Home Forums Gear Free Classifieds Another Armslist Scam

Hate to put this in the classifieds, but maybe it'll help someone else.....


I got took, despite my best efforts.....

Back in October I spotted a too good to be true ad for a set of Swaroski 8.5x42 EL's. After coming back from my Montana hunt, I checked, and they were still listed. I sent a email asking if they were still available.

Next day him: Yes I still have the Binos available for sale. Where are you located and what can I do for you?

Me: Could you give me the serial number, so I can determine when they were made?

Next day, me: Also, I can call Swarovski with the serial number to see that they have not been reported as stolen.

Next day him: I beg your pardon! How do you mean maybe its being reported stolen. I guess you think your messaging a kid. Anyway, let me know when your ready to buy.. Don't be ridiculous, I have owned this binos for precisely 3 years now and its been a safe queen in the box. If your local, maybe you can come around and see it .. Its in its best condition.

I cooled him down, and got this response: I must commend you for your response and i am very sorry if i have sounded too harsh to you, there are rookies who go about disturbing all around armslist, please do accept my sincere apology.
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Firstly, Like i have said in my previous message; i have owned the Binos for couple years and its been a safe queen in the box with little use. I have been incapacitated on wheelchair which was the mean reason i am selling off couple accessories and firearms since i could no longer take part in active shooting activities.​
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Secondly, I can and will ship to you in Wisconsin; i listed " No Shipping " to reduce spam messages, so do bear with me. I have been selling and buying over 35 firearms and accessories without any issue with any individual or Law. Just like you, i am also a retired fire service man and work all my life in Passaic, NJ before relocating here in Indiana after retirement. See my DL attached with this message.. Also attached with this message are couple other pictures of the Binos.​
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Furthermore, I will be happy to sell this to you after our rough moment in conversation which is not our fault as we both seek good and serious interest. Also, i will be accepting postal money order or PayPal (family and friends)... Once again, i am sorry for my outburst and i hope to read from you sooner. ​

I gave him my phone number, and we had a chat. Nothing stood out of place, and I got this email: Once again , I like to say thank you for the correspondence over the phone, I appreciate making this a deal. I will remove listing immediately and consider it sold to you..

Him: my Paypal account is : Whitneysorrelgmail.com

You can make payment immediately and send me a confirmation message so I can proceed with the shipping and logistics..

Me: Money has been sent.....I added the PP fees on my end.

Him: Like I said before, it will have to be PayPal family and friends Only..

Me: The fees were $24.95 that I added to the $850.00......

Him: Yes I know but the money will not be available to cash out at the bank... It has to be family and friend without any charges..

Me: I already sent it.....I don't see where the problem is.....the fees come out of the money in your PP account when it arrives, so you'll net the $850.00, which will be in your PP account to transfer to the bank. You withdraw it then.

Him: I am currently at doctors appointment, I will keep you posted once am done then we can proceed. Will you be home so I can make it Signature required for security and safety purpose. Let me know what you think

On the phone, he claimed he had a UPS account, and would get it out that day. I asked for a tracking number that night. Next day....

Him: Had a very busy day yesterday but will take care of everything today and send you the tracking number. Sorry for the delay.

The 27th, 29th, and the 2nd I asked again for tracking, knowing it wasn't happening.

I tried calling the number he called me on, on Sat, no answer, I left a message.

Sat & Sun, I had two guys contact him wanting to buy the scope he had for sale also, and he responded back to them immediately, but went dark when asked for an address to buy in person.

Today I checked his ad, which I saved before he deleted it, and he has just now reposted the same ad.

I have already filed a complaint with PayPal. Luckily I paid the fees, so I've slept fine at night in that regard. I have also filed a complaint with the FCC and FTC, and plan on another with Indiana Consumer Protecting and local authorities. Might be pissing up a rope, but we gotta try......

So anybody smarter than me want to try and fish this guy out?

Phone number he called me with: 1-609-365-0273

This is the license pic I got from him:



Of course his email name is God First, but shows up as:mossrulesxxecuadorn789outlook.com

PP got sent to: Whitneysorrelgmail.com

However the payment went to: Jill Jago at: trfcdxsew5gmail.com

His current ads on Armslist:

https://www.armslist.com/posts/9497886/indiana-optics-for-sale--swarovski-8-5x42-el

https://www.armslist.com/posts/9497...jicon-tr20-1-accupoint-3-9x40-riflescope

Funny, I just got an email from Armslist.......

