Scammed out of $450 on OzBargain for JB Hi-Fi Gift Card. Can anyone help? (Updated September 2022)

LBenmc on 25/05/2022 - 01:16
Last edited 07/09/2022 - 14:24 by 2 other users

Hi all,

I thought I'd share my story with the hope of making everyone a-little more aware of what could go wrong with buying an gift card off another seller on Ozbargain. As much as I expected Ozbargain to be a tight knit community, there are some scumbags out there, so it is very much a case of buyer beware.The intent is not to scare everyone but to remind everyone there are risks and at the end of the day, it's worthwhile to be extra careful. Separately I am hopeful that perhaps there may be people on this forum who may be able to help me track down the seller as I have sufficient information that could lead somewhere.

About 3 weeks ago I had placed a classifieds add on Ozbargain looking for sellers of a $500 JBHiFi gift card for the price of $450. I got a number of responses through by PM and one of them was a user by the name of Fatsquirrel. Fatsquirrel had communicated that they had a $500 gift card and was willing to sell it for $450. Noting seemed unusual and the user had been a member of Ozbargain for a few months with some posts made. Two Fridays ago on Friday the 13th (it was really a black friday) I decided I was ready to buy my phone and reached out to FatSquirrel saying I was ready to buy.

Fatsquirrel provided me with his PayID and mobile phone around 6:40pm of that night for communications noting that I had done a deal with JBHiFi and needed the card ASAP to ensure I could buy before my deal expired. I responded back to Fatsquirrel at 7:30pm requesting for him to confirm his name based of the PayID he provided. He didn't respond, so I followed up with a call for which there was no answer so I followed up with a SMS for which there was an immediate reply over Ozbargain PM confirming his name. With this I had somewhat sufficient confidence to transfer the money to him (with nothing to make me doubt the situation). So at 10:07pm I had transferred to him $450 and responded via PM and SMS for which he responded by SMS saying he would send the gift card straight away. Nothing happened for half an hour and so I followed up with calls and texts for the next 90 minutes. There was absolutely no responses, every call I made went straight to VM. At 11:30pm I SMSed the guy and said if I didn't get a response I would recall the transfer through my bank within the next 15 minutes.

At 11:56pm he responded saying sorry and he was busy dropping his nephew off and then said he would send a gift card through. He ended up sending a $500 gift card screenshot through which on check of the balance on JBHiFi's website had $250 in value with a $0 balance. I think he had intentionally photo-shopped the voucher to read $500. When I questioned why there was a $0 balance with a screenshot he went silent again. The following morning he responded claiming that I had scammed him by recalling the payment and that he had provided the gift card and claimed that I had used the gift card as well. After this he went silent. I requested for him to call be constantly but obviously the scumbag was playing the game and didn't have a bar of it.

Anyway the net result is the money had already been transferred. I had logged a recall through my bank (but they can't do anything unless the other person consents) and his bank's fraud team confirmed separately that the money had been moved out of his up.me bank account. I have since raised a police report for it but I can imagine it'll be at the back of the priority list which is fair enough and haven't heard back since.

Notwithstanding I have the following pieces of information and am hopeful that someone might be able to help and name and shame?

Name from PayID: P A L__NG
PayID details: Happy to disclose but not sure what Ozbargains policy is.
Location: Appears to be from Melbourne asking me to meet up ACE Mechanics Denandong before dissappearing
Phone number: Happy to disclose but not sure what Ozbargains policy is.
Other details: Based on the dodgy JBHifi Gift Card he sent me there was a JBHiFi order number referenced on it for the $250 used. Hoping this order number might lead somewhere if someone can PM me to assist?
IP number: Ozbargain can't disclose unless its to the police I have been informed.

Anyway the moral of the story is use lots of caution in online transactions, even if they happen everyday of the week like the do on Ozbargain.

Thanks for listening and acknowledge I'll get smashed for being stupid.

Mod 7/9/22: Important message for victims, regarding refunds of funds. See here.

