Anyone know if Dirk nuked the Wesmo thread

[wintermoon]

or the scam-o artiste?
Just curious but don't want to bother him w the question

[omphalopsychos]

Yeah he did and the user was banned. I didn't ask him directly but the user is no longer able to send/receive messages, so pretty sure that was the outcome.

[Mark M.]

FWIW, he replied back to my PM: “Hi Mark, I'm located in Portland. I've owned this guitar for about 2 years, I'm the original owner.
I rarely played it, so it's still like new and works perfectly with no issues.”

So, he’s the original owner of a ‘93 WesMo that he’s had for 2 years? What year is this again?

[Jabberwocky]

What's a little baffling is that the long dormant account was registered in March 2015. 9 years is a long time to wait to pull off a scam but it is exactly this that makes a potentially successful scam. I suppose one could play a very long game, seed many fora with dormant accounts and then bide one's time. $5000 here, $5000 there and soon we're talking real money.

[FourOnSix]

FWIW, he replied back to my PM: “Hi Mark, I'm located in Portland. I've owned this guitar for about 2 years, I'm the original owner.
I rarely played it, so it's still like new and works perfectly with no issues.”

So, he’s the original owner of a ‘93 WesMo that he’s had for 2 years? What year is this again?

NOS?

Just trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.

[pawlowski6132]

Just trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.

That's how people get scammed.

We should all be SUPER skeptical. Play it safe.

[Stringswinger]

When something seems too good to be true, it almost always is.

That said, I have gotten great deals on gear from fellow forum members and in return, I have given some great deals on gear to fellow forum members.

[FourOnSix]

That's how people get scammed.

We should all be SUPER skeptical. Play it safe.

Gotcha. I never could deliver a joke well.

[tomvwash]

What's a little baffling is that the long dormant account was registered in March 2015. 9 years is a long time to wait to pull off a scam but it is exactly this that makes a potentially successful scam. I suppose one could play a very long game, seed many fora with dormant accounts and then bide one's time. $5000 here, $5000 there and soon we're talking real money.

Wouldn't this assume, though, that a forum members pays the scamo-o-man with PP Friends or similar? If you pay with a CC, via Paypal, you're covered against scams / no delivery, right?

[Jabberwocky]

Wouldn't this assume, though, that a forum members pays the scamo-o-man with PP Friends or similar? If you pay with a CC, via Paypal, you're covered against scams / no delivery, right?

I'd rather not have to deal with money locked up, filing Paypal disputes, escalating them to claims, not knowing if the Paypal case worker is sympathetic or not, sleepless nights worrying and all that comes with it. The scammer could send you a box of bricks and then claim that you tried to scam him/her instead. A buyer could be living in a different country and Paypal policies differ from country to country. And there are exchange rate losses both times-payment and refund-the buyer has to deal with even when the claim is successful. You could appeal to your credit card issuer when Paypal fails you but cc issuers aren't always sympathetic and policies vary from country to country. We don't all live in the USA in this forum. Paypal doesn't always rule in the claimant's favour.

I went through this with a $365 pedal and it was not fun. I can't imagine having $5000 locked up in dispute.

[Jabberwocky]

I found this interesting: Reverse image search before you buy - The Acoustic Guitar Forum .

[omphalopsychos]

I'd rather not have to deal with money locked up, filing Paypal disputes, escalating them to claims, not knowing if the Paypal case worker is sympathetic or not, sleepless nights worrying and all that comes with it. The scammer could send you a box of bricks and then claim that you tried to scam him/her instead. A buyer could be living in a different country and Paypal policies differ from country to country. And there are exchange rate losses both times-payment and refund-the buyer has to deal with even when the claim is successful. You could appeal to your credit card issuer when Paypal fails you but cc issuers aren't always sympathetic and policies vary from country to country. We don't all live in the USA in this forum. Paypal doesn't always rule in the claimant's favour.

I went through this with a $365 pedal and it was not fun. I can't imagine having $5000 locked up in dispute.