"This listing has been flagged as a potential scam by other users."

The problem is that it’s obviously not the guy in the driver’s license. He wouldn’t be stupid enough to do that. So sniffing that guy out makes no sense. And, more than likely, this guy isn’t even in Indiana.

Those emails are loaded with crazy bad grammatical errors that look a lot like someone foreign trying to hold a normal conversation in every day English.

I can’t help sniff the guy out, but I can make a suggestion. Always get a photo of the item in his hand with something crazy like a hand drawn smiley face with a circle left eye and an X right eye. Something that the seller won’t just have photos of sitting around and will require him to make it on the spot, with the item being sold present.

That isn’t a surefire way to avoid getting burnt because I guess someone could actually have some Swaros sitting around for the sole purpose of ripping people off online; but, eventually it’d catch up to them.

I think the most important thing to remember is that if a deal seems too good to be true and the emails are clearly fishy as hell and he’s insisting on payment methods that can’t be stopped once started, it’s probably going to cost you.

So your covered with PayPal since you didn’t do friends and family??? At least you have that. Too many scam artists these days. To bad they won’t drop ninja bombs on these people while they are sitting at there computers. Couple of those and this would all end!

Interesting, when I goggled the phone number before, I'm sure it showed as a cell, which jibed with him saying he retired for NJ to In.

Now I'm finding it's a landline:

Area Codes: 609
Prefix: 365
Subscriber Number: 0273
National: 609-365-0273
ternational: +1 6093650273
Country: Atlantic
State: New Jersey - NJ
City: Pleasantville
County: Atlantic
Phone Type: Landline
Company: Mci Worldcom Communications, Inc., NJ

ALF,

Your back and forth communication with seller reeks of SCAM. I see many "red flags" in the wording and phrases. I believe it is Adam Schiff....he likes to make up S H I T .

More education.

So in the phone conversation did he at least sound 70ish wm?

These people aren’t even in the United States. It’s a common scam. Thousands have fallen for it. At the very least, ask for several pictures with a common household item of your choice or something written next to the item you are buying.

Yeah, I would have to agree, his written correspondence sounds like the many Nigerian scammers we have all been approached by.

English is not his first language

I’ve heard of numerous Armslist scams. Not sure why anyone would buy from there.

I have been fortunate with my armslist transactions. I always ask for more pictures of the item. If they don’t have it it’s hard to send more pictures. I always get all of their information then do a google search on them. If the price is to good to be true it’s a scam.

Nothing worse than a thief!!!

Copy ...paste my comment from the last half dozen similar threads. Armslist is a cesspool

Armslist,for me anyway,is face-to-face only...

Ditto. I have turned down several items I wanted because I only do face to face. When I see an item is listed in "Texas, Texas", I ask what city are you located in so maybe we can do a face to face? When they reply with "where are you located", and not their city, I flag it. I figure if someone can't supply the city they are scammers. I also flag the ones where they say Texas but when you ask for a face to face they say they have moved and will have to ship. I hate Scammers.

Jim

I just stay away from Armslist after hearing a ton of these stories involving deals there. I have bought a gun or two on Gunsamerica years ago but do everything on Gunbroker these days. I have sold several and bought several there with zero issues. The emails that guy sent do scream scam to me. I am also interested if the guy on the phone sounded like an older white male?

Not judging and I feel bad for you but for Pete’s sakes that is not someone who grew up speaking common American English. Be careful. If it send up red flags, pay attention. They’re there for a reason...

I have bought and sold on Armslist and only do Instate deals face to face with no problems.Anything being sold on Armslist or anywhere else with a price too good to be true will be had.

Armslist, seriously? Did you just wake up one morning and say, "I want to get fucqued by a foreign scammer today, I think I'll start with Armslist"?

You know what really works good is to take the picture of the Armslist ad and put it in Google image search and see what comes up.... A lot of times as others have mentioned, the pics will show up on other website classifieds that they have lifted for the scam......