Online Guitar Scams
Saturday, July 24, 2004
Ginger missed this one
This auction is clearly a scam. Hopefully the high bidder won't send the scammer any money. The pictures & description were copied from a South African Martin dealer's site. The seller wants payment by wire service only. He's listed as a Canadian seller, but I'll bet he wants the money wired to Europe or Africa.
SCAM!!
If you're the buyer, PLEASE don't send this guy any money. You might as well throw it away.
Another Martin scam
This 1957 Martin D-28 was copied from this previous eBay auction, right down to the pics, description and serial number. It bears all the hallmarks of a scam, including hiding the ids of bidders (so you can't see that ginger_vitus is leading the bidding).
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Friday, March 12, 2004
People really lose money to these guys
I got some emails from a guy the other day detailing a bunch of money that he lost wiring payment to a guy for a guitar that never came. He wanted me to post the details here, but I don't really see the point. You all know the story: deal is too good to be true, seller's location is in doubt, seller claims to be in Western Europe but grammar/spelling seem to suggest an African or SE Asian location, payment via Western Union wire transfer only.
This guy arranged to buy a guitar for around $1500 (guitar was worth far more) but he did it "outside" of eBay. Frankly, when people do this I don't see why they should expect any support from eBay fraud prevention or sites like this. You're on your own now, buddy. In fact, the auction had already been ended by eBay at the time he made the arrangement.
So it was a really bad move on this guy's part, and I'm sorry if I'm somewhat lacking in sympathy, but...
My point being, people really do lose money to these scam artists.
Which is why we need folks like Ginger.
We keep swatting the scammers down but they just keep coming back...
eBay auction for Martin D-18GE. No reserve, no feedback history. Seller is in Canada, guitar is in New York. Not. Here's where they copied the pics & description from.
Same seller is selling a Martin D-18V and a Guild. The Martin pics & description were stolen from here. The Guild is ubiquitous -- can't say or can't be bothered to find out where he lifted his pics & description, but safe to assume this is a scam too.
And there's a very similar auction for a 1966 Martin D-18, also from a seller who's not sure whether he's in the US or Canada. Not sure where he got the pics from but it's similar enough to merit a warning.
Ginger Vitus is on the case.
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
They're baaack!
Things had been quiet for awhile. There have been some scam auctions but eBay has been getting really good at closing 'em down quick, before I can even post a warning.
This is good.
But here's one they haven't shut down yet.
Pics & description stolen from here.
Note to scammers: when you include the serial number of a guitar whose description you lifted off the Internet, you make it really, really easy for us to figure out where you stole the pics from!
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
And another wire-tranfer, stolen picture scam... (yawn)
This eBay auction...pics and description stolen from Elderly (pics have been watermarked by the scammer).
When they copy these descriptions verbatim from other sites, don't they realize we have Google too?
Sunday, December 21, 2003
Beware phony Martins!
Apparently a lot of pawn shops have been trying to sell low-quality guitars outfitted with phony Martin logos and labels. A couple of these recently showed up on eBay -- here's one and here's another.
Of course these guitars are not Martins, and anyone reasonably familar with the brand should be able to spot them as fakes. They appear to be inexpensive, low-quality imports like this one.
These decals being sold on eBay make the scammers' job easier.
No idea whether the pawnshop owners/eBay sellers are part of the scam or merely unwilling victims of someone going around selling these "Martins" out of the back of a truck.
Forewarned is forearmed.
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
Nitty Gritty Dirt Scam
Another scam eBay auction copied from Gruhn.
But he's offering free shipping (whatta guy!).
eBay: 1921 Martin 000-28K copied from Gruhn
Here is the eBay listing. Here is the Gruhn listing. Same pics & description.
Seller has no history, strange payment requirements, and says his location is US but registered in France.
Smells like a scam to me.
