2. misc-audio
  3. 152009-110964

Beware: New (at least to me) scam being run on Audiogon members

First, let me say that Audiogon's swift response to my having notified them of the scam was exceptional. They immediately took down the scammer's account. The problem is that it could easily be repeated by this individual or anyone else at any time.

Yesterday, at the suggestion of a friend, I posted a WANTED post on USAudioMart for a very hard to find but relativity inexpensive item that I have unsuccessfully sought on Audiogon for almost a year. Within hours of posting there the scammer set up a new account on Audiogon and contacted me (I have the same user name on both sites) to offer me that very item. This person was knowledgeable enough to offer me the separate power supply by model number as well as the item I was seeking, which is scary in itself. The communication was very well spoken so there was nothing suspicious on its face. The time stamp on their communication incidentally indicated they were in the UK time zone, a fact Audiogon verified to me.

When I contacted Audiogon they were very pleased to be informed of this as they then discovered that the new "member" scammer had contacted 7 other Audiogon members with similar proposals. I want to point out that Audiogon responded to me in minutes of my reaching out to them through the normal website contact system. In this day and age of endless phone center number pressing to end up nowhere and automated email responses with "we'll get back to you within 72 hours" I found this to be very gratifying and commendable on Audiogon's part. 

I never see anyone comment on something else that I feel is worth mention that is separate but interesting to note in light of how this went down, so I will do so here. I have no idea how or why Greenville, SC was chosen or ended up being Audiogon's business location but, as someone who has spent a good deal of time there, I can honestly say that I know of no better location (I'm sure there are others as well) to find exceptional potential employees to hire. No regional bias. I live in AZ.

Thanks for listening.

Tony


skywachr
soundermn's avatar
soundermn
344 posts
 
Thanks for sharing, OP. I, for one, appreciate it. Sounds like it’s likely a scam. For those who doubt you, I bet it’ll be different when it’s their turn, and a stranger is asking for money.  
Due diligence, and if it has feathers, wings and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck. 
firberger's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
firberger
105 posts
 
+1soundermn 
`~~~ as suspicious as it gets .

Thank you Tony  and AGON  
khughes
90 posts
 
Maybe I'm missing something here, but IF this was legit, why wouldn't the "seller" have contacted the OP via USAM instead of creating a new acct here to do so? May have been legit, but for the most part if it smells fishy, it's a fish.
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,598 posts
 
Maybe I'm missing something here, but IF this was legit, why wouldn't the "seller" have contacted the OP via USAM instead of creating a new acct here to do so?


Especially when it costs the seller to use Audiogon but not US Audio Mart.
limomangus's avatar
limomangus
1,429 posts
 
There are people here who spend thousands of dollars extract for audio equipment, just because it's a status thing ,so what's a little loss on a scam.is it because they don't like to be scammed by a real scam artist....Please....But really good job getting these people....
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