#1
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Guitar Scam - Gibson J-29 Sold (stupidly) through Craigslist
A few weeks ago, I sold a 2014 Gibson J-29 through Craigslist and shipped it to Tucson, AZ. The exchanges between the buyer and me (through Craigslist's email system) seemed normal. Questions were asked, sound clips were requested, negotiations for pricing and shipping took place, all the normal process for guitar sales in my experience. Payment was made via PayPal (or so I thought), with legitimate looking emails. However, I soon found out that a "hold" was placed on the crediting of funds to my PayPal account until the recipient had the guitar in hand. This hold went on for a few days until I smelled something fishy (was that my stupidity?) and contacted PayPal by phone. They said the transaction number I was given was not valid and that this was another "Nigerian scam". They suggested contacting the FBI and providing all the information, but of course that will not get my Gibson back.
The J-29 had a serial number of 12834039. It was sent to the following address: Beth Davenport 2444 North Balboa Ave Apt. 6 Tucson, AZ 85705 A phone number of 520-365-2985 was provided as a contact number, but of course I can find no one linked to that number. If you find this guitar, I'll offer a reward and free shipping to get it back (depending on its condition). If you live in Tucson and would like to visit this address with a baseball bat in hand, that would be even better. Only kidding. I think. Be careful out there . . . |
#2
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HOLY Smokes!
Sorry.
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Eastman E1SS-CLA-LTD Eastman E1OOSS-LTD Cordoba Fusion Orchestra CE Cordoba SM-CE Mini Classical Acoustic Ibanez Blazer 21 MIJ Stratocaster 2 Yamaha PSR-SX900 keyboards I play professionally Roland FP-90 digital piano I play for pleasure with piano VSTs. Last edited by Basalt Beach; 11-20-2018 at 03:43 PM. Reason: masked profanity |
#3
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Get a hold of the local police, tell them the situation and see what they can do about it.
Thats a real shame..hoping it all works out for you
__________________
The past: Yamaha AC3R (2016) Rose, Eastman AC822ce-FF (2018) The present:Taylor 614-ce (2018) Clara, Washburn Dread (2012) The future:Furch Rainbow GC-CR (2020)Renata? |
#4
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Sorry to hear about this. I hope you get your guitar back. I've sold many guitars through CL.
My golden rule is (and I put this in my ad): Cash and pickup only!!!! I have been contacted by so called "Buyers" who are "out of town" and interested in my "item". Nope...I don't even reply. |
#5
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That's tough man! Sorry to hear. When dealing CL, it is definitely best to avoid online dealings. Hindsight being 20/20.
I used to take this risk with low priced items. Question: Did you talk to a person on the phone before hand, or was it all email??? |
#6
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Quote:
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Something something, beer is good, and people are crazy. |
#7
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Sorry for your loss? CL just seemed to have such a high scam rate I never even consider it as a buyer or seller. And to think someone actually replicated a Pay-Pal transaction is even more scary!
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Jim Dogs Welcome......People Tolerated! |
#8
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Wow, that is brutal!
It sounds like you took precautions and none of the typical red flags were there to suggest a scam. It seems these were pretty sophisticated crooks. I'm not sure there is a 100% safe way to do an Internet transaction but right now it seems Reverb.com might be the best for sellers protections. |
#9
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Quote:
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Goditi la vita! Collings ~ Taylor ~ Martin |
#10
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Boy, that really sucks! I am sorry you got burned.
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#11
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sorry to hear of your misfortune......but I must say.....I would never ship an item without full payment in my bank account.....any other arrangements would be unacceptable......
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--'87 Ovation TB-01 Thunderbolt --'15 Yamaha LL-16-12-string A.R.E --Fishman SA-220 PA --TC Helicon Voice Live Play GTX --Audix OM5 Dynamic mic --Shubb C1 Capo --Various other "stuff" |
#12
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Wow. This is going to make me seriously reconsider using Paypal for deals like this. Just curious, you used goods and services correct? You are paying the fee for protection, what good are they if they don't stand behind the transaction.
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1943 Gibson J-45 Martin Custom Shop 000-28 Authentic Aged 1937 Voyage Air VAOM-4 |
#13
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I am sorry this happened to you. I am interested in learning how you got duped though. Did you get an email? Who was it from? Did it have links in it and where did they lead?
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'17 Waterloo Scissortail '17 David Newton 00 Rosewood '11 Homemade Strat Ibanez AS73 w/ Lollar P90s |
#14
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When using PP you need to confirm the seller and payment method are both verified. This is really important. You can see these details on the PP invoice. That being said, PP is way more favorable for the buyer than the seller.......use with caution.
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-Tim |
#15
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Another thing you can try is to go contact the police Dept of the buyer and see if they can do anything to assist.
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Guilds: 69 F312 Braz, 89 Nightbird II, 91 Nightbird CU, 94 GV70, 96 A50 flattop, 06 CO1 Cedar, 11 F30CE, 13 CS F30R Reno Star, 14 GSR F30CE Coco, Orpheum OM RW, Orpheum SS Hog. SOLD: Guilds: 78 F40,79 F112,’87 GF60R,94 DV72,07 CS F47 Braz,11 DD6MCE,12 F30,12 F30R,18 F2512. Other: 70 Epi 5102,74 Ibanez LesPaul,90 Gibson ES347,15 Alvarez MFA70,15 Martin OM28VTS,15 Epi ES339Pro,16 Alvarez AF60 |