Site Discussion

Comments

  • Hybroid on 25/05/2022 - 01:19
    +115

    Anyway the moral of the story is use lots of caution in online transactions

    Nope. Moral of the story, and every time something like this is frequently posted, is CASH ON COLLECTION. So you can inspect the goods, verify they're real and ensure you receive them. Not practical to pickup? Then don't buy it. Unless there's buyer protection in place of course.

    I also personally don't believe it's worth risking $500 to save $50 on gift cards being resold by randoms. That's just poor judgement.

    • [Deactivated] on 25/05/2022 - 03:07
      +21

      Then you get people getting scammed by buyers because of a lack of seller protection. You also get people meeting up and still getting scammed, and some people meeting up and getting beaten to death. Sounds like fun right? What was the moral of the story again?

      Even in places where the seller has a good history, they can still do rug pulls. So the moral of the story is to never do anything.

      • Hardlyworkin on 25/05/2022 - 06:40
        +34

        Moral of the story is buying gift cards from people is like gambling though the rewards just don't seem worth it.

        • RockyRaccoon on 25/05/2022 - 09:22
          +10

          The Biggest issue here is they advertised for someone to sell them a card at $50 off.

          Hear me thru.

          Why would someone do that? - To be nice to them?. No. The only way is that they had been gifted this card/or bought it cheaply and not willing to buy something themselves at JB. Yes thats possible but really its a very slim chance. They mentioned they had a number of PM's. So again how many spare unwanted giftcards would be there in Ozbargain land - exactly the amount they wanted, and at a $50 discount when they needed it most. Scammers would jump for joy.

          Now if someone had advertised they were selling a $500 giftcard and willing to take $450 thats more likely. Unlikely to find more than that at anyone time on Ozbargain.

          So while both situations are risky, the way they went about it was the highest risk.

          • capslock on 25/05/2022 - 09:33
            +1

            @RockyRaccoon: As of right now there are several classified ads wanting JB gift cards for a discount.

            They could just buy the Him/Her gift cards that always go on sale at the supermarkets but they would rather take the risk in the classifieds. Each to their own.

            • RockyRaccoon on 25/05/2022 - 09:38
              +1

              @capslock:

              Each to their own.

              So true, I guess the only way people really learn is not from advice but from real life experiences

          • randomusername2017 on 25/05/2022 - 10:09
            +1

            @RockyRaccoon: There's many more reasons than just spare cards floating around.
            It's a fairly easy way to monetize reward programs or manufacture spending for card churning
            It's quite a busy industry if you follow the classifieds.

          • knk on 25/05/2022 - 21:53

            @RockyRaccoon: I'd happily sell $500 off gift cards I got with credit card points for $450 so that's a valid reason.
            That said I'd never buy anything off someone who just sent me their PayID, probably wouldn't buy a gift card because it's impossible to verify it's legitimate immediately.

          • skittlebrau on 26/05/2022 - 12:38

            @RockyRaccoon: It's not really that unusual. People sell gift cards on the OCAU forums all the time and you always sell them at a 'discount' because a gift card is more limited than cash. People either get these gift cards from Telstra contract details or they get them as a freebie with platinum credit card rewards. Usually the unwritten rule is that you sell it for 10-20% of the card value.

            With that said, for a large amount I would definitely only do a cash trade in person while ensuring the PIN hadn't been scratched off and I'd also take the extra step of checking the card balance on the spot through the JB website. I generally wouldn't bother doing such a trade in the first place because it's too much of a hassle.

      • blehgg on 26/05/2022 - 08:37
        +2

        Meet up in the JB Hifi - explain to the cashier ~
        I want to check the balance of card - swap card with cash. Use card…

    • Ughhh on 25/05/2022 - 06:37
      +12

      CASH ON COLLECTION. So you can inspect the goods, verify they're real and ensure you receive them.

      Different type of products require different type of protection. Your suggestion is perfect for hard goods, but for digital stuff like gift cards where it can be used by the seller after payment, it doesn't make much difference. Exception is if you meet at the store of gift card and use the gift card straight away.

      • pippohippo on 25/05/2022 - 23:01
        +1

        exactly, the scammer can just get someone at home ready to spend it the moment they get the cash on delivery

      • kaleidoscope on 26/05/2022 - 07:52
        +1

        You can simply not bother with digital gift cards or physical gift cards that have been opened or partially spent. Risk is not worth such small bargain of $50.

