Beware - New stuff re-sold privately with a receipt

I did a quick search and did not see this topic mentioned... my apolgies if it has been discussed elsewhere? If so, I will delete this post.

Just a quick heads-up that if you see something for sale on Craigslist (or wherever) that is new, barely used and has a receipt, original box & packing, warranty card etc as proof of full payment and ownership, you can still get burned.

I had dinner tonight with a friend who works for a local Police Dept and there are a large number of expensive goods - especially flat screen TV's and audio/video gear - bought with stolen or fake credit cards. The sale goes through from the original retailer, and the buyer then quickly re-sells the gear privately... with all the proof of purchase that looks legit.

There are a number of local ads on Craigslist offering near new stuff for sale... with the same story - the lens is too heavy for me, the camera is more than I need etc

The police have a unit investigating thses things and tracked down a couple of thieves locally and looked through the thief's computers and tracked down the unsuspecting CL buyers - and retrieved a lot stolen gear (bought with stolen credits cards in this case), which evidently included a new 1DmkV and '3 or 4 big white lens'. The CL buyer is out of pocket and out of luck... good luck getting your money back.

The police recommend seeing the original credit card if possible and lots of ID, or for an expensive purchase, contact the original retailer to confirm that they in fact sold the gear in the first place, especially if it was a recent purchase.

Buyer beware...

well, how in hell are we supposed to know? really hard to tell...

ps: is it suppose or supposed? my english sucks

Damn, good info...but holy smokes. It certainly makes buying used a lot less attractive on big ticket items

patrick835 wrote in post #10651214
well, how in hell are we supposed to know? really hard to tell...

ps: is it suppose or supposed? my english sucks

You got it right the first time

patrick835 wrote in post #10651214
well, how in hell are we supposed to know? really hard to tell...

ps: is it suppose or supposed? my english sucks

Huh - don't ask me, I had some really good wine with dinner

Just a heads-up for anyone buying 'near new' stuff privately...

I should add 2 points - In Vancouver, we seem to be the world capital for stolen and fake credit cards and this stuff is rampant here but may not be as evident everywhere - yet.

And the CL buyers are evidently paying fair value for the goods... not paying $100.00 for a $1,000.00 lens (which would obviously be suspicious)... but paying $1,000 for what looks like a legitimately purchased lens (or whatever) and end up having nothing if the police knock at your door.

And just today I read about how they are using computer models to find and predict children's social security numbers to open these fake credit accounts. That 400L was maybe bought with little Billy's credit that he won't discover is ruined until he tries to get a car loan at 19.


Being human is getting harder every year.....

patrick835 wrote in post #10651214
well, how in hell are we supposed to know? really hard to tell...

ps: is it suppose or supposed? my english sucks

A lot of grief can be avoided by knowing what the fair resale value is for gear and avoiding any being offered for substantually less. For example if you're looking for a used 5D2 steer clear of one being offered for $1000. Yes, I've seen the anecdotal stories about gear being ripped that wasn't stolen or a scam but the chances of getting high end gear for half the normal going price without major problems are slim. As a matter of fact I don't bother with CL for high end items, it really is infested with scammers and thieves.

Its crap like this that makes me want to completely want to hide my identity on the internet. If i spend alot of money on something their is absolutely no way you are taking it away from me.

Good to know.
Thanks for the heads up.

Thanks for letting us know. This is some good info!

I'm guessing the only way to avoid this nightmare is to stay completely under the radar when buying large ticket items (use a secondary email, buy in person with cash, remain anonymous)

it is pretty unfair to lose all that money out of pocket, way too many scams on craigslist!

Ray.T wrote in post #10653656
it is pretty unfair to lose all that money out of pocket, way too many scams on craigslist!

I have an easy solution to that. I buy from B&H. Never had a problem.

Unless proven otherwise, I assume that anything "used" that is sold on the Internet is either stolen or broken. It's not worth the effort trying to figure it out.

As for those whose biggest lesson learned from this thread is to figure out how they can still get their ill-gotten gains without the police knocking on their door to get it back, may Karma bite you in a sensitive spot. The market for stolen goods is what keeps it going.

doubledragon wrote in post #10653465
I'm guessing the only way to avoid this nightmare is to stay completely under the radar when buying large ticket items (use a secondary email, buy in person with cash, remain anonymous)

It might just be easier, and worth it, to buy it at a store.

Between the scams and spam emails, I have decided Craig's List just isn't worth the trouble.

Probably half the stuff on Ebay is stolen too.