Something fishy going on?
Discussion
OP-
If I remember correctly, in a couple of days you are about to "lose" the watch in an annoying mishap on the train. The police will want to take the watch off you, but of course you've "lost" it so they can't.
Once it has all blown over, you retrieve the watch from the waterproof box you accidently left buried and concealed in your garden and continue to go about your everyday life, only with your watch on.
Sincerely,
Your pal hindsight (but from the future)
If I remember correctly, in a couple of days you are about to "lose" the watch in an annoying mishap on the train. The police will want to take the watch off you, but of course you've "lost" it so they can't.
Once it has all blown over, you retrieve the watch from the waterproof box you accidently left buried and concealed in your garden and continue to go about your everyday life, only with your watch on.
Sincerely,
Your pal hindsight (but from the future)
StuntmanMike said:
NPI said:
Perhaps the OP is in on it as well!
Perhaps the OP is the scammer !
And for what it's worth I've just read the breakdown that was posted up and can't work it out either :S
Your third point makes it sound like you've paid the 2nd seller (possible scammer) for the watch as well as paying the 1st seller (genuine seller)? So have paid twice for one watch?
This isn't so tricky to grasp.
Our PHer is invited to purchase a watch.
He requests further proof of its authenticity (hi-res images of the mechanism)
He posts these online (presumably on a specialist watch forum)
Forum say watch is legit
Our PHer buys said watch
In his excitement and research of said watch he finds an advertisement for his (actual) watch
His interest is piqued, is he being scammed? He contacts seller two to find out what is going on
Seller number two says watch is sold - all is well with the world
Watch arrives from the original seller
Our PHer is happy
Seller two contacts our PHer and says his watch has been stolen in transit and he believes the PHer bought it from the thief
Seller one (potential thief) lives in the same town as the postal depot where seller 2 aledges (his) watch went missing
Seller two contacts the police saying his watch has been stolen and he believes our PHer is in posestion of it
Police contact our PHer to find he is legit
Police officer who is dealing with this is on holiday until Saturday
Our PHer is worried he has been scammed and that he may lose his new (old) watch.
Our PHer only paid once from one seller, the oddity is that he contacted a third party sparking the entire issue, if he hadn't of done this he wouldn't know it was (potentially) stolen - this seems to be the highly unlikely part of any scam, you couldn't guarantee contact from the 'mark' unless the market is minuscule and you would have contacted them anyway if they hadn't got in touch with you first (he posted pics of the watch over all the forums).
Ta-da, simple.
(PayPal are involved so he may be protected regardless)
Without a crime reference number from seller 2 this sounds very fishy.
Our PHer is invited to purchase a watch.
He requests further proof of its authenticity (hi-res images of the mechanism)
He posts these online (presumably on a specialist watch forum)
Forum say watch is legit
Our PHer buys said watch
In his excitement and research of said watch he finds an advertisement for his (actual) watch
His interest is piqued, is he being scammed? He contacts seller two to find out what is going on
Seller number two says watch is sold - all is well with the world
Watch arrives from the original seller
Our PHer is happy
Seller two contacts our PHer and says his watch has been stolen in transit and he believes the PHer bought it from the thief
Seller one (potential thief) lives in the same town as the postal depot where seller 2 aledges (his) watch went missing
Seller two contacts the police saying his watch has been stolen and he believes our PHer is in posestion of it
Police contact our PHer to find he is legit
Police officer who is dealing with this is on holiday until Saturday
Our PHer is worried he has been scammed and that he may lose his new (old) watch.
Our PHer only paid once from one seller, the oddity is that he contacted a third party sparking the entire issue, if he hadn't of done this he wouldn't know it was (potentially) stolen - this seems to be the highly unlikely part of any scam, you couldn't guarantee contact from the 'mark' unless the market is minuscule and you would have contacted them anyway if they hadn't got in touch with you first (he posted pics of the watch over all the forums).
Ta-da, simple.
(PayPal are involved so he may be protected regardless)
Without a crime reference number from seller 2 this sounds very fishy.
So could the scam work like this?
Second "seller" surfs niche forums, ebay, etc. Identifies watch, etc. Downloads images. Waits for sale. Then waits, and contacts buyer to say that it was there's, it's been stolen and has photos to prove, etc. Then makes "police" call to add strength to story and frighten buyer into returning?
Second "seller" surfs niche forums, ebay, etc. Identifies watch, etc. Downloads images. Waits for sale. Then waits, and contacts buyer to say that it was there's, it's been stolen and has photos to prove, etc. Then makes "police" call to add strength to story and frighten buyer into returning?
Vaud said:
So could the scam work like this?
Second "seller" surfs niche forums, ebay, etc. Identifies watch, etc. Downloads images. Waits for sale. Then waits, and contacts buyer to say that it was there's, it's been stolen and has photos to prove, etc. Then makes "police" call to add strength to story and frighten buyer into returning?
There's potential to that theory, but it's our PHer that contacted the (possible) scammer and the scammer has reported it to the police, a fairly risky strategy if he does this regularly.Second "seller" surfs niche forums, ebay, etc. Identifies watch, etc. Downloads images. Waits for sale. Then waits, and contacts buyer to say that it was there's, it's been stolen and has photos to prove, etc. Then makes "police" call to add strength to story and frighten buyer into returning?
However, criminals are not the smartest and our PHer making first contact may just be a coincidence because of the tiny market.
The whole thing does require a stretch of imagination but stranger things have happened.
My guess is that the watch is stolen, but that scenario still leaves the coincidence that he contacted the original owner.
DonnyMac said:
My guess is that the watch is stolen, but that scenario still leaves the coincidence that he contacted the original owner.
I guess you might do that in a bit of a panic if you suddenly saw the watch you'd bought being advertised elsewhere.There's some suggestion from the OP that seller 1 & seller 2 are the same person (or at least connected).
It does leave the point though, that what would have happened if the OP had never contacted seller 2?
I'm minded to think it might have been stolen, but it seems a bit stupid to sell such a traceable item in such a traceable way.
k would you tell him you had bought the same watch already from seller 1 ????It would have been sent Special Delivery at that value, which means that they could track where it went missing in the Royal Mail system (if it ever did)
Sounds like a scam, hide the watch and if the Police ask for it, say you lost it, do not let them take it as you will struggle to get it back.
Tell them as far as you are concerned it was a legal transaction and that the watch is legally yours so will not be handing it over, tell them to take you to court if they want to take it off you.
Sounds like a scam, hide the watch and if the Police ask for it, say you lost it, do not let them take it as you will struggle to get it back.
Tell them as far as you are concerned it was a legal transaction and that the watch is legally yours so will not be handing it over, tell them to take you to court if they want to take it off you.
R1gtr said:
It would have been sent Special Delivery at that value, which means that they could track where it went missing in the Royal Mail system (if it ever did)
Sounds like a scam, hide the watch and if the Police ask for it, say you lost it, do not let them take it as you will struggle to get it back.
Tell them as far as you are concerned it was a legal transaction and that the watch is legally yours so will not be handing it over, tell them to take you to court if they want to take it off you.
that's assuming plod actually follows it up.Sounds like a scam, hide the watch and if the Police ask for it, say you lost it, do not let them take it as you will struggle to get it back.
Tell them as far as you are concerned it was a legal transaction and that the watch is legally yours so will not be handing it over, tell them to take you to court if they want to take it off you.
nice to know they have the time to do so
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