68.13.76.221
There's a type of scam on eBay that goes like this:
You see an ad for a desirable piece of vintage gear, like a 7C, a 10B, an MC275, or the like. There are (stock) photos and the asking price is 1/3 to 1/2 the actual value.
You immediately respond, either with questions of with an offer. The "seller" quickly gets back to you, usually in broken English but not always, saying the piece is still available but he's not in the city or the country at the moment and really needs the cash. "But don't worry," he'll use "his shipper" and give you a week to return the goods for a full refund and he'll pick up the shipping.
The first warning bell is that he's not in the same city as the ad. No reasonable legitimate person would advertise on Craigslist something he's not immediately able to deliver. The other bells are the "his shipper" or "must be done through eBay" and, it turns out, the broken English, which is absent on the original ad. I think the poor English is there to discourage communication and questions.
So, what to do about it? Each of us who comes across such an ad should string the son of a bitch along as long as possible. Each of us should develop his/her own style of asking questions, offering to pick it up in person, pay in Rubles, or whatever comes to mind. Be inventive, waste his time, always demand more information, ad twists. Make sure that if he does rip someone off, his hourly pay is as low as possible.
I've strung one of these A-holes along for 15 emails. Guys like this throw undeserved crap on the rest of us trying to make a living selling real equipment on the net. Wasting their time is fun, and in the end discourages them from their dishonest endeavor. The anonymity of the net works both ways.
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