        • Ughhh on 26/05/2022 - 11:33
          +1

          physical gift cards that have been opened

          Could still be an empty inactivated card.

          I wouldn't bother as well.

          • kaleidoscope on 26/05/2022 - 14:10

            @Ughhh: So what I meant is, if its unopened physical card, you can check balance directly on the spot before giving the money to other party. Other party won’t know the pin to spend the money (as its unopened and the pin is hidden behind scratch sticker).

            Still though, would not bother for $50. :-)

    • mightyfes on 25/05/2022 - 13:01
      +2

      you let people verify whether gift cards are real by letting them redeem it in front of you? are you a moron?

      • Hybroid on 25/05/2022 - 13:05
        +2

        You meet up with seller.
        You pay them the cash money.
        They give you the gift card.
        You test/order straight away in front of them.
        It's not rocket science.

        • knk on 25/05/2022 - 21:54
          +8

          And then what, beat the shit out of one another if it's not valid?

          I can't see a situation where those cards aren't legitimate in which you get your money back.

          • Hybroid on 26/05/2022 - 10:25
            +2

            @knk: Nah you're right. Better send $500 to randoms online that send you a private message.

            • knk on 26/05/2022 - 10:34
              +1

              @Hybroid: I wasn't advocating that they do this at all good sir

          • whitepuma on 26/05/2022 - 10:27
            +2

            @knk: People are a lot less likely to rug pull you if you do it face to face. Many of these people rely on being anonymous for them to get away with what their doing. Also remember….a scammer doesn't want to get into a physical altercation either, so if your asking to do the transaction in person, and their refusing to do so, their may be a reason for that.

            • johnno07 on 26/05/2022 - 17:42
              +1

              @whitepuma: I do agree with the sentiment, but this double-whammy killed me:

              so if your asking to do the transaction in person, and their refusing to do so, their may be a reason for that.

              • whitepuma on 27/05/2022 - 07:48
                +2

                @johnno07: lol, sorry. I never did well at English in school.

                But don't let that weaken my point!

    • kaleidoscope on 26/05/2022 - 07:50

      Morale of the story is exactly that. Trust no one. Cash transactions, face to face with all private sales. End of story.

      There are other legit ways to get discounted gcs for jbhifi. 20x coleworths points ultimate gift cards have been going on sale frequently these days.

    • Pootie Tang on 28/05/2022 - 09:15
      +1

      I purchased $1000 worth recently off 5 different people on here and didn't have a problem. I'd only deal with long term members though with some sort of sales history.

  • wab on 25/05/2022 - 01:24
    +45

    Did you miss the big warning in the classifields section? Pasted below

    Warning - Scammer in Classifieds - February 2022
    Please be aware that there have been incidents of OzBargain accounts being accessed by an unauthorised person.

    If you are asked to send money to bank accounts belonging to P LU__G, likely account numbers ending in 5083 or 4015 or 1090, or PayID starting with 'fall' or 'szns' or, do not proceed and contact Moderators immediately with the username of the user you have dealt with and a copy paste of the PM conversation.

    To keep your OzBargain account safe, please use a unique password, especially if your password has been compromised previously.

    • Gervais fanboy on 25/05/2022 - 02:06
      +3

      The op reckons fatsquirrel’s account was a few months old which means that he/she probably has a few accounts setup, so that If one account gets taken down then they atleast would still have a second or even a third account to continue their scams with.
      It would be quite helpful if the moderators were able to block specific ip addresses from accessing this site. Otherwise fraudsters can always just make a new account and continue defrauding the unsuspecting.

      • [Deactivated] on 25/05/2022 - 03:11
        +1

        It would be quite helpful if the moderators were able to block specific ip addresses from accessing this site.

        Where there's a clear history, they do get banned. You can't ban too broadly though, or you end up banning innocent people, while the scammer has long since moved to other IPs.

        • Gervais fanboy on 25/05/2022 - 03:17
          -3

          So it is possible to ban ip addresses…
          I didn’t know that

          Btw you have a point too but given this particular case, I think moderators should have enough to ban all ip addresses that might be linked to his account.

