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.