Too- effing-awesome - how to recognize a Scammer on Amazon

[LiamKerrington]

Hi there,

currently I check Amazon for the Nexus 7 32GB WiFi only device on a regular basis, because the mode to order and receive stuff via Amazon is much more interesting for me then via any other platform. A few minutes I happened to notice an offer that was too good to be true: a certain seller via Amazon marketplace sold the Nexus 7 32GB for lousy 200 bucks; his order was about 40-60 bucks lower then any other offer for this device - a deal too good to be true; and he wanted to sell the device as a "new" and not as a "used/ 2nd hand" device. That was incredible ...

Now, a couple of things started to bother me. And these things - actually - are typical signs for a fraudster, scammer or whatever you want to call it:

a) The seller was a "New Seller" on the marketplace at Amazon thus you have no information regarding his reliability;
b) Amazon did not provide any information about him - probably, because he is bloody new to the marketplace, I don't know;
c) as a name "he" chose: CONTACT ME AT *email* at msn (dot) com (why not contact via the Amazon-mail-service?), so this could be a measure to keep Amazon as a third party out of any relation which again would lead to reducing evidence in case things go south;
d) over a span of about 15 minutes "he" started to fill his market-place store with a variaty of different sweet IT- and multi-media devices like Samsung screens, iPhones, tablets, notebooks and docking-stations; some were labeled with a price, some were not; and the ones with a price were tagged with the information that there would be three items available, so "order now". The interseting thing now is that ALL items in the store were either items not available anymore 'cause they are outdated (iPhones) or because they are still not available yet - so why the eff does the seller mention then that there were 3 items available?

Question: Is this guy a fraudster? I believe so ... Maybe I am wrong, but who cares what I think, right? Anyway: I just wanted to inform you to keep an eye open when you start ordering stuff via online-stores. The four things I mentioned above are typical clues, and normally a red flag should show up when you see things like this happening. I really hope that I am wrong, but my guts tell me something different, which is why I informed Amazon about my suspicion; I also sent the guy an e-mail on the e-mail-adress he mentioned that I was interested in his so quickly expired Nexus 7 order ... Let's see what will be the result ...

All the best!
Liam

[reaper239]

probably, but who knows. if you think it's suspect, treat it like the plague: avoid it.

[Osiris]

I can't recall ever buying anything from Scamazon. I tend to throw my support behind local businesses.

[reaper239]

I can't recall ever buying anything from Scamazon. I tend to throw my support behind local businesses.

i love e commerce, it is the embodiement of free market enterprise. anyone can set up a site and peddle their wares to far beyond their local market. of course, i do love stores that have similar tastes to mine, so where possible i order from a brick and mortar.

[LiamKerrington]

Well, I am an Amazon-whore ... My city barely offers what I need; and although I live in Germany - one of the denser populated nations in the EU - I really have to do some serious travelling in order to get what I need - at least at fair prices. The e-commerce rules in Germany/ the EU are pretty sweet. Therefore Amazon is not the best choice - but maybe not even the best as well. Anyway - it is my reference - especially since eBay went all south regarding quality and stuff ...

Anyway: I happened to notice this scam-shit, because for the last couple of days I payed close attention to what is going on with the Nexus 7 ... And that one sprang to my eye ...

[LiamKerrington]

Now, that is kind of interesting. I received an e-mail by the suspicious Amazon-marketplace-dealer. The e-mail was bilingual, which is why I copy-paste the English version here. What do you think?

Scammer?
Hello,

All the products is brand new, EU version (not grey-market or refurbished), never been used, still sealed, unlocked. The products just had to be listed as ''used - like new'' because Amazon does not let us list it as new), comes with 24 months International warranty, receipt, all manufacturer supplied accessories. The total price including all shipping taxes.
If you want to buy send me exact model of product, full name and address and i will contact Amazon asap to process your order. Dispatch is by normal UPS Services which takes 2-5 days depending on where in the DEUTSCHLAND or UK you are. My return policy is full money back in 14 days.

Please let me know asap.

I did not alter the text in any way ...