          • [Deactivated] on 25/05/2022 - 03:25
            +1

            @Gervais fanboy: They ban accounts for sockpuppeting all the time, so it's definitely possible. Your IP isn't stamped on your forehead at birth. One CGNAT IP can be used simultaneously by thousands.

      • JPerez on 25/05/2022 - 13:35
        -8

        OZB moderators don't care from my experience.

        I've reported obvious troll accounts in the past and they did nothing.

        If you want to keep OZB clean, then ensure troll/scam accounts are deleted.

        It's not that hard.

        If you don't have the time to clean up accounts which is an essential part of being a moderator then you shouldn't be a moderator.

        • johnno07 on 26/05/2022 - 17:44
          -1

          You make it sound like there is a plague of bot accounts. I've been he a good long while - there aren't that many.

      • kaleidoscope on 26/05/2022 - 07:55

        IP banning wont help with lot of isps using cgnat.

      • Pootie Tang on 28/05/2022 - 09:15

        They can

    • Benmc on 25/05/2022 - 08:10

      Honestly, I must have missed this. I'm sure I read it when I originally posted up my classified but didn't take notice to this the week later when I needed to buy my giftcard, nor did it stick in my memory. Sounds this this guy is a serious offender and has given away his ID somewhat. But good to know the warning had already been listed on the classifieds page before.

    • Benmc on 26/05/2022 - 00:00

      Actually irrelevant but thinking about this some more, was this really posted in February 2022 or did it just get posted recently due to the two incidents mentioned in this thread?

      • wab on 26/05/2022 - 00:09
        +1

        It's been there since Feburary.

      • digitalbath on 27/05/2022 - 08:59
        -4

        You shouldn’t need to read that warning to know there are scammers in classifieds.
        Common sense and some situational awareness should have told you that.
        You seem to have neither.

        • Benmc on 27/05/2022 - 14:42

          Thanks, but don't worry I have alot of common sense! Just not on this occasion haha

          • Gervais fanboy on 27/05/2022 - 14:50
            +2

            @Benmc: The punching down never stops mate.

            There’s a lot of pseudo intellectuals on this site.

            • digitalbath on 27/05/2022 - 15:16
              -1

              @Gervais fanboy: You don’t need to be an intellectual to avoid being scammed.

              • Gervais fanboy on 27/05/2022 - 15:29
                +2

                @digitalbath: Hmm and you don’t have to be an intellectual either to know that you are regurgitating the same criticisms that a hundred other users have already made towards the op.
                But we both know why people still keep doing it, to make’em feel good about themselves.
                Whatever helps you sleep at night mate.

  • 17833 on 25/05/2022 - 01:30
    +18

    The same user appears to have also scammed this person. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/675911#comment-12137465

    • Benmc on 25/05/2022 - 08:13
      +1

      Crazy how he got a few of us in the one week and that must really hurt, $1500! I've reached out the Fezza21 to see if we can help each other piece down the information. Interesting to know his from NSW and not his claimed Melbourne.

      • FeZZa21 on 25/05/2022 - 10:14
        +14

        Yeah I too got scammed $1,500. Put out an ad to buy HN gift cards, he responded and got his bank details, sent payment and the item I wanted to purchase went out of stock while my transfer was processing and asked for it back. He told me he sent it, I asked for receipt and that's when he went quiet and I found out later he disabled his OzB account 3 days later. I then got in touch with my bank, created a report via https://www.cyber.gov.au/acsc/report website and ticked the option to report to the police in my state, WA police case got created, and also reported him to his bank. My bank told me it could take up to 45 days to recall funds, and currently I'm on day 8. Haven't heard back from WA police yet.

        The details he gave me was:

        Name: Dave Vu
        BSB: 923100 (ING)
        Account: ending in 5083

        ING has only 1 BSB in Australia which is NSW and so I reached out to Scotty at OzB and he confirmed his IP is in NSW too. Ultimately it doesn't matter where he is as with minimal effort from the cops, be can be ID'ed easily due to bank KYC requirements and via his mobile number as that too require ID.

