Octatrack MK2 SCAM on eBay Kleinanzeigen! My story and a warning!

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

So… I just got robbed for 850€ when trying to buy an Octotrack MKII !

(Posted this on FB in the Elektron group and the wonderful Craig Hitchings reminded me to post this here as well, as a warning: if you’re currently browsing for music gear on eBay Kleinanzeigen, be VERY careful and maybe read my story)

Long story short: bought it off eBay Kleinanzeigen (think German Craigslist) and it seemed VERY legit. They said they’d prefer someone to pick it up, but sold it to me and I got a DHL tracking number as well and their phone number and we talked on WhatsApp. On transit the package got damaged (according to DHL, who I contacted like 5 times, because the package was on its way for over 2 weeks) and was supposedly sent back. Then it said it couldn’t be delivered to the sender. I contacted “her” again and she said she called DHL and she could pick it up on Wednesday (today) and then send it per Express to finally get it done with. All the time she was very responsive, super friendly, had pictures of the gear, sent me a copy of the DHL sticker and even a private selling contract.

So when I messaged “her” (who knows) today, asking if she picked it up, she suddenly started to insult me, in a rather primitive style, told me I had my chance, should fuck off and that she’s not even in Germany, then blocked me…

So yeah, now I guess I gotta go to the police and bank (yes, it was a bank transfer, not PayPal… checked the account, it’s a German one and everything about it seemed very legit, up until the insults and the blocking).

If you wanna give it a go and see if you can find out anything that I couldn’t : +49 17_redacted_31 is the number, the supposed name was Ja_redacted_el. Full address is on the contract and DHL sticker but who knows if it’s real).

Just fucking awesome. In 25 years of making music and 15 years of eBay and online buying/selling gear this is the first time something like that has happened to me and I am f’ing devastated because that is crazy much money for me and sets me back like a f’ing lot. Wow. Just wow…

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#2

Thanks for sharing. It’s important to put the word out when these assholes rip off genuine musicians. Sorry to hear your story!

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#3

I feel stupid for not using PayPal but this is just so vile and I am so upset over this. Really sets me back, I can’t easily afford a purchase like that. Disgusted by these scammers.

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#4

It can happen to anyone. I hope you manage to recover your money somehow and pick up another OT :yellow_heart:

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#5

Hi! Got scammed last year on Kleinanzeigen as well.
Would you mind if I share my story later?

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#6

Go for it.

#7

I’ve been scammed before and my bank was able to take care of it. A guy sold me some plugins and I paid with paypal friends and family (which means paypal isn’t responsible for it or something? and you can’t file a complaint with them). well it turns out they were all 100% pirated and he didn’t actually transfer any licenses or anything. So I contacted my bank and filed a claim. They told me that because they didn’t catch the money transfer in time they would have to take the money out of this guy’s bank and that makes me pretty happy…Knowing he woke up one morning and poof the money he scammed out of me was just gone :slight_smile:

It was all resolved pretty quickly, too. Like maybe within a week or so? I’m sure you’ll be fine.

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#8

Thing is, as happy as I am for you and how it worked out, I kinda doubt I’ll be as lucky.
Just started talking to someone who got scammed by the same person. Stolen ID, purposely damaged packaging so DHL won’t deliver it, this is really professional scamming and I am very sure, that bank account is gone or has some fake ID behind it…

#9

Damn dude I’m sorry…How can someone just “disappear” a bank account? If you did direct transfer to their bank?

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#10

this reminds me of the time my wife sold gift certificates on eBay. shipped them but the buyer asked for the codes via email anyway. big mistake giving those up! the delivery address was fake. buyer used the codes online immediately. then tried to return the items in the physical store for cash. then claimed the physical cards were never delivered. it was actually a pretty big scam the buyer had going. wife was refunded the money (the address the buyer gave was registered to the paypal account, then quickly changed after shipment; that’s where they screwed up) eventually, and I believe the store pressed criminal charges against the buyer as well. managers and security and store cameras involved. huge mess!

gotta be so careful online. have to just assume everyone is out to screw you. it sucks.

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#11

Trust no one.

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#13

I can’t for the life of me understand people that do

#14

Sorry for you and the girls stolen ID. This is really devastating for sure.

Did you try to contact your bank? Don‘t know when you did the transfer, but there might be some possibility still to get the money back. Besides, I would try to contact also the target bank. They might consider to stop the transaction, if you can prove it is a scam.

Minimum is to go to the police and get a record of what happened.

Man, I hope that karma‘s gonna get that punk.

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#16

I did contact my bank (this all happened just a few hours ago) but I couldn’t reach the target bank. Will do that tomorrow and go to the police. Since I have insurance, I will even take a lawyer to get back at that f’ing punk. Don’t know if there’s still a chance but I will make sure to try my best. Thanks for the kind words everyone! Appreciated.

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#17

can I suggest you blackout the girls face if you are posting up a pic.

if that was me id not be happy with it being shared.

rubbish to have that happen and helpful for others to not take too much of a risk…

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#18

@vvlv so sorry this happened to you.
No intending to hijack your thread, if you say so, I’ll move my post to another thread.

So, almost the same scam happened to me early in 2019.
I have found an Analog Heat on Ebay Kleinanzeigen and decided to buy it, especially when its price dropped from 700 to 580 euros.

First, a little introduction.
I am Romanian, and have gotten used to people being a little cautious when dealing with my people. I mean, I know all to well some of us don’t have a good reputation abroad and/or online. So persuading people to send stuff over is sometimes hard or impossible.
That said, when the seller agreed to send it to Romania, I was thrilled. I wired the money immediately, then waited for her to respond over Kleinanzeigen and/or Whatsapp messenger.

Needless to say she or they never responded.
In a few days I’ve gotten round the fact that it was a scam and my hypothesis true: that person was victim of identity theft.

I have filled a complaint with the Heilbronn police department and was with someone over the phone and email. Then filled a complaint over to the N26 bank in Germany, where their account was. The bank never responded besides a copy/pasted response and never blocked that account, not to say I’ve never received ANY money back.

From the police and city council of Heilbronn, Germany, I got some papers, a result of a trial that was held, which resulted that the person whose Kleinanzeigen account was, was not guilty of anything and just the victim of identity theft.

And that concluded this adventure.

Bitter and sad, I made an account on this forum, and persuaded a person to send me his AK. Paid with Paypal, covered fees and shipping and there it was, a week later, my first Elektron machine.

To conclude: don’t trust Ebay Kleinanzeigen, don’t fully trust Ebay, only if the person seems legit and can answer questions with details about the product, NEVER send money through anything else than PayPal, and if possible ask to have a video conference with the seller ahowing you the goods. Oh yeah, and safeguard your documents, online accounts, credit details etc.

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#19

Even then, DONT use paypal friends and family. The money gets to the seller VERY quickly and Paypal isn’t responsible for it. If you find out it’s a scam a day or two later, it’s already too late and now your bank/credit card company has to take care of it, not ebay/paypal.

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#20

You’re right. Valid point.

#21

All info relating to the Identity of the supposed seller (who may be another innocent victim) have been redacted, that info could well be fake or stolen

It’s possible that the info could be useful to share with another affected party, but disclosing it into the web when there’s no way to prove that the details relate to the scammer is best avoided

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#22

You did a bank transfer right?

Go to police, than go to the bank

They should refund yoU

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