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

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#23

Sad truth is, even PayPal’s buyer protection won’t prevent you from getting scammed…bought an OP-1 a few years ago via eBay Kleinanzeigen for 850€ from a seller in Berlin. Seller claimed it to be in perfect condition. I paid with PayPal. But it was totally screwed, even one of the buttons was missing. I immediately withdrew my transaction by calling my bank account manager, contacted the seller who apologized and claimed he just sold the device for a friend of him. I sent him the OP-1 back.
But then PayPal came at me and told me I didn’t have the right to withdraw the transaction without opening a “buyer protection conflict ticket” at their support and they put a minus of 850€ in my PayPal account until the conflict was solved as they said.
So I opened a ticket, thinking everything would work out fine because the seller and I agreed about the faulty OP-1. That’s why I wrote in the ticket’s free form that we already solved the conflict, that I had sent back the device and that I withdrew the transaction so nobody owed anything anymore. But what resulted is that PayPal closed the case with the minus 850€ STAYING in my account!!! Seems like there was some kind of misunderstanding, but their support told me it’s not possible to reopen closed cases at all. DANG!
I finally contacted the seller to send me my money back because the 850€ were now in HIS PayPal account, but he simply didn’t react and blocked me on WhatsApp…what an A***hole! I even tried to file him with a lawyer, but this would have been more expensive than the 850€…so there I was, no OP-1 and 850 bucks less

…holy sh*t, that is still making me angry while writing it down here!

5 Likes
#24

This. PayPal F&F offers no buyer protection. If you see someone selling something with Friends and Family, run away.

#25

Bank transfer, yup. Bank is already contacted, and going to the cops tomorrow.

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#26

Man, I feel your pain. Boiling blood over here as well.
Thanks to a decent insurance I can take a lawyer and I guess I’ll do that. Going to the cops first thing tomorrow, then lawyer time. We’ll see.

1 Like
#27

This is a brutal story, good luck dude, I have a feeling that you’ll be successful!!! My bet is that I’ll be reading a follow up post about how much you like your OTII in a few weeks once you find a reputable seller and get your cash back.

3 Likes
#28

Thanks for the positive vibes, appreciated! Definitely gonna post a follow-up once I know what’s up.
And I already gave in and ordered a new OTII even though that means I am broke for this month as early as the 8th. That’s a new record… but the music commands me, and I have to obey :wink:

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#29

Sorry to read that man, truly sucks especially in these times! I did notice quite a few fake ads on Ebay Kleinanzeigen lately (too good to be true offerings, they are on for a while - often too long for the money they are asking - and at one point Ebay sends a msgs warning of that post having potentially been a scam which means that by then at least one person got burned).

I got robbed of 900€ for an RME UFX 2/3 years ago. The whole thing seemed a bit sketchy to my wife (not me though), so she had me ask them for a photo of the device together with their ID card (Personalausweis)…which they actually provided.

The wild thing was that that ID was real, the bank account I wired to was on that name - but later the police told me that the person on that ID had been a victim of identity theft. I did hear that people sometimes get paid to offer up their identity for these scams, so the rabbit hole goes deep.

And of course the account was closed shortly after I wired (was a Postbank account, apparently they are used often for this), and my bank (DB) refused to trace back / recall the transfer as I made it using one of my verification methods (PIN/Mobile TAN etc).

I was very upset for a while then I realised that I had already paid for this lesson in cash and that I shouldn’t add my spiritual and emotional health to the bill and so finally decided to let it go and just move on (the police was exactly of zero help also).

Lesson learned: pay by PayPal (vendor) or if you must wire, use your Credit Card instead, cause that’s retrievable no problem.

Here’s to hoping that you will get something back from this!

x

5 Likes
#30

Hi vvlv,

I don’t own any elektron gear these days, but had to register for this thread.

I got robbed by the same person on ebay Kleinanzeigen too. In the same way…

I made a transfer on 28th June to buy Moog Grandmother. Today I asked “her” to give me an update on the damaged shipment and “she” started communicating in a completely different way, giving short meaningless responses and at the end insulting me in a very petty way.

Maybe we can somehow coordinate our moves towards the s***bag?
Where are you based? I live in Berlin.
I already reported the situation to my bank N26 and also to ebay-Kleinanzeigen. Don’t know about the police yet, since my German is not very good…

Cheers!

5 Likes
#31

Hey
I was just reading this and I think I got scammed by the same person. It would be good if we could get in touch. Please text me on Instagram: maaiikes

4 Likes
#32

But you did a wire transfer to a bank account, right?
So technically the bank should have all her details, you should go to the police and than the bank.

The biggest scam are with Western Union- those are impossible to track as you don’ t beed a bank account to cash the payment

#33

Yes! Everybody get together that has dealt with this ‘person’. Someone call Anonymous to really dox and screw these scammers over :yellow_heart:

#34

I can tell you a story too.

A few weeks back I bought a quite cheap Nintendo Switch from ebay. It was a commercial seller – I paid with paypal – it was too good to be true, I knew that. But I thought … well … only 10 left!!! Better be quick! :smiley: So yeah … it was a hacked account.

Then both my ebay and my paypal account got suspended.

It was a nightmare after that. I knew I get my money back. But still. To get the money back I had to make a lot of phone calls. There are no people involved in Paypals hotline. Not even after desperately trying to in the voice menu. It is not possible. So much time wasted waiting for the darn robot. They read out your hole buy history …sloooowly… you can’t even use the number pad – you have to fucking talk to the robot. It was humiliating!

All I can say: Scammers have it really easy with ebay + paypal. They get a lot of time to clear the money. Paypal was not reacting at all. They could have frozen the money immediately (I was calling ebay and tried to contact paypal just a few minutes after ebay send me a scam warning). But it’s all automated – no customer interaction wanted/allowed.

Eventually I got my money back – after 7 weeks. In every form I had to fill out with paypal I said it’s a scam and told them the story with proof. They just don’t care.

So … if a price is too good to be true … it’s too good to be true.

4 Likes
#35

Yes, it was bank to bank transfer.
I already sent a request for investigation at N26. My biggest concern is that I confirmed the transfer to the scammer’s account and I (really) hope that N26 deals with this type of frauds. Also, I don’t have much experience with it, so any info is appreciated.

#36

Hey,
Can we get in contact? I got scammed by the same person and I also transferred from an N26 bank account.

#37

I bought a tempest on eBay £1100 , never showed up, got my money back off them but won’t buy on ebay again for expensive items. These scammers are scum, I only use elektronauts now and buy and sell from people I trust with selling history.

#38

Not that it matters now, but I’m reminded of a Bill Burr quote that always stuck with me when making purchases. To paraphrase he basically says always use your credit card because in the event of an issue it’s their money so they’ll work more to get it back. With a debit card it’s on you because it’s directly linked to your bank account so the bank is less inclined to work to get it back. I honestly don’t know how true that is but I try to adhere to that as it rings true to me. I really hope you get your money back and those scammers get their karmic come uppins’

1 Like
#40

I will say this is the opposite of my experience. I had someone at PayPal (or Ebay idr) tell me over the phone that it was too late for them to do anything and I’d have to contact my bank/credit card person.

#41

I only, ONLY use my credit card on the internet. Not a single place I buy from has my debit/checking info. PayPal is tied to my checking so that when people pay me it goes there, but everything I buy is with credit card.

Plus you get 1% cash back on all purchases so it’s nice…

2 Likes
#42

Am I the only one who thinks it’s weird that as a result of this post two new accounts within the same hour both magically found this thread online and used the same bank and were scammed by the same person allegedly?

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#43

fishy for real

1 Like