Guitar Scam?

[Archie]

Hi all.

A suspicious listing.

Used Gibson ES-175 Natural | eBay

Used Gibson ES-175 Natural



– Guitaristey


Spoke to the seller or proprietor of the website. Not English but that's not a crime. Names didn't align with Ebay name. Ebay name is Adrian, seller calls himself Jaden.
Cannot locate original pictures though and seller knows the holes have been filled on ES-175. Claims to have over 3,500 guitars to sell hence price but prices are a red flag.

Not sure of Shopify's protection, PayPal is offered too so not sure where the scam comes in if there is one. Seller wanted me to call him on the number I spoke to him on after sale; was adamant about that. I assume that's where the issues will come in.

Or not.

[Archie]

Feedback on Ebay is extensive but the feedback is for children's clothing.

I'm assuming (perhaps incorrectly) that this Ebay page has been hijacked. I've seen incredibly legitimate looking Ebay pages, that are full business stores, that are scams. It is very sophisticated. On the phone the seller seemed to be regarding himself and thus the identity of the company, as a musical instruments company. That clashes with the originally Ebay accounts clear objective, which is to sell children's clothing.

I've searched on Duck Duck but nothing comes up. The owner (Adrian) brings up the name of a missing Canadian child fro the 70's. I haven't yet found out who account this would have originally been.

Again I could be totally wrong but selling a Gibson super V for $2k when a simple search will show it's worth at least $7K all day long, is a big red flag.

Still cannot source the original pictures used on the website.

I would hold off a purchasing anything until we can come to an agreement on the authenticity of the seller.

[Dennis D]

........The Ebay seller did provide an address, or is that an empty lot ??

[Archie]

Here is the listing for the Sup V

1979 Gibson Super V Sunburst Electric Guitar | eBay

I would not bid on this listing. The guitar is listed on the website for $2k (ish).

[jazzshrink]

........The Ebay seller did provide an address, or is that an empty lot ??

Not an empty lot, but I wonder where he keeps all those guitars.

[Archie]

took me 30 seconds

1979 Gibson Super V Sunburst | Shop Gibson Sunburst Guitars

Well done djg.

I really should stop using Duck Duck Go lol

[Archie]

Not an empty lot, but I wonder where he keeps all those guitars.

Bloody hell, this place is like 4chan
You could find a Shia LeBouf flag in an empty field. (If you know, you know).

I would say that this address is registered to the person on Ebay, who's had his account hacked, so might be better to take it down. We don't want to be doxing innocent people (I get it, it's not doxxing it's public info etc..), I just feel bad for the account owner.
I'll leave it up to you and I'm not saying you've done anything wrong.
Credit due for the sleuthing!

[Cunamara]

Auction on eBay is gone. And Shopify.

[wintermoon]

Not an empty lot, but I wonder where he keeps all those guitars.

How did you do that, some sort of Google satellite search?

[dot75]

Right click, search Image on TinyEye is what I use...

TinEye Reverse Image Search

[Archie]

Auction on eBay is gone. And Shopify.

Good

Although that doesn't mean the seller didn't close them himself, after attracting an ebay buyer onto his sight and scamming them.
I was surprised how long it took ebay to pull the ads. Perhaps they were woking with shopify to see what was going on?
Either way, it was a sofisticated scam and one I'm sure we'll see more of in the future.

What alerted me to the idea that this was a scam, was the shopify domain as a sub heading of the title page on Ebay.
I've never seen that before. This guy was a little too clever for his own good.
And that the prices on the shoplify website were totally wrong. The 175 not so, as UK prices were £1,500 only a few years ago but the Super V was ridiculous.

I tired to contact the police but gave up waiting. Welcome to the UK.