Jabs I agree with you about paypal disputes but less so on the credit card bit. Of course not everyone is in a prime credit tier with high income but if you have a premier card like an Amex Platinum or Chase Sapphire Reserve you don't have to worry about. When I got scammed on venmo (by some guy selling a 1965 deluxe reverb for 1500 or something on this forum), I knew for certain that venmo wouldn't resolve the claim. But I also paid with my card and it was no hassle at all to get the money back. I called my bank, sent a quick memo (took me no more time than writing this response) and the money was back in my account within 8 hours. Never had to talk to a venmo agent.


Btw the way chase does a dispute is not that you have your money locked up until the dispute is resolved. They reverse the transaction immediately and it's up to the seller to provide evidence to recoup the payment.

[deacon Mark]

I knew is was a scam from the beginning and my offer to go in person and pick up guitar was the key.

[wzpgsr]

What's a little baffling is that the long dormant account was registered in March 2015. 9 years is a long time to wait to pull off a scam but it is exactly this that makes a potentially successful scam. I suppose one could play a very long game, seed many fora with dormant accounts and then bide one's time. $5000 here, $5000 there and soon we're talking real money.

I'm guessing someone's long-dormant account was compromised by a bad actor, not that some long-standing member of the forum decided to go rogue all the sudden.

[joeUK]

What's a little baffling is that the long dormant account was registered in March 2015. 9 years is a long time to wait to pull off a scam but it is exactly this that makes a potentially successful scam. I suppose one could play a very long game, seed many fora with dormant accounts and then bide one's time. $5000 here, $5000 there and soon we're talking real money.

the scam comes from hacking a dormant account - I guess the original user had a password that was used elsewhere and was posted online after a major hack elsewhere.

the scammer then finds other accounts using the email address and if it’s for a forum, they can try and sell something whilst looking like they have been a member for sometime. They usually steal photos from eBay or Craigslist (which can be traced back with a quick image search). The price is too low with the excuse of needing a quick trade, but can make buyers ‘jump on a bargain’.

on the UK site thefretboard there is user feedback for rating transactions and so people saw good feedback and sent the £ PayPal F&F - which has not been recovered.

Such a shame.

[ccroft]

the scam comes from hacking a dormant account.

is what I've been getting at all along. Gird your loins and strengthen your passwords my friends!

(they could even have a bot that does it all automatically...)

[RJVB]

if you have a premier card like an Amex Platinum or Chase Sapphire Reserve you don't have to worry about.

Yeah, I think that only works with cards issued in North-American. With the equivalents issued through the EU banks I know the transaction would only be reversed after a police investigation and/or conviction ... if there's any money left.

[omphalopsychos]

Yeah, I think that only works with cards issued in North-American. With the equivalents issued through the EU banks I know the transaction would only be reversed after a police investigation and/or conviction ... if there's any money left.

Yeah I remember you made this claim before. I don't have firsthand experience but your claim seems to be contradicted by some quick googling. Visa UK states the opposite of what you claim, as does Visa EU.

I'm not an expert on european consumer protection laws, so I won't claim to know with any certainty. I do hope a subject matter expert with knowledge of payment networks and consumer protections specific to Europe can chime in to confirm or deny your claims about this.

[RJVB]

I'm speaking out of experience, and note that I mentioned cards issued through banks (which is what my experience is limited to). Also note that the Visa EU page makes it very clear that you can't just have the charges reversed if and when you want and that it all still depends on the bank.

When I questioned one of my banks about this the answer was basically that if you spend the money willingly you're out of luck unless all the legal conditions are united to entitle you to a forced reimbursement. The Visa page doesn't give me any reason to believe otherwise, given how it's written. What probably doesn't help is that cards are usually debit cards here, so the money is wired into the recipient's account within days.

But evidently chargeback itself works. I've had enough reimbursals from Amazon that way to believe the system works.
And sometimes the (empty) threat of reversing the charges works, if the other party isn't aware that there's little risk.