Watch out for possible fraudsters....

So they are all at work again...please use caution. 

Definite scammer:

traviskeese00  (traviskeese00@gmail.com) banned 07/31/21.

Adam

 

I should add another note of caution to by guidance above.

Please be cautious about taking sales off the Wetpixel platform. If the sellers/buyers insists on dealing via email, .especially early on in the progress of a  transaction, this is a possible red herring...

Adam

I have a question: I have a deal via Wetpixel classified, but the seller does not accept PayPal, but wants to have the money transferred to his bank account. He says payPal is too risky for sellers...

=> Is this normal or is it a sign that he is s scammer and I should step back?

Thanks, Wolfgang

I would be very wary. You have no recourse if things go wrong with a bank transfer. 

Feel free to PM me the details and I can investigate if you wish.

Adam

6 hours ago, Architeuthis said:

I have a question: I have a deal via Wetpixel classified, but the seller does not accept PayPal, but wants to have the money transferred to his bank account. He says payPal is too risky for sellers...

=> Is this normal or is it a sign that he is s scammer and I should step back?

 

Thanks, Wolfgang

Certainly think twice...Paypal can be notorious for the sellers due to abuse of "item not as described" claims, but certainly its not that terrible, and lets face the truth, one also has to be flexible when selling, especially higher value items.

I am often selling random crap (somehow always end up with too many computer parts ) on kleinanzeigen and by default ask for non-PP (or" as friends") payment, simply because of the fees hassle etc. That said if a potential buyer seems to have account history (and not registered yesterday), seems reasonable and asks nicely, I never refuse "normal" PP payment.
And the above is with low priced items....with anything high (and I expect UW stuff falls into this category), bank transfer/pp as friends is rather rare, 95% of the time people would ask for "normal" PP. Hence if seller has barely registered and flat out refuses anything but bank transfer, better let it go. The only other exception could be currency conversion - PP is an absolute rip off with both extra and hidden fees and crappy conversion rates, so things like Wise come handy, but ultimately, given that is just another form of bank transfer, it comes down to the trust between buyer and the seller.

As @adamhanlon says, there is absolutely NO protection in case of bank transfer, the moment it has been processed, it is unrecoverable, even if you call  your bank 1 second later.

Also, sometimes its worth looking at IBAN - throw it into online IBAN calculator, it will tell you what branch address it was registered to, which you can then compare to seller's claimed address. Not necessarily 100% proof but when buying from a seller from small town, one rather expects the addresses to match or be in the vicinity...if suddenly a city from across the country pops up, well that kinda looks strange. (especially Berlin, where one of the banks is notorious for not doing many checks, hence was/is super popular with scammers with stolen IDs to open bank accounts).

Also be aware of latest trend, at least seen in kleinanzeigen - seller agrees on "normal" Paypal, gives you address (usually that alone looks strange, random digits, email in aol etc), however as it turns out that address is registered in a dodgy country, where PP offers NO seller/buyer protection (note however that PP will not display country address is registered to, another PP failure). Hence when you try to send a payment, it will auto default to "as friends"... Pretty shitty on Paypal side if you ask me, there should be a bit of a warning there, instead it just never asks you (goods/friends) and just defaults to "friends"...I can imagine if one is not too familiar with PP or perhaps distracted, it is very easy to loose money, thinking "i send via PP, it must be safe"

Sounds like some bitter lessons learned there, makar0n.

Long-time Wetpixel members are the way to go when it comes to buying and selling. I've been really fortunate and had some really nice buyer/seller relationships with Wetpixel members over the years - a number of whom I remain in contact.

On 1/4/2023 at 8:34 AM, Architeuthis said:

I have a question: I have a deal via Wetpixel classified, but the seller does not accept PayPal, but wants to have the money transferred to his bank account. He says payPal is too risky for sellers...

=> Is this normal or is it a sign that he is s scammer and I should step back?

 

Thanks, Wolfgang

I thank everybody for their informative responses...

=> I was just sceptical as I have bought two used Nauticam housings in the past five years via Wetpixel and so far PayPal was the method for payment. I thought this is the "normal" way and anything else is suspicious...

In the meantime the potential seller has suggested a way that is very safe for both of us and I am confident that the deal will work. These deals via the Internet are just so prone to fraud that, of course, everybody is very sceptical. It seems he had bad experience with PayPal (there is also a tread here where new scamming methods via PayPal are reported).

I will report in the buyers/sellers tread after the transfer/transaction has happened...

Wolfgang

So, I have just had this email:

"You have a security issue, after contacting seller on wet pixal i received 
tx from a scammer who tried to get me to pay for an item using his paypal 
account. He copied the item i was buying from wet pixal site...you need to 
investigate your security issues"

Upon investigation, the Wetpixel member in question responded to a for sale ad by posting their email address and telephone number in a reply on the forum post. Perhaps unsurprisingly, scammers then attempted to use this information.

Two things: I'm sure most people are aware of the pitfalls of posting contact information in a public place. If you are not, my advice would be to avoid doing so, for a number of reasons, including the potential for getting ripped off.

Secondly, the use of PM and Wetpixel membership does help prevent potential issues like this. It is not infallible, but we at least have some control over who is responding to your posts.

There is no security issue issue with Wetpixel, beyond the decision to post contact details in a public place!

@adamhanlon et al,

Have you ever been offered payment for your images or equipment via NFT? There's a person apparently interested in buying several images, but sounds sketchy.

15 hours ago, theocean said:

@adamhanlon et al,

 

Have you ever been offered payment for your images or equipment via NFT? There's a person apparently interested in buying several images, but sounds sketchy.

 

Ignore  and ask for real money, at the very least ETH/BTC if you are tempted by crypto. NFTs are nothing but a giant crypto ponzi/pyramid scheme. There was a lot of "buzz" by the people on top of pyramid trying to recurit others aka youtube shills last year.

Short version:
https://twitter.com/thatkimparker/status/1370579822213173248

Long version (very):
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2022-the-crypto-story/

On 1/11/2023 at 2:59 AM, makar0n said:

 

Ignore  and ask for real money, at the very least ETH/BTC if you are tempted by crypto. NFTs are nothing but a giant crypto ponzi/pyramid scheme. There was a lot of "buzz" by the people on top of pyramid trying to recurit others aka youtube shills last year.

Short version:
https://twitter.com/thatkimparker/status/1370579822213173248

Long version (very):
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2022-the-crypto-story/

I thought so. Thanks for the response!

I received a suspicious message, similar to others from identified scammers.

Received a message from Patrick Hussre too. Same wording.

Thanks for this guys-he/she is definitely a scammer and has now been banned.

Be very wary of anybody offering goods via a third party:

"Babs has Nauticam N120 140mm Dome for sale in good condition Here’s his email babsgeorge01@gmail.com"

The scammer's email is patrickhussre@gmail.com and he/she was using a VPN

Indeed, Adam.

Paypal is an excellent way to pay or receive a payment, or to send money.  I have used it for many transactions to/from many countries over the past few years, with no problems.