.
Thanks”

So, wow, how convenient… my “brother” is in Calgary, can he go view the guitar?
I ask for the “MoneyBookers” phone number, of course he dodges it by:

“OK,
I have forwarded your info to MoneyBookers and they should get in touch with you soon with all the instructions.They do not offer a phone line for customer support, but they are eager to help in any way possible.
Please let me know when you hear from them.
Thanks”

Ok, so can you spot the red flags?

1. Price cheaper than the item is worth.
2. ‘Seller’ is overseas.
3. Request to wire the money.
4. Avoiding simple questions that any buyer would ask.

From what I understand MoneyBookers is a legitimate money transfer site but it is highly preferred by scam artists.

And now we also have another fake scammer name to add to the list.

Craigslist website bombarded by crooks, Vancouver expert says:

This is an article from the Canada.com about the amount of real estate scams on craigslist in Canada.

Our good friend Meg at Chicanery, Cons, and Scams is featured in the article and she claims that a good 20 to 40 percent of the rental ads on Vancouver’s craigslist are scams.

Yours truly is featured in the article even though they say I’m from New Jersey. I grew up in Jersey but it’s North Carolina now, but that’s ok.

The point I wanted to make was Jim Buckmaster’s response to Meg’s estimation.

Craigslist’s chief operational officer Jim Buckmaster wouldn’t agree to an interview.

He said in e-mails the percentages “aren’t accurate” but didn’t provide numbers.

“The incidence of illegal ads on Craigslist is actually quite low, especially when compared to the overwhelming volume of legitimate ads, of which there are more than 30 million each month,” he wrote.

He said it’s buyer beware, and noted safety tips are posted online.

Buckmaster said staff screen inappropriate erotic-services ads but won’t ban them as the smaller sites ChosenList.com and flugpo.com do.

He said Craigslist prides itself on co-operating with police.

He seems almost proud that they don’t ban the erotic services ads but that’s not the topic today.

Of course he’s not going to give out exact numbers. First off he probably doesn’t know and that’s because he doesn’t care. As long as the employment scam…I mean job listing money is rolling in he could not give a rat’s ass. He’s right about one thing though when he says ‘Buyer beware’. Buyers should beware and not use craigslist.

It was too good to be true, so what’s Craigslist doing about it?:
The answer to that of course would be nothing but I’m getting a head of myself. This story is out of Vancouver, British Columbia about a renter who constantly had to tell prospective renters that he wasn’t really renting the property advertised on craigslist. It seems that the old craigslist “I don’t really own this place” real estate scam is flourishing in Vancouver.

However the headline asks a really good question. What is craigslist doing about it?

Craigslist didn’t respond to my inquiry asking what, if anything, they’ve done about this instance of fraud, whether they know of other cases like it, and what they advise customers to do to protect themselves. The website’s terms of use do prohibit anything illegal, and it operates with a system of user-generated flags that may result in a posting being pulled. But the company has said in other contexts that it does not and cannot police things people post.

By that measure, it’s Craigslist itself that has the most to lose if this kind of scam is allowed to flourish.

Craigslist probably won’t lose much as there will always be a plethora of gullible people willing to trust them.