Warning for the Polish collectors and buyers - a story by Moonracer

[Moonracer]

Ever since yesterday, I felt the need to post about this story - mostly because I know that some members on the Arena are from Poland, so this will serve as a cautionary tale of what can happen to those who are not careful about what they're buying.

A couple days ago I posted an ad to the Polish Gumtree, in search of some G4 brushables, mostly those from the first wave. A couple days after that, I recieved a reply to my email account from a woman who claimed to have said ponies and that she was willing to sell them to me. After swapping email messages back and forth, we eventually agreed on the final price, after which we decided to meet up, and that she'd handle me the ponies.

And so yesterday evening, just as we agreed, I went to a designanted spot to meet up with that woman. After waiting for a little while, instead of her, it was her sister who came (even though she said it would be her herself) carrying a bag inside of which was a cardboard box supposedly containing the ponies. All this time I was being extremely suspicious about the whole situation, especially since that woman was really reluctant to send me photos of the ponies, that I asked her for, claiming that she doesn't need to do so because I already have those posted in my "wanted" ad.

However, being the extremely cautious person that I am, I told the girl that first I wanted to inspect the contents of the box to make sure everything was okay, before I handle her the money. At this point the girl became a little nervous claiming that she was in a hurry - that right there was one of the red flags.

But still, I insisted that I'd open the bag in front of her to see if all was in the right place. So I opened the bag (it was closed by two pieces of tape) and then the cardboard box.

What I saw there stunned me, but also proved all my suspicions correct. Inside the box were two fakies, a Polish-German dictionary and a piece of cloth that appeared to be underwear.

So I looked back at the girl, and I calmly told her that what her sister did was very unfair towards me and that this was essentially a fraud. Then I handed the bag back to her and bid her farewell.

Good thing I inspected the bag's contents before I gave her the cash, otherwise I'd be left cold with no cash and some crappy useless stuff. Yeah, I guess it's still my fault, for falling for this in the first place and agreeing to meet up with that person, inspite of the obvious red flags, but what can you do?

In the end I sent a text back to that woman essentially repeating all that I've told her sister, plus telling her that if she wanted to scam someone, she chose the wrong person to do so.

She then replied with: "We'll see about that". And that's all I've heard from her.

So there you have it - a cautionary tale by yours truly.

If the mods agree, I can also post some additional information about that person (mostly an email address) just so that others may know who to avoid.

[ponylady]

Thank goodness you stuck to your guns and inspected the contents. What a very, very sneaky and devious person. 

If you would like to send me her personal information, so we have it on record that would be great. Since we do not allow personal information(such as email address's and real names) get posted on a public thread.

 

[Moonracer]

Yeah, I know right?

I try to be really, really cautious about these things - especially when I'm making deals with people who sell things outside of auction sites. This is essentially the first instant when I was close to getting scammed.

Sometime ago I also had this situation, where I came upon an ad for signature Holt Hyde. But once I phoned the person who posted it, it turned out to be some dumb, bored teenaged girl who only posted this ad to have people phone her, so then she could make some stupid pervy comments on the other side of the phone.

Ugh...

Anyway, sent you a PM in regards to that lady. Like I said: I hope this helps, and prevents others from getting scammed.

[xeevee]

You know, I'd report her to the police if I were you.  That is a well known scam called the pig in the poke.  While I don't know Polish law, I would think the police would like to hear about it so they can keep an eye out for her.

[Moonracer]

xeevee, yeah I know what you mean. I've heard of such cases like that before: there's been this one incident in particular where a guy was supposedly selling expensive cell-phones for, essentially peantus. Upon opening the packages, however, the people who but stuff from him discovered that the boxes were full of... potatoes.

I actually considered reporting the whole incident to the police, but since no crime really took place, since I didn't pay the girl in the end, I dropped that idea. But I might reconsider doing it, if only to prevent further scams from happening, at the hands of this woman.

[amazonarabian]

Wow!  What a shady character!  I'm so glad you listened to your gut and didn't let her scam you.  Some people are just awful.     I'm so sorry you wasted your time and had to deak with such a d-bag.