Probable fraud alert

[easy_action]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I've noticed quite regular dodgy looking auctions for Leica gear on ebay UK recently.

 

The warning signs seem to be:

 

1. Suspiciously low buy-it-now price for high value items e.g. recently an M9p and 35mm Summilux FLE being sold together for £2500

2. Buyer has all positive feedback, but a low number - around 25 or 30

3. Where is it possible to see from the feedback what they have bought recently, they are almost always low value items and nothing to do with photography

4. They never seem to be selling anything else at the same time

5. No sales with recent feedback so that you can check what they have sold previously

 

Three or four of the above and alarm bells start ringing.

 

Another to add to the list:

6. Seller insistent that payment only be made by direct bank transfer

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[jcraf]

Generally had good luck with Leica on eBay, and I've been buying and selling for about 15 years now.

 

A few years ago I bought a mint boxed M8 and a mint boxed late (German-built) 75 Summilux for £2200 all in.  It was probably the fear of a scam from all other buyers (who perhaps stayed away) that meant I won the item. The seller turned out to be genuine, and some sort of cash converter outlet shop, who knew little about Leica, but who was very professional and helpful.  I was probably very lucky with that one though.....

 

Week before last I bought a late 6-Bit unused Noctilux f1, for what I considered a good price. Realising the potential anxiety for buyers, the seller put his mobile number in the listing, and when I called him he turned out (as I suspected from his seller location) to be a former West of England UK Leica dealer with whom I had dealt via his shop many times, and who had kept the lens for his collection when he shut up the shop. 

 

But we are talking of a lot of money for most Leica items. So I think each case should be considered with common sense, and on its own merit and generally, of course, if it looks too good to be true.......

[jaques]

the first warning sign - and it's a big one- was the price. Who would sell a high demand item well below the market value?  If you look at high end photographic gear on ebay you will find many fraudulent auctions like the one you describe. In general the photos of the item are simply taken from another legitimate ebay auction- often you can search 'completed listings' and actually find where the scammers stole the pics and description from. Sometimes the photos will have been taken from a different website. And ebay seller who asks you to make payment in any way that is outside of the ebay system is probably trying to defraud you.

 

I have purchased 10's of thousands of dollars worth of photographic equipment on ebay and never had a single issue. But that is only because I am careful and do research before I bid.

[jcraf]

In general the photos of the item are simply taken from another legitimate ebay auction- often you can search 'completed listings' and actually find where the scammers stole the pics and description from

 

 

 

Yep. Some years ago I sold a limited edition Leica M6 Anton Bruckner on eBay. The sale was completed and then some weeks later the M6 reappeared, listed, with my photos. The original buyer confirmed it wasn't him selling; eBay removed the listing immediately.

 

The scammers were obviously pretty stupid to choose such a conspicuous M6, of which only 200 were made, and which was easily spotted but as we know most scam items are run of the mill ones. 

[jaques]

these scammers often upload a few hundred listings for a range of very expensive things all at once (that's another warning sign for ebay scams: anything that is high priced. Most scammers wont bother with anything that isn't). They wouldn't even have looked at your M6 or spared it a single thought as they set about copy and pasting. Only one of their listings needs to sell- and time and again I have seen idiots who fall for these scams despite the listing being obviously dodgy.

 

Some people are just far more trusting than others I guess. I have a suspicious mind... Once I sold a camera on ebay to a CEO of a reasonably large tech company in the US. A few weeks after I sold it he emailed me asking where his second camera was. Turns out he had been contacted after the sale by someone claiming to be me (without my email address) offering him another camera- this imposter asked him to wire the payment to an Italian address -despite the fact he knew his original camera from me had come from Australia. Amazingly he actually sent the money! Really stupid. If you pay by wire transfer like that you are pretty much totally screwed. When I googled him and saw what position he had I was kind of shocked. But then Hillary Clinton wasn't using a secure mail server...