        I had a good experience selling a $1000 gift card on OzB so didn't really do my checks buying $1500 worth. Going forward I think asking the seller for ID e.g. driver's license that matches their bank details for high value gift card purchases would be the way to go. If seller doesn't want to comply then it's probably for the best the deal doesn't go through for the sake of a 10% discount where potential losses would be much more.

        I'm sure the scumbag will come across this post, and what he needs to know is that Karama will eventually catch up to him in life when he least expects it. He seems to be really into food delivery services: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:1VSwDV…

        • cruiseronroad on 25/05/2022 - 17:05
          +6

          It sucks being scammed. I’ve sold $1200 worth of GC on Ozbargain before but I would not risk sending photo ID to a random. I don’t think it would take off.

          • FeZZa21 on 25/05/2022 - 17:16
            +1

            @cruiseronroad: The same way you'd be a random seller to a buyer, so risks would be eliminated should the seller choose to not show ID

        • Mysterious Laptop on 25/05/2022 - 21:05
          +1

          As I said earlier I absolutely hate scammers, but if you remove the whole scamming part, this isn't good business on your part too. You changed your mind mid-transaction.. if an item goes out of stock, the seller has no obligation to return anything to you.

          • FeZZa21 on 25/05/2022 - 21:16
            +3

            @Mysterious Laptop: lol are you for real. The deal was actually for him to purchase the item on my behalf because he told me he had more than the $1500 in gift card value. I then asked for funds to be returned he said he sent it and disappeared, that's pure theft. He got my money and I got nothing in return, whereas if a seller doesn't accept a change of mind, then they'd still give what you purchased and not run away with your money like you suggest to be acceptable lol

  • Gervais fanboy on 25/05/2022 - 01:56
    +5

    Damn thats effed up man. I hope you get your money back.

    • DoctorCalculon on 25/05/2022 - 19:49
      -5

      Zero chance they would get the money back without proper help from the authorities (who couldn't give a rat's ****).

      • [Deactivated] on 27/05/2022 - 00:34
        +5

        Not true. I used to buy gift cards on ebay. Then I got a scammer. I'm in NSW she was in VIC. VIC police arranged for someone at my local cop station to interview me, they sent the report to VIC cops, who took the women to court, where the judge ordered she do community service and repay me within X days or else she'd find herself in gaol.

        They "don't care" when they "don't have enough info to find them."

        • Gervais fanboy on 28/05/2022 - 01:28

          Its very comforting to hear that

          Thanks for sharing.

  • donkcat on 25/05/2022 - 03:21
    +10

    Everyone has their own risk factors but personally I wouldnt be doing business with someone on classifieds with an account only a few months old unless they have numerous other transactions of similar amounts that reputable users could vouch for.

    • singlemalt72 on 25/05/2022 - 09:00

      Agreed - I only deal with people who have been around for a while are active on the site and regularly post deals or forum posts.

  • OMGJL on 25/05/2022 - 04:00
    +8

    I personally would

    1. Meet up in a bigger shopping centre
    2. buyer shows enough cash on hand (but not giving to seller yet)
    3. seller shows gift card
    4. sit down and ensure gift card has been successfully added to buyer's account
    5. pay per activated giftcard.

    it is a lot of trouble, but this way both party have some sort of assurance (not getting robbed, beat up, scammed, etc.)

    • Hardlyworkin on 25/05/2022 - 06:43
      +19

      A lot of effort to save $50 on a gift card. OP needs to Ozbargain better.

      • Benmc on 25/05/2022 - 08:11
        +2

        I agree not worth it in the future. Lesson well learned!

    • solidussnake on 25/05/2022 - 17:00
      +2

      You would personally go through all of that trouble for $50 ?? I would wait for a 10% off vouchers deal that happens regularly through Coles or WW etc…

      • OMGJL on 25/05/2022 - 19:47
        +1

        That's the thing, I wouldn't unless I am super urgent and can't wait for discount giftcard to go on special again.

        I don't even want to dealt money issue with friends let alone strangers online.

        It's not that hard for denote of $500/$250 giftcard though.

        $50 giftcard f__k no.

