Is this a scam? Help! at DVinfo.net

Shane Miesse · January 17th, 2005, 03:55 PM

Hey i was on amazon.com and found a guy selling a used canon xl1s for like $1,100 . Well he talked about a company kind of like escrow called TNT and he took the package to them and they hold it, then i go to western union and do the funds that way then i contact TNT, they verify the funds, then send me the package, does this sound wierd? what should i do to insure that i dont get scammed, if anyone has any info please let me know ASAP, has anyone heard of TNT before?

Rhett Allen · January 17th, 2005, 04:06 PM

DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK!

You can't believe anything anyone else says, it's not their money. Look at the sellers feedback, look at other resellers and see what the camera is selling for. Look up TNT for yourself and see if you can talk to them. If you can't find any information about them forget it.

My gut feeling is that you are about to be $1,100 poorer with no camera.

A quick search on Google yielded a few discussions from ebay asking this EXACT question. The reply was that it is a scam!

p.s. If it feels like a scam, it probably is.

Robert Crawford · January 17th, 2005, 09:10 PM

A few months ago I stumbled across a similar "deal" for a GL2 on Amazon's "marketplace". I emailed the person listing it asking if it was for-real -- they answered back quickly, but also pulled the listing off Amazon. They also had some sort of escrow company they wanted to use, but I couldn't find ANYTHING about them anywhere.

Of course, the "seller" was moving to Europe, needed to sell quickly, etc.

A little digging turned up reports of scammers creating sites for fake escrow companies.

Shane Miesse · January 17th, 2005, 09:26 PM

thanks i got outta that one

Dylan Couper · January 18th, 2005, 02:49 AM

Better safe than scammed! You dodged that one Shane.

Rob Lohman · January 18th, 2005, 10:49 AM

wasn't "western union" a callsign for SCAM basically?

Dylan Couper · January 18th, 2005, 12:51 PM

Generaly, yes, that's one of the biggest ones.

Also, there are a lot of fake Escrow companies out there as well that these tools set up.

January 17th, 2005, 03:55 PM	#1
Shane Miesse Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 25	Is this a scam? Help! Hey i was on amazon.com and found a guy selling a used canon xl1s for like $1,100 . Well he talked about a company kind of like escrow called TNT and he took the package to them and they hold it, then i go to western union and do the funds that way then i contact TNT, they verify the funds, then send me the package, does this sound wierd? what should i do to insure that i dont get scammed, if anyone has any info please let me know ASAP, has anyone heard of TNT before?

January 17th, 2005, 09:26 PM	#4
Shane Miesse Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 25	Thanks thanks i got outta that one

January 18th, 2005, 02:49 AM	#5
Dylan Couper Wrangler Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia Posts: 8,314	Better safe than scammed! You dodged that one Shane. __________________ Need to rent camera gear in Vancouver BC? Check me out at camerarentalsvancouver.com

January 18th, 2005, 10:49 AM	#6
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	wasn't "western union" a callsign for SCAM basically? __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

January 18th, 2005, 12:51 PM	#7
Dylan Couper Wrangler Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia Posts: 8,314	Generaly, yes, that's one of the biggest ones. Also, there are a lot of fake Escrow companies out there as well that these tools set up. __________________ Need to rent camera gear in Vancouver BC? Check me out at camerarentalsvancouver.com

January 17th, 2005, 04:06 PM	#2
Rhett Allen Major Player Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Plano, TX Posts: 607	DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK! You can't believe anything anyone else says, it's not their money. Look at the sellers feedback, look at other resellers and see what the camera is selling for. Look up TNT for yourself and see if you can talk to them. If you can't find any information about them forget it. My gut feeling is that you are about to be $1,100 poorer with no camera. A quick search on Google yielded a few discussions from ebay asking this EXACT question. The reply was that it is a scam! p.s. If it feels like a scam, it probably is.

January 17th, 2005, 09:10 PM	#3
Robert Crawford Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 33	A few months ago I stumbled across a similar "deal" for a GL2 on Amazon's "marketplace". I emailed the person listing it asking if it was for-real -- they answered back quickly, but also pulled the listing off Amazon. They also had some sort of escrow company they wanted to use, but I couldn't find ANYTHING about them anywhere. Of course, the "seller" was moving to Europe, needed to sell quickly, etc. A little digging turned up reports of scammers creating sites for fake escrow companies.