k1vip
10-10-2002, 05:19 PM
I came very close to loosing $500.00 to a crook that was preying on ham radio operaters on EBAY.
This person had hacked into an Ebay account (buy hacking into a hotmail account and attaining passwords) and was pretending to sell FT-817's buy stealing another users identity.
They were requesting that I send a Money Order to Canada as soon as possible.
I started to smell a rat when I did a search and found out that they had sold 4 of them only a few days before I did, and all with the same story. There was also no call sign associated with this guy and he stopped all email communications with me when I started to inquire.
I was lucky, and cancelled my Money Order before it was too late, and then got the phone number of the person's Ebay identity that was stolen and contacted him right away. He was an Oklahoma County Sheriff, and was not a happy man, but has taken action to pursue the situation.
So be careful when buying Ham radio equiptment online. In this case, looking at the Ebayers past history made no difference. Maybe if your not using PayPal or a Credit Card where you are assured fraud reimbustment, demand a phone number and a call sign and call them up to verify. I guess that is a start anyway.
I hope this may help other fellow hams in there pursuit to get more gear at good prices!!
John-W9NRG
This person had hacked into an Ebay account (buy hacking into a hotmail account and attaining passwords) and was pretending to sell FT-817's buy stealing another users identity.
They were requesting that I send a Money Order to Canada as soon as possible.
I started to smell a rat when I did a search and found out that they had sold 4 of them only a few days before I did, and all with the same story. There was also no call sign associated with this guy and he stopped all email communications with me when I started to inquire.
I was lucky, and cancelled my Money Order before it was too late, and then got the phone number of the person's Ebay identity that was stolen and contacted him right away. He was an Oklahoma County Sheriff, and was not a happy man, but has taken action to pursue the situation.
So be careful when buying Ham radio equiptment online. In this case, looking at the Ebayers past history made no difference. Maybe if your not using PayPal or a Credit Card where you are assured fraud reimbustment, demand a phone number and a call sign and call them up to verify. I guess that is a start anyway.
I hope this may help other fellow hams in there pursuit to get more gear at good prices!!
John-W9NRG