    • aurotaro on 26/05/2022 - 21:06
      +6

      Met person in shopping centre.
      Handed over their iPhone.
      All checks and balances confirmed phone to be working.
      Money handed over (450ish)

      3 days later phone locked IMEI due to reported being stolen.

      Sometimes hard to win no matter what…

    • mewx on 28/05/2022 - 01:25

      Agree, and be sure to stay under CCTV (e.g. around bank or something)

    • ensanguined on 31/05/2022 - 09:01
      +1

      How do you add a gift card to your account? Like does JB or HN do that for example (to stop the seller from being able to redeem them)?

  • peppet on 25/05/2022 - 04:55
    +12

    Damn I'm sorry OP. This person looks like a serial scammer, I very much would like to see them caught, what a scumbag.

  • Mastodon on 25/05/2022 - 05:35
    +3

    Sorry this happened OP. I suggest banning the FatSquirrel user to Mods. We don't need people like that on here. (scamming people).

    • Jimothy Wongingtons on 25/05/2022 - 07:27
      +10

      Banning user won’t fix the issue they’ll make a new one

      • Mastodon on 25/05/2022 - 07:50

        Perhaps a visit from the boys & girls in blue will do the trick.

        • Jimothy Wongingtons on 25/05/2022 - 07:56
          -1

          Mate the police are flat out solving big cases let alone low tier petty theft…

          • [Deactivated] on 26/05/2022 - 16:51

            @Jimothy Wongingtons:

            the police are flat out solving big cases

            Aka speeding fines & traffic violations. (or attacking journalists and strip searching kids if we're talking about NSW cops)

            • heal on 28/05/2022 - 00:53
              -1

              @[Deactivated]: Most police are too busy responding to jobs and dealing with 15-20 ongoing investigations to issue fines.

        • sharkyoz on 25/05/2022 - 08:11
          +8

          a visit from bikies would have a lot more effect.

        • Quantumcat on 25/05/2022 - 08:47
          -2

          It is a civil case, police don't investigate those. If you want to get money back you have to do it yourself through the court.

          • [Deactivated] on 27/05/2022 - 00:36

            @Quantumcat: Funny… I was scammed on a gift card and police got my money back.

            • Quantumcat on 27/05/2022 - 06:44
              -3

              @[Deactivated]: If you voluntarily transferred them money - I doubt it.

              I am willing to bet it was just the police providing you with an incident number (which they will do for whatever you report to them as often it is needed for an insurance claim) and the bank decided to be helpful for you.

              There is no way the police would ever get actively involved - they don't even recover money for big cases of fraud like employees ripping off their employers for millions, or really sophisticated scams involving millions (they just convict them and maybe get their accounts frozen). If they did get involved in your case the other side would just say they gave you the gift card, or there was no agreement (either a fake Facebook account, or it got hacked, etc) there's no proof otherwise and the police wouldn't be able to do anything further. They know this so they don't bother investigating cases like this at all. If the police really did get involved, I would like to see the court documents where the other person in your case was convicted please.

              • [Deactivated] on 27/05/2022 - 19:57
                +2

                @Quantumcat: Female on ebay scammed about four people on gift cards. I think they were all $200 or less. One of the other victims tricked her somehow into obtaining her ebay password. Anyway he could now see messages from and contacted the other victims, explaining who he was, what he'd done (lol), and asking our permission to give our details (which he now already had from her ebay account) to VIC police together with his own.

                VIC police arrested and charged her. She received a court date. She blamed her sister saying she gained access to her ebay account - yeah whatever, don't care, where's me dough… she agreed to repay me, but before she did (if she ever planned to) a VIC detective phoned and asked if I'd give a statement at my local NSW police station witnessed by a second detective who typed it up, had me read and sign. He sent that electronically back to VIC.

                VIC police appeared in court, presented the evidence from all four victims. Judge directed ebay woman to do community service plus repay everyone within X days or she'd find herself in court again with the original charges and original sentence he had considered prior to granting leniency based her making restitution.

                I don't have any documents. It was several years ago and I wasn't the one bringing the case. My evidence was presented by VIC police/detectives. Witnesses don't receive records of other peoples' convictions. I just supplied a verbal/typed statement and my bank details to VIC police, the ebay woman repaid the money, and the female detective from VIC phoned me to confirm I'd actually received it as the ebay woman had told her. I said yes, she thanked me for supplying evidence in the case (ebay item number, emails to seller via the ebay messaging system, paypal receipts, etc) as our evidence combined helped get all our money back.

