[Gubi]

WARNING: Avoiding scammers on AlfaBB

Please note: there have been a rash of scams where people have sent money for parts and not received them. Generally the seller will contact the buyer by outside email and request Western Union, Moneygram, or some other form of wire transfer.

To help avoid this, please consider the following before purchase:

- Be extra cautious if you are contacted by outside email by someone claiming to have parts you are looking for, and don't openly display your email address in messages

- Do not use wire transfer services, money orders, or checks to pay for goods. Use a method where you can dispute the payment if you do not receive the purchased goods. Fraudulent sellers will often claim they cannot use PayPal due to an issue with their account. Sellers who claim they can only accept Western Union, Moneygram, or Walmart Pay are most likely fraudulent.

- Insist that sellers contact you at least once through private messages on the AlfaBB rather than email. This will allow you to see their history as a BB member

Be smart - don't get ripped off.

 

[skylink]

Please read this link carefully. I have received the same offer from John Longman here tonight!

WARNING, WARNING, WARNNG!!! Scam going on? - Pelican Parts Technical BBS

Greats, Erny

 

[divotandtralee]

Please read this link carefully. I have received the same offer from John Longman here tonight!

WARNING, WARNING, WARNNG!!! Scam going on? - Pelican Parts Technical BBS

Thanks for the Warning! I just received a PM from him saying he could help with a steering wheel I have posted in WANTED...His message---

You can e-mail me on [email protected] with your needs as it will be a pleasure to help. A phone contact to reach you will be great too.

Cheers,

John Longman
United Kingdom

He joined the Alfa BB as a registered member (jlongman) on Sep 17, 2014 and has no posts to date.

 

[kuni123456]

I also received a PM from him concerning a tunnel case transmission rocker. I thank you for the information.

 

[papajam]

User jlongman has been banned.

 

[stphers]

This guy is also showing up on some Porsche sites Glad he is banned here

Rick Stephenson

 

[divotandtralee]

Good ... the lynch mob can go home....but he'll show up again.

 

[planetmojo]

That may be the same guy who had contacted me from the UK, a while back. Any part I had mentioned, he had in stock. As he had mentioned that he only accepted payment via Western Union transfer, that raised some suspicions. So, I threw him a curve ball... Would you have a convertible roof frame for a GTV6 (or something equally silly)? Yup, no problem. Got a couple of very nice examples, right here.

In checking further, I found his address was actually a hotel. If he had that many ALFA parts in stock, he'd need more than a hotel room to store them in.

 

[divotandtralee]

That may be the same guy who had contacted me from the UK, a while back. Any part I had mentioned, he had in stock. As he had mentioned that he only accepted payment via Western Union transfer, that raised some suspicions. So, I threw him a curve ball... Would you have a convertible roof frame for a GTV6 (or something equally silly)? Yup, no problem. Got a couple of very nice examples, right here.

In checking further, I found his address was actually a hotel. If he had that many ALFA parts in stock, he'd need more than a hotel room to store them in.

Brilliant.. why didn't I think of dat?

 

[RobNH]

He tried getting at me this morning

Same message... Only it was for headlights I am looking for... Wtb. I reported him to heavymetalalfa!

Gave him a bogus name and tel# - he wanted moneygram because his PayPal was ' dormant'... Schmuck, loser, piece of crap. :tank:

 

[planetmojo]

The best scam I've heard came out of the UK, too.

A zoo in a large UK city had a large parking lot that was always full. One day a kiosk appeared to charge for parking, in a lot that had been free before. For many years a man showed up on-time every morning, and closed up at the end of each day. After many years (18, as I remember it being told)... no one showed up to collect the parking fees.

Zoo-goers, who had been used to paying for this parking over the years, complained to the zoo that no one was in the booth to collect their fees. The zoo had assumed that the city had been charging for parking. When the zoo contacted the city on that, the city said we thought the zoo had added the booth!

The faithful parking lot attendant never returned. So, it is assumed that he used the 18 years of parking fees to move to Rio or the Riviera. And is living the good life, today.

Too clever and artistic a scheme to call him a criminal. Maybe this one is that should be filed under 'Why didn't we think of that?' Hmmmmm...

 

[MrZo]

Thanks for the John Longman warning! Saved me $$$.

Thanks for posting this warning.

I've been contacted by John Longman as well. He says he's got a '69 LHD Duetto pedal box assembly. I've been asking him for pictures and he hasn't been able to provide them. He would like to be paid by MoneyGram (which doesn't seem to offer any escrow or other seller protection).

