Just because you talk to someone on the phone and get a "picture" of a item doesn't mean squat. I can fabricate up an entire person if you wish? Name, phone number address, pictures of all sorts of "Ebay items" I could sell. If that is all it takes to convince some of you it's "real" I feel for you, because your way to trusting.
The first clue this was a scam is he very simple fact someone questioned it enough to post a question on a message board because his gut told him this was BS. If your not 100% sure it's legit up front, it likley isn't. If you have to get confirmation just to convince yourself it's ok "to be stupid" your likely going to get scam'd. Nothing about the outcome of this entire thread should suprise anyone if you read it from the start and all the enteries. There were lots of people calling BULLS@#T the entire way.
In the end I'm glad people are not getting hosed for 1k+ a pop but if it did it would only make anyone that did lose money more careful in the future. The good part about being scam'd one time... it will never likely get you again because you will remember losing money and how that pissed you off and you will be a hundred times more careful and let common sense do your online shopping for you
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First off, you can NEVER be 100% sure anything is legit upfront...especially when you're talking about buying through eBay.
There are signs that show a seller's legitimacy, and "Ruben" actually seemed pretty damn legit.
I've been a registered user on eBay for 10 years, and I'm also not a moron.
His account had 200+ positive feedbacks, and had been registered for a decent amount of time. He was selling the MacBook Pros at a very good price, but there was nothing UNBELIEVABLE about the price he was asking.
Auctions for brand new MacBook Pros end every day around the same price that he was asking.
Most importantly, I would never send anyone I didn't know a money order or check.
I exclusively use PayPal. I'm 100% protected.
Worst case scenario, I'm out of a little time. An inconvenience, but not the end of the world.
I got my money back...immediately upon calling PayPal.
Second, please don't "feel" for me. If anything, I should be the one doing the feeling... for YOU because you don't understand the concept of the contraction "you're" which is the word to use when you want to combine You and Are.
If you aren't involved with this guy and his eBay shenanigans, why are you posting here? Do you really feel THAT superior and "smarter" than people who are posting here for a legit reason? Maybe I'm the only one who took it this way, but your post came off kinda pompous to me.
Lastly, what are you talking about? Do you honestly think that eBay, PayPal, the FBI can't track this guy down if they wanted to??
If he is indeed scamming people, he is attempting to scam a LOT of money.
It would be SIMPLE for the FBI alone to find the guy... prepaid cell phone or not. Like someone else said, it's called "IP addresses" and "bank account information."