                Oh and at the time Paypal had some buyer protection which meant they paid me some partial amount, so the scammer got to repay less to me, but paypal then went after the rest from her - a real mess she created for herself. Anyway it meant I came out about $10 better off lol. Which was appropriate considering the whole process took several months.

                • Gervais fanboy on 27/05/2022 - 20:01
                  +1

                  @[Deactivated]: Hey mate, I’d recommend you to agree and concur with everything that Quantumcat says.
                  Or he’ll slyly track and dislike all your comments, sneaky little kitty that he/she is.
                  Anyways, you are good for today. He’s already spent all of his dislikes on me.

      • CodeXD on 25/05/2022 - 09:07

        mods can IP ban too

        • [Deactivated] on 25/05/2022 - 09:25
          +3

          You can change IP pretty easily

          • CodeXD on 25/05/2022 - 09:26
            +1

            @[Deactivated]: Doesn't mean the scammer knows how.

            • pharkurnell on 25/05/2022 - 12:03

              @CodeXD: He would have googled it after reading this post….

            • gromit on 25/05/2022 - 19:48
              +1

              @CodeXD: Many ip's are behind cgnat. Banning an IP could ban 1000's of users and be a very minor barrier for said scammer

    • mewx on 28/05/2022 - 01:29
      +3

      I feel like ozbargain could have a list of scammers (with name, bank, phone, address, etc.) made public/indexed by Google. Fk privacy in this case. They deserve this.

  • Hardlyworkin on 25/05/2022 - 06:45
    +2

    That's nuts that you lost that much money to Fatsquirrel.

    • Peter Enis on 25/05/2022 - 08:37
      +13

      Yes needs to report it to ACORN - seriously!

  • emblurr on 25/05/2022 - 08:17
    +7

    Too much risk for the saving. Can get discount of 3.75% jbhifi through entertainment books that guarantee the delivery of the discounted gift card. I'd even consider finding a sporting event that pays 1.10 a better chance than buying a gift card off a random off the internet.

    Hope you get your money back off that scumbag scammer.

    • antonthenet on 26/05/2022 - 14:03

      I was thinking that as well.

      OP could have put a bet on a hot favourite at $1.11 with their $450.00 that were willing to give up for a gift voucher.

      Same result.

  • freefall101 on 25/05/2022 - 08:36
    +10

    Ozbargain is not a tight knit community, there's almost 2,000 registered people online right now (and thousands more guests).

    I'm party of a small IT community that has a waiting period for the trading forums and there's still regular scams run, people are willing to wait. I imagine they're doing this on every forum with a classifieds section because police are so unwilling to follow up on it and it's so easy to do ($500 for 5 minutes work, not too bad).

    As per the first reply, never buy anything unless you're handing over cash and can verify it. Never sell anything unless the payment has been clearly received in a way that can't be reversed.

    • thatonethere on 25/05/2022 - 08:39

      Yeah I suspect Ozb is now a bit of a watering hole for scammers to prey on people now.

    • pharkurnell on 25/05/2022 - 12:04
      +1

      Ozbargain is not a tight knit community,

      WE ARE ALL INDIVIDUALS….

      • sharkyoz on 25/05/2022 - 12:34
        +3

        I'm not…

        • [Deactivated] on 27/05/2022 - 00:38

          Speak for yourself!

  • Muzeeb on 25/05/2022 - 09:07
    -1

    I had placed a classifieds add on Ozbargain looking for sellers of a $500 JBHiFi gift card for the price of $450.

    I sent out an invitation to scammers

    FTFY

    • SF3 on 25/05/2022 - 10:14

      😮‍💨

  • SF3 on 25/05/2022 - 09:07
    +2

    I had done a deal with JBHiFi and needed the card ASAP to ensure I could buy before my deal expired.

    Sorry to hear what happened.

    Sounds like you would be a scammer's dream with your urge.

    Don't let FOMO strike again.

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