avionics fraud on ebay

A friend told me he was looking for a handheld GPS on ebay and found a guy
selling Garmin 396 handhelds for $500. This friend emailed the seller
asking how he could sell a new in the box $2500 unit for $500. The seller
replied in broken english with a bunch of mish mash that he just opened an
electronics company in Europe and that if you send $500 by western union
right now then he'll make you this great deal. Beware out there. If it
sounds too good to be true.....

There was someone offering super cheap (I think $5000-7000) Garmin 430s
on barnstormers.com a few months ago. The description made it sound
borderline plausible (eg, they described that the reason they were so
cheap was that they were sold internationally, and did not have US
plates, etc etc) but subsequent fraud warnings that popped up on the
website made it sound as if there was a problem.

Avionics have gotta be an attractive target since there's such a price
premium attached.

Ben Hallert
PP-ASEL

A some signs of online frauds:
1) outside US or Canada, usually europe.
2) Western union only
3) price too good to be true
4) approved bidders only, esp. with a low feedback rating
5) After the auction ends and you aren't a winner, you get contacted
back channel asking if you'd still be intrested cause the winner backed
out for whatever reason. They'll ask you for what you'd like to pay, and
they usually "relucantly" accept it cause a family member in Germany (or
whatever) was in an accident, and they need the money ASAP, and please
send it WU to the "victim" to pay the hospital.
6) they may claim they have bought the remaining stock of a "going out
of business" store, usually in europe (a former eastern bloc country is
even better), and are just clearing the stuff out.

John

Zulu wrote:
A friend told me he was looking for a handheld GPS on ebay and found a guy
selling Garmin 396 handhelds for $500.

Never ever pay for anything via Western Union wire transfer. Both EBAY
and Western Union warn you about this. Western Union is only for
sending money to people you know.

The best way to pay on eBay is a USPS money order sent via USPS so you
can sic the postal inspectors on them. There was a draft letter to
floating around the Internet spelling out chapter and verse of the mail
fraud Federal laws. The idea was stapling the money order to the letter
so the seller would be warned.

"Ron Natalie" wrote in message
...
Zulu wrote:
A friend told me he was looking for a handheld GPS on ebay and found
a guy
selling Garmin 396 handhelds for $500.

Never ever pay for anything via Western Union wire transfer. Both
EBAY
and Western Union warn you about this. Western Union is only for
sending money to people you know.

I don't see postal inspectors hunting down someone on Europe for $500. I use
paypal. I got stiffed once, and got my money back from Paypal.

"sfb" wrote in message news:zbiYe.3955$yN1.1645@trnddc03...
The best way to pay on eBay is a USPS money order sent via USPS so you
can sic the postal inspectors on them. There was a draft letter to
floating around the Internet spelling out chapter and verse of the mail
fraud Federal laws. The idea was stapling the money order to the letter
so the seller would be warned.

"Ron Natalie" wrote in message
...
Zulu wrote:
A friend told me he was looking for a handheld GPS on ebay and found
a guy
selling Garmin 396 handhelds for $500.

Never ever pay for anything via Western Union wire transfer. Both
EBAY
and Western Union warn you about this. Western Union is only for
sending money to people you know.

sfb wrote:
The best way to pay on eBay is a USPS money order sent via USPS so you
can sic the postal inspectors on them.

No, the best way is to use PayPal funded by a credit card. You can get
a direct refund from PayPal (if they can recover it from the seller) or
from your credit card company if that doesn't work.

Not all Paypal transactions are protected.

"Transactions Covered by PayPal Buyer Protection

The PayPal Buyer Protection icon must be displayed in the Seller
Information box on eBay"

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/websc...p-info-outside

"Steve Foley" wrote in message
news:cUiYe.9616$LV5.5352@trndny02...
I don't see postal inspectors hunting down someone on Europe for $500.
I use
paypal. I got stiffed once, and got my money back from Paypal.

"sfb" wrote in message
news:zbiYe.3955$yN1.1645@trnddc03...
The best way to pay on eBay is a USPS money order sent via USPS so
you
can sic the postal inspectors on them. There was a draft letter to
floating around the Internet spelling out chapter and verse of the
mail
fraud Federal laws. The idea was stapling the money order to the
letter
so the seller would be warned.

"Ron Natalie" wrote in message
...
Zulu wrote:
A friend told me he was looking for a handheld GPS on ebay and
found
a guy
selling Garmin 396 handhelds for $500.

Never ever pay for anything via Western Union wire transfer. Both
EBAY
and Western Union warn you about this. Western Union is only for
sending money to people you know.

Paypal lacks law enforcement authority and the protection plan does not
apply to all transactions.

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/websc...de#eligibility

"Ron Natalie" wrote in message
...
sfb wrote:
The best way to pay on eBay is a USPS money order sent via USPS so
you can sic the postal inspectors on them.

No, the best way is to use PayPal funded by a credit card. You can
get
a direct refund from PayPal (if they can recover it from the seller)
or
from your credit card company if that doesn't work.

sfb wrote:
Paypal lacks law enforcement authority ...

So does the USPS if the destination is outside the U.S..

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.