I been following a Jet on Ebay, A nice MB33 with a p120 jetcat all servo's, 8411's, 10 channel JR PCM RX, BVM wheels and brakes and more. I contacted the seller that has a "0" rating with some questions. After 3 days he responded to me saying that he took the jet off ebay cause he moved to Spain. OOOO K here it is, I can have the complete jet with all mentiond above for $1500 shipped and insured. I can inspect the jet first. The way I can inspect the jet first was to send $1500 to a company called "monebookers" in London. They are on the internet with a website. Once the money is sent,he will ship the jet to me for inspection. If I agree with it I contact Moneybookers and they will release the $1500 to Mario. (The person I been dealing with) This is just one of those stories that are too good to be true. I tried to see if he would accept paypal and his response was that he just moved to Spain and did not have a bank account. Whats your opinion,,, Did I lose out on a "GREAT" deal or did I just save $1500. Please say I just saved $1500,,, This is the time of the year for scams



Hoss

You are so very lucky!!! That is a scam if I've ever heard one. Take your $1500 and buy a new one from SM. Apparently they are on sale and I'm sure Eric will treat you right.

Raf

If it looks like a duck and smells like a duck, it is a duck.

You did the right thing!

Merry Christmas!

Bob

Scam 4 sure.

of course it's a scam.

be careful because there is a ring of these guys right here on RCU as well.
They have hit me with every story under the sun.

The last one was a guy that wanted my bank info so he could wire me the cash, plus an extra $500 for my trouble.
Wow what a swell guy.

They are relentless.

I think you saved $1000.00. Don't know if it is a scam, but the 'no bank account' + sending the money to a third party sounds like a lot of hoops to jump though for some reason.

Website doesn't mean that it is necessarily a legitimate outfit - the cost would be easily offset by a few $1000.00 dollar deals (1 in fact).

Also - if I were the seller - I wouldn't do this, you could easily say "the jet is no good" and refuse payment and keep the jet - so I don't think a legitimate seller would take that chance - not that you would have done this.

Dennis

Do you have any airline miles saved up? Tell "Mario" that you'd like to come to Spain on a short vacation with the intention of instecting the plane personally.

Lots of neat stuff to see in Spain besides a jet. Your wife/girlfriend/whatever will enjoy it, too.

See if "Mario" will welcome you with open arms or make an excuse as to why he can't show you the plane (you don't really have to go...just SAY you're going).

BTW...We KNOW it's a scam but it could be entertaining to string "Mario" along.

From what I can make out moneybookers is a legitimate site with, apparantly according to Wikipedia, 2.4 million users. It also appers to be an accepted form of payment from ebay (according to Wikipedia again).

This form of 'escrow' transaction is one way of protecting both parties as the seller does not get the funds unless certain circumstances are met.

That being said, $1500 for all that seems a bit odd. There is something fishy but I'm not 100% convinced it is a scam.

This may be legitimate. I think it is Mario Tavarez. He is a genuine jet guy. But years ago, he bid for and won a RAM 750F that I was selling on eBay, then he decided he did not want it (after the end of the auction). Left me holding the bag. Great guy!

If you know anyone in Spain you can trust, get them to check it out & do the deal for you.

Regards

Jim

LOL! Yeah, string em along! I might just go poke around ebay and see if I can find me some fun too....

I was following that too... I noticed that it had been pulled off of ebay..

Now what do you think.........the following is a series of e-mails I received from from Mario yesterday.

(1st one he sent me)

!QUOT!Hi

My MB339 Turbine Jet P120 RTF is not on ebay anymore but is still available for sale. My usual schedule was modified because I have to take care of some business, so I had to go to Spain and that's why I have closed the auction.
My final price for the plane is $1,500.00 including all the shipping costs and insurance.
I must add that you'll have the opportunity to inspect the item before you actually pay for it.
I will wait for your email to let me know if you are interested in knowing more details about the purchase.
Thanks and sorry for delay
Mario!QUOT!

(Second one he sent me, when I asked why he was selling so cheep)

Hi

I'm forced to sell it at this price because I have some financial problems and I need the money. I must find a buyer ASAP.
If you are interested I want to make the transaction thru Moneybookers. This way you will have the opportunity to inspect the jet before you actually pay for it. I'm saying this because you will have a maximum 14 days inspection period. You will send the money to Moneybookers and they will keep the money for us. As soon as Moneybookers has the money I'll ship the plane to you.
Moneybookers releases funds to the Seller once the inspection period has passed without the Buyer requesting cancellation of the transaction and upon Moneybookers verification of the transaction information. The inspection period is agreed to by both the Buyer and the Seller and commences once the Buyer has received the items. Funds are released to the Seller the same or next business day after completion of the transaction and upon verification by Internet Moneybookers Services.
As soon as I have your full name and also your full shipping address I will open a case at Moneybookers and they will give you step by step details on how to proceed with the deal and to make the payment.
Thanks
Mario


(Here is the third one he send me when I told him I thought is price was too low for such a fine aircraft and I would offer twice his asking price to see what he would do next)


Hi

If you want to offer me $3000 I'll not refuse you. All I want is a fast deal.
Thanks
Mario

(here is the last one he sent me after I offered to drive to see it and give him double the money in cash)

Can't do because as I told you right now I'm in Spain.
Thanks
Mario


I responded and said I could wait until he returned from Spain... guess what, no answer after that!!!!

Fraud or NO Fraud , that is the question....Well I can tell you I don't have any questions at all.

Oh, by the way, the photos he had posted and the additional photos he sent me are right from RCU, this jet was recently listed, what is this guy thinking????
Does he really believe people are that stupid?


http://www.rcuniverse.com/market/item.cfm?itemId=228806

My buddy contacted the real owner and he also contacted e-bay, this is why the listing was pulled by E-Bay not by Mario....

It is really unfortunate that there are scum sucker like this trying to rip off people in our hobby, and its Christmas time to boot.

HEY................RCISFUN............. I got the SAME DAMN EMAIL Now I'm sure It's a scam. I can forward the same email "Word for word" From Mario. Don't no if it means anything but his time of reply was Pasific standard time. Does this mean that he is on the west coast of the states??? Not Spain?? Thanks guys for all the responses, I hope no one gets caught up in this mess.

Happy Holidays Guys
Hoss

yeah would be fun if you can ip track that email and see where he really is

I told you!!!


Hey maybe some one should look into what woketman said..

Raf

I got this guys Email Address [email protected] Mabe we all could ALL send him a Christmas greeting......... He sure tried to rip off a couple of us. Make it ATTN. Mario

Hoss

As for "stringing him along"...check out www.scamorama.com
Hilarious reading.

One of the bad things about these scams is that it makes it more difficult to do business with honest people.

I think everyone should send Mario Christmas greetings

I am surprised the moderators have not erased this thread. Every time we try to alert our fellow jet pilots about thieves and scam artists, they seem to pull the thread as fast as possible. I guess we are not allowed to protect ourselves against thieves on this forum. Instead, the thieves are protected. Nice work, RCU.

I think they erase it when it ceases to be on subject and productive and starts to become a RCU bash.

This one gets to stay as it came from Ebay Scott