Hi Everyone, havent posted much on here since im new to hotrods and taking it all in at the moment. I was recently scammed through an IG account and wanted to give everyone a heads up. my stupidity for doing a friends and family Paypal transfer but hopefully this helps others not get taken advantage of. The account goes by the name of "old_days_treasures" JAC..Slonina. He has a lot of cool stuff for sale like Divco wheels, E&J headlights, grills, etc. When you chat, he also seems to know a lot about the topic which fooled me. Also offers local pick up in San Fran which again made me believe it's real. Paid last week and then radio silent once he was supposed to ship it. Figured by today I must have got scammed. He probably deletes and blocks any negative comments I'm ***uming since the account has been around for a couple of years. Below is a screenshot. if he changes the name, at least you can see the stuff he has for sale and stay away from it. -Steve PS: I may as well ask on here if anyone actually has a pair of the repro aluminum Divco wheels they would be willing to sell since that was the original intent of this purchase.
****s you got scammed. I already had this guy on my blocked list so I must have thought something wasn't right at some point. It's always a red flag for me when none of the parts someone is selling have the same background. Tires sitting in front of different garage doors, parts sitting in a pickup bed, the next post the pickup bed isn't the same truck, that kind of thing.
Not sure why you wouldn't. There are a lot of legitimate sellers that only advertise there and if you follow them you get constant updates on stuff they have. You need to be careful, as you do buying from anyone you don't know, but it is a tool like any other.
Lots of legit sellers but on some things it might be advisable to use the HAMB network to see if there is anyone close enough to where said seller is to at least go take a look and take photos. I've gone out here in the valley and checked out something that a guy on another forum asked me to check for him.
Anyone insisting on "Friends and Family" is ALWAYS a scam. If the seller really doesn't want to pay the commission, you can mark it up to cover the %. He has a lot of nice pics, all stolen. Not unusual on Meta these days.
Right, there are no victims, only volunteers; pay attention and don't get stars in your eyes. I have had many good dealings on Instagram...
Well, in the OPs defense, he was put at ease with “you can pick them up…”. Now very well the seller/scammer knew the OPs location. This now, is where if you can’t drive there, find someone that can. That’s what I liked about local CL, bring cash and buy. But CL has seemed to spiral into a dealer of car stuff.
When buying...or selling. Instagram or any other social media place... I always do background checks.. pretty easy. Many people when selling have an ID marker on their items. another positive..... Thats how I do it and have never had a bad deal.... When I sell or buy.I just do research..... here..Instagram or any social media out let.
Some of those *****s will tell you their "location", but whenever I check them out, I always have an "uncle or brother in a town not too far away and can come and pay cash and pick it up for me". You then watch how quickly they back-pedal and need a deposit up front (with Paypal or some other internet paying ******** system), or they insist on sending it to you. Leave them hanging for a while, and they come crawling back saying that they can "ship it today after the payment comes through". I sometimes go along for the ride then tell them I have sent money through the normal Paypal and watch them flip and tell me to reverse the payment and mark it as "Friends or Family". I then tell them that "as a Police officer I cannot send it that way , as I know that you not in my family, and certainly not my friend."
Always, always, ALWAYS ask for another photo of the parts with something you specify in the frame to prove they at least have the parts. If possible an item that proves the date and location like a licence plate on a car or printed newspaper headline
I've bought and sold on instagram for a few years now, and I prefer F&F also. For me it started as a way to get away from the ebay fees that are getting out of control. That said, I've added a little extra to not do f&f if I had a funny feeling about it, and if someone wanted to cover the fees to buy something from me that's fine too.
I don’t do PayPal, but I suppose most of the good folks are using F and F to not have to pay taxes. Just happens that the bad folks also use it when scamming.
People want to use F&F to avoid paying the fees for using Paypal more than anything. They don't feel they should have to pay for a service they are using to run a business legitimate or not.
Most of the time you can scroll the account and see 23 different driveways, yards, and shops. Obvious tell sign it’s stollen photos. You can also click and see the accounts location, most of the scammers have Cameron listed and you can see how many times they’ve changed fed their name. 14 name changes= scam. there are some good parts pages on IG but there’s a ton of scams as well. Do your due diligence and you’ll see how obvious they are
I’ve seen my own stuff for sale on IG. They copied the ad from the guy who sold it to me. But it’s easy enough to use the secure option on PayPal
I don't think I read anyone suggest calling the seller or buyer to see if they're legit. I have sorted out a few scammer by asking for their phone number. They'll come up with all kinds of excuses to not talk on the phone. I did have who wanted me to text a number so I called instead and got a really bad connection and the only thing I could make out what he was saying is he ended every sentence with "bro!", couldn't understand any other word he said. When I told him he was a scammer he started accusing me of being a scammer. He was the guy who was offering the item for sale.
I've used Paypal for probably 15 years and haven't been scammed yet nor have I scammed anyone. I'm in Australia and have bought parts from the USA and the UK using Paypal without any complaints or problems. Paypal automatically does the currency exchange rate so I know what it's costing. Please don't lump everyone in the same basket just because they don't turn up to your door "with a hand full of greenbacks".
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