Scammer: Steve David

[Suzu]

I was contacted off-forum by a Steve David of Essex, United Kingdom.

He was responding to my WTB post. I was searching for an Orient Star Classic watch.

I asked for a photo, and he sent me one. It was an FD, and I told him that I was not interested in an FD, but was looking for an EL. Now, then he said that he also had an EL and would sell it to me for the same price. He then sent me a series of photos of an EL.

It was at this moment that my suspicion was aroused. First of all, not only was it an EL, it was a WZ0101EL. Only 500 copies were made, so surely it would not be priced the same as an older FD. Second of all, I had seen these photos in the past. They were posted by kew in another forum.

Apparently, the man Googled the watch, then stuck a fake timestamp in the corner (a shoddy job, since the pictures were not in a standard resolution and the stamp was placed in the upper right as opposed to the lower right corner in black font).

In any case, I tried to pry a reference and his personal information out of him. He gave me a reference: An Italian man by the name of Emilio Calos. Naturally, he also had a GMail.com account (as opposed to a GMail.it account). A quick Google search revealed that a man by that name had been reported for scamming in the past.

After that, I tried to force his hand: Either reveal your personal information or he would have to send the watch to me and be paid when it arrives. Obviously, he refused, even after I said that I was able to furnish my own proof of identity. In any case, he insisted on me using Western Union to send a one-way money transfer. I refused, and he's been a ghost ever since.

In summary: Do not trust a Steve David or Emilio Calos. Never send money without knowing who the seller is.

[Conky]

I was contacted off-forum by a Steve David of Essex, United Kingdom.

He was responding to my WTB post. I was searching for an Orient Star Classic watch.

I asked for a photo, and he sent me one. It was an FD, and I told him that I was not interested in an FD, but was looking for an EL. Now, then he said that he also had an EL and would sell it to me for the same price. He then sent me a series of photos of an EL.

It was at this moment that my suspicion was aroused. First of all, not only was it an EL, it was a WZ0101EL. Only 500 copies were made, so surely it would not be priced the same as an older FD. Second of all, I had seen these photos in the past. They were posted by kew in another forum.

Apparently, the man Googled the watch, then stuck a fake timestamp in the corner (a shoddy job, since the pictures were not in a standard resolution and the stamp was placed in the upper right as opposed to the lower right corner in black font).

In any case, I tried to pry a reference and his personal information out of him. He gave me a reference: An Italian man by the name of Emilio Calos. Naturally, he also had a GMail.com account (as opposed to a GMail.it account). A quick Google search revealed that a man by that name had been reported for scamming in the past.

After that, I tried to force his hand: Either reveal your personal information or he would have to send the watch to me and be paid when it arrives. Obviously, he refused, even after I said that I was able to furnish my own proof of identity. In any case, he insisted on me using Western Union to send a one-way money transfer. I refused, and he's been a ghost ever since.

In summary: Do not trust a Steve David or Emilio Calos. Never send money without knowing who the seller is.

Good job here. The best way to really protect yourself is to not ever send money by wire of any kind.

Could you post the phony Pics please? I'd like to see the fake timestamp.

[Suzu]

What method do you prefer? Paypal? eBay transaction for an additional layer of security?

Anyhow, here are the pictures. Note that the timestamp colors change (and are fuzzy, which is not characteristic of a camera-generated image) and that the scam pictures are not sized to standard resolutions (meaning they were cropped or resized beforehand).

Scam:


Original:


Scam:


Original:

[Ozy]

What a scumbag...well done with this.

[Conky]

What method do you prefer? Paypal? eBay transaction for an additional layer of security?

Thanks for the Pics.

As to payment method, first eBay using Paypal and a credit card. Next would be Paypal using a credit card. It's still not perfect, but currently it's the safest method.

[johnchoe]

Anyhow, here are the pictures. Note that the timestamp colors change (and are fuzzy, which is not characteristic of a camera-generated image) and that the scam pictures are not sized to standard resolutions (meaning they were cropped or resized beforehand).

Thanks for pointing out the warning about this scammer.

I'm not sure that photos not being sized to standard resolutions has much meaning in sorting out "real" from stolen photos. I often resize or crop my photos before posting them on the board here. I'll take a photo with my cell phone or camera, and then will crop out the parts I don't want to include, so I'd expect that other sellers sometimes do the same.

Can gmail users in other countries not get a gmail.com account?

[Suzu]

Thanks for pointing out the warning about this scammer.

I'm not sure that photos not being sized to standard resolutions has much meaning in sorting out "real" from stolen photos. I often resize or crop my photos before posting them on the board here. I'll take a photo with my cell phone or camera, and then will crop out the parts I don't want to include, so I'd expect that other sellers sometimes do the same.

Can gmail users in other countries not get a gmail.com account?

True, but timestamps are placed in fixed positions. When you crop it, the timestamp is usually cut out. His timestamps, however, were in fixed positions in non-standard resolutions.

They can, but why would you? How many Italians do you know who regularly use US email accounts?