"to good to be true?"

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bigman1

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Hi,folks,if you google "popiana indo store"you will find an online shop based in indonesia that will sell you a range of top class outboards at unbelievable prices an example a 20hp parsun long shaft elec.start for $1330 or approx.£800,they also sell yam.suzi. honda ect. at slightly higher prices,what made me suspicious was that they dont take credit cards,you have to put the item in their basket then they email you to pay by wire transfer or bank transfer or western union by the way the prices are post paid a friend said to offer them payment by escrow if they dont take that walk away,what do you guys or gals think.Ronnie.
 
If you send them any money, that will be the last you see of it !, Its a money making scam as the payment methods they are asking for are irreversible and untraceable
 
PCUK said:
There's absolutely nothing dodgy about Paypal otherwise companies like Argos wouldn't use it!!
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It's dodgy in a sense, in that it's known for arbitrarily deciding to freeze, or take money from, people's accounts there, with little real recourse or oversight. But I agree it's unlikely to be used in scams, for precisely that reason (return money to customers first, ask questions (or not) later).

Pete
 
PCUK said:
There's absolutely nothing dodgy about Paypal otherwise companies like Argos wouldn't use it!!
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Paypal is OK as long as you are aware of the rules it operates under, and follow those rules. An awful lot of Paypal transactions are NOT protected; specifically, ones made direct to an email address, or for services or physical objects outside a tightly constrained list (I'm pretty sure an outboard motor would NOT be covered). A payment to Argos would be OK; Argos is a reputable company, and you trust them to deliver goods according to their catalogue descriptions. But the point is that it is Argos you trust, not Paypal, and in the event of Argos not delivering or a disputed purchase, Paypal would not give you the assistance you would expect from a credit card payment. Paypal has a special relationship with eBay, so Paypal payments for eBay purchases (made via the eBay or PayPal web-sites - NOT directly to an email address) are protected, but still not as well as a credit card payment.

The fraudwatcher web-site referenced above gives chapter and verse!
 
SvenglishTommy said:
Anything that requests money by wire transfer, western union or PayPal is a scam.
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Unfortunately (?) it is not as simple as that. Requestinga advsnce payment by wire transfer is the standard business practice in most international B2B transactions, at least when doing business with Asia.

So to buy something cheap from Asia, you often have to pay in advance and this is no indication of if the business is serious or not.
 
wotayottie said:
Its American and based in a tax haven and effectively beyond UK law and UK financial services regulator. That makes it a scam in my book.
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In that case you have an exceptionally broad definition of "scam".

I agree there's a little more risk in using PayPal than a credit card, but that's not the same thing as an attempt to steal from you by deceit.

Pete
 
Too good to be true - a strategy...

A friend found a website ( http://www.ahappydeal.com )
Seemed too good to be true so he ordered a $10 memory stick on the basis that if it didn't arrive he wouldn't be too upset.
"Blow me down" he said, "it arrived the following week as advertised!!"
So he ordered an android tablet for US$108 plus P&P and that also arrived as advertised.

So I ordered one. Paid through Paypal. Had a an email from them a few days later saying
"where is payment?" Alarm bells rang but i sent them Paypal receipt, they said "sorry admin error" and my android tablet arrived a couple of days later.

Now, it is not the best build quality and screen is obviously not a Samsung Galaxy, but for the price, it all works as it should, including the
External GPS Aerial which found and locked on to satellites and position faster than my Garmin does.
I have loaded Open CPN for Android ($NZ9.98) and NZ Charts(free), and all no problem.
So for less than 100 squids i have a colour GPS plotter that runs off 5 volts - and gets (wifi)internet and is a serviceable e-reader. (Not to mention other apps)
Remains to be seen how long it lasts, but for the price i am rather impressed.

Anyway point is i would have been dubious about the site without proof.
My friends strategy of first buying something insignificant seems sound.
A straight out scam probably wont have systems in place to efficiently deliver something of trivial value.(Unless they read this email!)

Good luck.
 
John the kiwi said:
My friends strategy of first buying something insignificant seems sound.
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The technique of first selling a lot of cheap items fairly to build up a reputation, before stealing the money on a big item, is well known sadly. It's particularly common on eBay where the reputation ("Feedback") is explicitly counted.

Not that I'm suggesting this is the case with the site you linked to - I might even end up buying something there myself.

Pete
 
prv said:
The technique of first selling a lot of cheap items fairly to build up a reputation, before stealing the money on a big item, is well known sadly. It's particularly common on eBay where the reputation ("Feedback") is explicitly counted.
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But that technique is to first sell a lot of cheap (or expensive but low priced) items fairly to everyone and then suddenly change to sell more expensive items without delivering anything to anyone.

The case described in the previous post was to order something cheap from the store first to see if it is ok and then order something more expensive if everything turns out well.

It is not at all the same scenarios...
 
prv said:
In that case you have an exceptionally broad definition of "scam".

I agree there's a little more risk in using PayPal than a credit card, but that's not the same thing as an attempt to steal from you by deceit.

Pete
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Perhaps 'steal' is not exactly the right word. But they will do anything they can to hold any transaction as long as they can. After dealing with this several times, I am 100% convinced that this has nothing to do with security and everything to do with PayPal having a huge amount of other people's money on hold. I am certain this is part of their business model.

They currently have £30 of mine which I will never get back. They fall into the scam category in my definition.
 
Paypal putting disputed transactions on hold certainly isn't what I'd define as a scam. Lord knows, I've had my run-ins with them, and had my share of frozen transactions/disputed payments, but disagreeing with their implementation of their rules doesn't make it a scam, any more than disputing my bank's unfair charges. I don't like them, I don't agree with them, I think they're profoundly unfair, but I don't think they're a fraudulent attempt to steal from me.

Actually, give me a moment to think about that... :rolleyes:

John the kiwi said:
Open CPN for Android ($NZ9.98)
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Wossat then? Have I missed something?
 
Reptile Smile said:
Paypal putting disputed transactions on hold certainly isn't what I'd define as a scam
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Its a complete scam in my opinion, they are making a fortune from interest on retained money, have apparently put businesses out of business by holding payroll money, and had to move their offices from the UK to Luxemburg where the slacker finance laws allow them continue to trade dubiously. I had to approach the European Courts and involve the Financial Ombudsman before I got money back from them. I don't touch them with a bargepole anymore.

check out paypalsucks dot com

... Fizz
 
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