Correspondence below:

--------------------------------------------------

Hi Lorenzo,

Thanks for writing again. I tried to forward some pictures with my
previous e-mail but I got a return e-mail with failure delivery
notification though be rest assured that you will be receiving an
original clutch pedal box assembly that has been removed from my 1969
1750 Spider. Let me know if we have a deal and also confirm that the
stated address is correct then I will e-mail details for payment via
Money Gram also with nearby agents where you can easily send out
payment as I will be getting the assembly ready for delivery.

Many thanks again and regards,

John


--
You can e-mail me on [email protected] with your needs as it
will be a pleasure to help. A phone contact to reach you will be great
too.



Cheers,

John Longman
United Kingdom
------------------

Hi John-

Great! I'll take it. Would you send me a couple of photos so I can double confirm with my mechanic?

I'm not familiar with Money Gram but I will check it out. I do already have PayPal set up in case you decide to re activate your account.

My shipping address is:
<redacted>

Thanks !

Best regards
Lorenzo
-------------------------
Hi Lorenzo,

Thanks for writing. Great ! I have an original LHD 1969 Duetto clutch
pedal box assembly in excellent shape and condition, ready to mount
on. I'm asking £200 GBP and I will be shipping via UPS or FedEx on a 3
- 4 working days delivery and will accept payment via Money Gram as my
PayPal is currently dormant. What's your complete shipping address?

Many thanks again and regards,

John

 

[TehKyosho]

This style of scam (yes, even for vintage car parts from a British folk with proper English) has been going on for ages.

 

[Renaldo]

John Longman contacted me on a 'Wanted' ad as well. I think the take away here is any new Member who has zero, or next to Zero posts. There has been 2-3 recent respondents to my ads, including 'bigpoppa' that are 'out of the UK' (see the BB warnings under the classified section), zero posts, and they are very anxious to conduct business via private email... and want your phone #... though international calling doesn't seem to make sense (to me).

one of the respondents had a callaway rear spoiler ... and he was out England/United Kingdom....really? 35 cars produced in the US, and YOU have a Callaway spoiler?! He sent me a pic that was readily available via google images... I confronted him with the facts and I never heard back from the sommabich.

Buyer be ware. If it doesn't make sense or smells... then it does!

Useless scammers I've interfaced with have been reported to the moderators!

 

[divotandtralee]

I had a 750 Veloce engine that was in my possession advertised, with photos, by a scammer in the UK. He gave the location as some remote village in Scotland and he was selling it for an uncle. The photos were stolen off this site or e-bay from when I actually bought it. The part number was clearly displayed and were exactly the same photos. That was a gotcha.

Craigslist seems to be an easy venue for them but don't rule out E-bay.

 

[planetmojo]

We don't want these few scam artists to be putting a black cloud of suspicion over the rest of the honest folk.

So perhaps, if they request funds from Western Union or Moneygram, and cannot send pictures to show the part... that becomes the warning bell that tips us off. Plus, if they are not asking the right questions on part variations, when quizzed, if you become suspicious (like: Is yours the version of the tach with the reset knob?).

If anyone has any other tips to add, that could be helpful for all of us.

 

[Red83Spider]

I wouldn't rely on the photos either. I nearly purchased a part off another forum which had a picture included. Thankfully, I stumbled across the same photo on the forum from a couple of years earlier. The seller never replied when questioned, and vanished. Perhaps to help those who do sell here, buyers posting a successful transaction might help.

 

[kuni123456]

I have been contacted before by a different person who lived in the UK. I think that most of the these people want to be paid using Western Union and not PayPal. I will not send any money unless it is through PayPal or will use a personal check. I believe that using the USPS for a SCAM is a Federal Crime and most SCAMMERS do not want to have the USPS Officials looking for them.

 

[felipealvarez]

Hello all,

I was contacted by PM by an Ian Tilman from Boston, UK regarding a wanted add I posted, a couple of month ago. He asked to write him to his gmail account: [email protected]. I got suspicious when I found out he joined the forum the same day I posted my add and had 0 posts. Sent him an email asking for photos, condition and price and never heard back. His BB name is bigpoppa1 and hasn´t posted a comment since he joined, the day I posted my add.

Felipe

 

[MrZo]

Latest on John Longman - when I pressed him for a picture he sent me one.

One handy tip is to put the photo into Google Image "Search by Image" and look for matches:

Search by Image ? Inside Search ? Google

In this case the photo he sent came right up as a previous post to the Alfa BB. Nice try but no cigar. I've asked him for photos of *his* actual part, but sadly I suspect that they will never arrive.