Beware of Scammer selling Phantom 4 Drone on Gumtree in Australia.

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This is a warning to anyone wishing to purchase any Drones from Gumtree.

I was hit by a scammer on Gumtree last week who said that he was selling a Phantom 4 Drone as an unwanted present from Rainbow Beach. (I suspect not his real location as FAKE ADDRESS)

The Seller gives you a BSB and Account number with the BSB as 880-100 which turns out to be a LOAD AND GO Australia Post Visa Card which can be purchased over the counter without ID.

I was in contact with this person via Phone and SMS over a week before I decided to trust this seller (Should have stayed away from sellers which are not face to face on Gumtree I know)

He then gives you a bull story that it was an unwanted present and he needs money to fix his car blah blah blah.

He stays concerned about your money clearing from the bank to bank transfer and gives a seamingly valid Tracking number which shows up on Australia Post but only has a customer Enquiry on it. This is not processed at all by Aust Post.

It appears that he buys a box from Aust Post and then rings Australia Post to make an enquiry on it This activates the Number in the tracking system.

As soon as the money clears the phone number goes dead and there is no further contact with this person possible.

I was stung $950 bucks from this scumbag "ARTHUR KELLY" dont let it happen to you too. IF SOMEONE WANTS TO GIVE YOU A BSB 880-100 IT IS AN UNTRACABLE ACCOUNT!!!!!

Cops wont do anything as well. I suspect the only lead could be the mobile card used however it would need to get to meta data in order to determine the location of the Scammer.or where the money was withdrawn?

banks wont do much but send a PLEASE RETURN THE MONEY request. Yeh as if!

Anyway I was Stupid dont you be as well.
 
This is why I love eBay you're fully covered should anything like this happen , and in over 12 years of purchases it's only happened once and my money was fully refunded....
 
Well that sucks. I recently sold some stuff in Gumtree including a PS3 and had a couple of scammers trying something similar. Since it was almost impossible to meet with the potential buyers, I requested ID information that I would give to my cop brother in law to verify and that quickly weeded out the trash. I did sell the phantom to a guy who was legitimate and had no issues with being verified but you're right, there are real pieces of garbage out there trying to rip you off. If you were lucky enough to find a sympathetic cop to track down the number the scammer used, I reckon you might have a chance. I know they can do it as they routinely do it as part of their work.
 
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The big clue here was the asking price.... if it's too good to be true.... yeah well you know the rest if that saying.

Sorry to hear you got stung. Hopefully he/she will come unstuck sooner rather than later.

This scam (the Aussie post card related one) has been running for quite some time now, not just on gumtree.

If he/she is smart they will use the card to buy items where there are no security cameras, you won't be the only victim who loaded it for them.

I'm surprised the coopers won't investigate. At least to obtain a warrant and follow connecting IP information from gumtree would not require much resourcing.
 
The big clue here was the asking price.... if it's too good to be true.... yeah well you know the rest if that saying.

Sorry to hear you got stung. Hopefully he/she will come unstuck sooner rather than later.

This scam (the Aussie post card related one) has been running for quite some time now, not just on gumtree.

If he/she is smart they will use the card to buy items where there are no security cameras, you won't be the only victim who loaded it for them.

I'm surprised the coopers won't investigate. At least to obtain a warrant and follow connecting IP information from gumtree would not require much resourcing.
It was originally $1000 and as I have seen them as low as $1200 that doesnt seem too bad. That was part of his ploy We agreed on $1000 as I felt that was a reasonable price for it he said that his Wife told him to drop it to $950 as I didnt Barter with him.
 
The big clue here was the asking price.... if it's too good to be true.... yeah well you know the rest if that saying.

Sorry to hear you got stung. Hopefully he/she will come unstuck sooner rather than later.

This scam (the Aussie post card related one) has been running for quite some time now, not just on gumtree.

If he/she is smart they will use the card to buy items where there are no security cameras, you won't be the only victim who loaded it for them.

I'm surprised the coopers won't investigate. At least to obtain a warrant and follow connecting IP information from gumtree would not require much resourcing.
They wouldnt initially they wanted me to open a case with Gumtree. only after I called Crime Stoppers did they send out a car to my house to take a statement. Ive got a number from gumtree now and tried to call the Constable I talked to still waiting for call back
 
They wouldnt initially they wanted me to open a case with Gumtree. only after I called Crime Stoppers did they send out a car to my house to take a statement. Ive got a number from gumtree now and tried to call the Constable I talked to still waiting for call back
Not that an IP will help if he has done it from the same phone which I was speaking to him on they would have more chance tracking the metadata via Optus (was able to find out that online)
 
It was originally $1000 and as I have seen them as low as $1200 that doesnt seem too bad. That was part of his ploy We agreed on $1000 as I felt that was a reasonable price for it he said that his Wife told him to drop it to $950 as I didnt Barter with him.
Get the best price you can from a safe source and get in the air. Will make it easier to put this behind you. If it's your first AC it is worth buying new with warranty.
 
Welcome to ScumTree.

Oh btw... ScumTree = Scam Gumtree and not Scum =). Everyone is peaches and rainbow on Gumtree.
 
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Sorry to hear this happen to anyone, but so true there are scammers out there - I bought on eBay (P3A used) last year - turned out the bird had dunked in water & whilst looked fine was basically useless. Seller was gone - lesson learned.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots
 
Sorry to hear I think we have all been caught at some stage in life .I have been ripped off to varying degrees on everything from used trucks to sheep dogs over the years It's the old Caveat emptor .Unfortunatley a few wankers make you suspicious of everyone .
I agree with With The Birds .It will eat away at you for a while but it's best to move on.
 
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Get the best price you can from a safe source and get in the air. Will make it easier to put this behind you. If it's your first AC it is worth buying new with warranty.
Its not my first one. I have owned 2 Mavic Pro's one of which I also bought on Scumtree using Direct deposit. I sold the first one using direct transfer with them.(Im not scum I actually sent it to him)

I also bought a brand new Parrot BeBop2 Drone and found that it was CRAP!!! I returned it and this Phantom 4 was what I was buying for my Son to replace it.
its not bank transfers which are the issue its the SCUMBAGS out there preying on Honest people.
 
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Absolutely false. If you're going to bump an old thread, at least make sure you understand what you're talking about.

False ? If you pay with credit card or bank transfer on eBay , good luck trying to get a refund it’s very hard as l found out , but if you use PayPal and that’s all l use now , you will get a refund l have several times on misleading products , faulty , and items that have never arrived .
 

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