Beware?

[cuefan6969]

I recently put an ad in the Wanted to Buy forum looking for a Cog cue. I received an email from Ajibola Timileyin wanting to sell me a Cog that Keven Stier from Integrity Cues had for sale on a FB post. Has anyone else had contact with this person?

 

[spliced]

I recently put an ad in the Wanted to Buy forum looking for a Cog cue. I received an email from Ajibola Timileyin wanting to sell me a Cog that Keven Stier from Integrity Cues had for sale on a FB post. Has anyone else had contact with this person?

I just posted a similar experience in the wanted forum. Fake pics stolen from Facebook. Seems we are under attack!

 

[chenjy9]

I had a recent experience when looking for a Mezz Ignite with someone with a brand new AZB account (created the day he sent me a PM). He had claimed his previous account was hacked. The asking price seemed too good to be true (said he needed money for bills), but sometimes that happens in life and they had pictures of the shaft itself. I requested an invoice and paid via credit card to make sure I had proper protection from both PayPal and the CC company. That's when things got weird. The first invoice had minimal details and was the first created for the account, so I had to ask for another one with actual description details regarding the shaft. He then sent another one from a different PayPal account, this time one showing a Nigerian address despite stating they were shipping from Illinois. The seller then insisted on waiting for PayPal to deposit the funds into his account (I am guessing new PayPal account as it was again the first invoice created for the account). After that, the seller attempted to persuade me on multiple occasions to confirm I received the purchased good already so he can get the funds and then send it and to trust him. At one point, he offered to refund the payment so I can send $200 over F&F and then the rest once I received it. At this point, I finally filed a dispute via PayPal and got the payment refunded.

Cues can be expensive and the world has no shortage of shady dealers, so please always take every possible step you can take to protect yourself. Based on my most recent potential close call, I recommend everyone do the following when making a purchase from individual sellers (or at least the new ones without reputation):

• If the situation smells funny, it probably is so trust your instinct and know when to back out of a deal that is too good to be true
• Request photos of the product from various angles with a physical note in the photos that includes the seller's AZB handle and current date
• Never, ever agree to pay the seller via PayPal Friends & Family, pay the fees if you have to for peace of mind!
• Request a PayPal invoice with a detailed description of the product plus any conditions you and seller might have agreed upon
• Pay with a credit card so you can initiate a chargeback if PayPal tries to screw you over (PayPal can be shady like that!)

You can never be too careful and strangers on the internet are not your friend. Do whatever you can in order to protect yourself, always!