Just a heads up to fellow audiophools....I've recently been bidding on a few flagship, and in turn very expensive, Marantz sacd and universal players on ebay--love the marantz house sound--and with each auction I've recieved unsolicited emails from persons wishing to sell me the same product at an insanely low price, such a a SA-1 for 900 bones, including shipping from Spain....I'm sure you see where this is going....Payment must be in the form of western union, no other form of payment. This is such a well know, if not classic scam that I'm amazed the folks still try it, but just to make sure everyone is up to par on this, never buy anything that that is offered to you in this way, never, NEVER, EVER, NEVER. IT'S A SCAM. If it sounds to good to be true it always is in hi-end audio.. Here's a snippet of the email I was sent from one con artist, just so you can get a feel for how this works....
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'My name is Clark and from this moment i will be your guide
in order to
reach a common point to this deal ASAP. In order to spare some
precious
time i will respond to all your current questions and also to the
potential ones.
1. In order to proceed with the deal I will first ask you
to see my payment terms. ONLY IF YOU AGREE WITH THEM, then
we will proceed to the phase of price negotiation.
2. General information
I have 3 units available so if you´ll agree with my terms we don´t
have
to wait the end of the auction and we can close this deal right now.
The
product is brand new, with ALL the accesories.It will come with
waranty fully transferable to your name.
It will come with the receipt from the authorized
dealer and there will be no problem for you to use the warranty.
4. confidence!
I can give you a recommendation from e-bay security border in case you
need some more guarrantees. Also please check out my feed-back.But only
if you are seriously taking in consideration my terms.
5. SHIPPMENT
-will be made by UPS air (but if you prefere other carrier of hipment,
please tell me).Where are you located? The shipment costs will be
supported by me if they are up to 130 $. It will
take 48h till the product will reach the destination.
I will also pay for the insurance in case of any damage happens during
the handling and shipping,so
i will be protected in case off damages and you too.
6.THE WAY TO PAY -----
The price for the unit is $900, including the shipping and insurance.
l'm a serious seller with more than 5 years of experience in
this field.
l'm a fair trader with a very good feedback on ebay which is the
proof that l have closed a lot of sucessful deals.
During this period l learned that the best deals are closed when the
risk involved is minimum.
Because other methods are unavilable here or takes too much time till i
cash the money, payment will be done www.westernunion.com. You have to
choose one of them, acces it, go to agent location and find the nearest
westernunion office to your address. Go there and make the payment to
your name .
After that you will recive a confirmation number and i want you to send
me the folowing details:
-the sender name
-the receiver name
-the sender address
-the amount
-the confirmation #--MTCN (money transfer control number)
With al this informations i will be able to check the payment and after
i will see that is OK i will send the package right away and also mail
you the TRACKING NUMBER from the shipping.
I think you are a serious buyer and I accept you to put your
best friend's name(for example) as reciver name of the transfer with my
location
as
his adress and so I will be able to verify your transfer and if the
all
amount was sent I will send you the product.Only after you will
recive
the package you will have to change the destination of the transfer
on my name.I trust you and I hope you will make the change to my name
after
you will get the product because I will have your name and adressfrom
the transfer.Another buyer proposed me this solution I didn't
accept it because I didn't trust him.So I trust you and I hope we will
colaborate in future too.Looking to hear from you.
Here are my name and adress you need for the transfer:
Clark XXXXXX
Address:XXXXXXX
Zip code: 29015
City: MALAGA
Country: SPAIN
7. REFUND POLICY -----After the package arrives, you have a 7 days
period you can send the package back for an
full and NO QUESTION refund, but you will pay for the
shipping and handlling back to me.
That is all!!!
Mail me asap ! It is very important to me to find out your response as
quick as posible since it is a great request for this units.
Best Regards!
P.S.All units are received as donation. I work at this moment for a
children foundation here in my city and we receive many donations, most
of them in electronics. But we don't need many of them, that's why sell
at this price, we want that the buyer to feel satisfy because he makes
a
really good help for this children
--- Michael Francis wrote:
Sure, I'm interested. How about some more details, such as the
condition of the player, the serial number, whether its 110v or 220v, where
you're shipping from and if you'll accept paypal, credit card or other
secure forms of payment. Sorry, I don't do wire transfers. Thanks--Michael'There are some new and interesting twists to this one, but the song remains the same....
CAVAET EMPTOR.
