only problem with the 15 confirmed contacts.. I have been a ham for a over 15 years but I don't think I have that many contacts that are confirmed.. early days I mainly was on repeaters and did not log them since it was just between me and my close friends with some of them that are SK. and I am not a very active ham do to life restrictions. but I have bought 2 items from here in the last 10 years and not have had any problems.. it was probably 60% luck and 40% doing my homework before the buy. and the hole thing about spelling and grammar is not fair ether not all of us are word smiths.
Reminds me of the P-P-P Powerbook saga, where a guy selling an Apple laptop on ebay decided to counter-scam a scammer, and made an old three-ring binder into a fake laptop, declared some ridiculous value on it so the scammer (in the U.K.) had to pay hundreds of dollars in duties to get it out of customs. You can probably still google p-p-p powerbook and read the story. It was a classic.
It really is up to everyone to do their due diligence when buying something - especially online. I have bought several items on the QRZ.com swap meet and had great results. If I am going to spend a significant amount of money, I usually ask for a phone conversation to firm up the deal. Most legitimate sellers are okay with this because they are as anxious to get paid as you are to make sure you get the merchandise.
I just wonder how stupid people can get, just to defraud others.... Such a shame we live in this world where we do...
Nice job Fred Nice job Fred. I got clipped a few years ago - sold my HW7 station to fund the purchase of a non-existent OHR500 station in the UK. The scammer was good. He hijacked a UK ham's callsign. We had a lot of back and forth as well. I talked myself into thinking it was the real deal. All I would have had to do was pick up the phone and call the ham in the UK. A PHONE CALL IS MANDATORY. So I wrote it up for the Colorado QRP Club newsletter, The Low Down, which I edit. Hell with the egg on face bit. This guys are very good. Mine started with my posting a WTB add on QRZ. So - always call and never ever ever ever use Western Union. 72/73 Dick AB0CD..
Good work Fred! I have been a licensed Private Investigator in California and Hawaii for over twenty years and you did a great job of ferreting out this weasel fraud as well as possibly giving the authorities a path to follow in pursuing this bum. Great job and thanks for educating the QRZ community on how to avoid being ripped off by the scammers! Wm. R. (Russ) Darling, AJ7U Ex: KH7S
Thank you Fred for exposing this scumbag.... all the best to you and here is hoping that all the members of QRZ are well informed by this great article. 73 Lou K6PVA
Well done Fred! A lot of correspondence but well worth it. Thanks for your information! Henning, SM6EKG
Good job Fred, To my fellow hams watch out for the "Grange" scam with a spoofed DC (202) area code calling your landline..
Nice cover of a very nasty situation Fred. I once had a very prim and proper email purportedly from 'My' bank - the usual scam inquiring after my bank details. It was so incredibly stupid I burst out laughing. It was signed 'Cheers' by the scammer. Keep up the good work.
Nicely done. This guy is probably sticking pins in a voodoo doll of Fred. Some genius in the ham community will probably invent a way to catch this type of thief, he's messing with the wrong group of people. Jerry K5LRU
Super job Fred. In my country to open a banking account we need to present several documents, prove of residence, electric or water bills (this to prove that we really live in that address), ID card. So this scammer should be easy to track down if all this information is required. Look one day we all see this scammer face. CU3AK Eloy
Guys, I use and escrow service. They hold money until they get shipping documents. it works flawless. Try something like this https://escrow.com john KK4SHF