UK Craig's List Scammer Alert

[cabowen]

I would like to alert members to a probable scammer advertising high end gendaito on the UK Craig's List.

 

I contacted him about a sword he had advertised (Gassan Sadakatsu in general's koshirae). He refused to accept any payment method other than a bank wire (no to paypal, etc.). I then asked him to send me a copy of a photo id next to the sword, which he refused. I next asked if he would send me a picture of the sword next to the latest edition of his newspaper...Wouldn't do that.....

 

Buyers beware. I believe he is also advertising a Ikeda Yasumitsu and Kurihara Akihide as well...

[Ted Tenold]

Chris,

 

I searched the listing and had a look at it. The description matches one of a Gassan Sadakatsu in IJA General's Koshirae that was sold on Ebay a few years ago. It was quite the subject of talk on the internet while the auction was developing. The sword ended up being purchased by one of my clients. I can say with a fair measure of certainty from the images shown in the listing, that they, along with the description, are from the original Ebay auction.

 

How certain?? I have the sword purchased by my client in that Ebay listing in my possesion. My client probably has a copy of the original Ebay listing as well, though I'd have to confirm that with him.

 

The images on the craigslist listing may be tough to see from their low resolution, but the images I snapped just now (along with Friday's local paper, since we don't get a Sunday edition :-) ) are a pretty compelling similarity.

[cabowen]

He sent me photos of the nakago which I have attached; I have no doubt that this is the same sword. I figured he lifted the photos from some on-line source....We need to find someone in London that could file a complaint with the police.....He told me he was located in Aberdeen, Scotland. He uses the name Marcone Berta and his email is:

 

bertamarcone@googlemail.com

 

He wanted me to wire him the money to his bank account. All we need is for someone to agree to do that and have him send the bank info. That should be enough to shut him down....

 

Maybe you can email him the pictures you just posted and see how he explains it!

[Stephen]

is this the one?

 

from this list

 

http://london.craigslist.co.uk/search/? ... catAbb=sss

 

funny i have the same pix in file to show how he signed

 

also see one of Eric's M, older sales of yasukuni Yasumitsu.....humm same guy huh?

[cabowen]

Yeah, no doubt this guy is 100% scam. I sent an alert to the legal department at Craigslist.....It will be interesting to see if they do anything.

 

Spread the word. This kind of thing is bad for all of us....

[James]

I'm sad to say that I took a risk on this exact guy for this exact sword about a year and a half ago and got burnt big time. About 1300 GBP he stole from me if I remember correctly. He literally took my money and never contacted me again.

 

Reported it to the Craigslist authorities who did absolutely nothing of course and allows him to run his fraud as he pleases to this very day.

 

Lesson learnt the hardest way possible

[cabowen]

I received word back from Craigslist that the ad is no longer active...

 

I am very sorry to hear that he has stolen someone's money here....I wonder how many more have been duped????

 

Someone needs to file a criminal complaint. Craigslist will provide info in those cases....

[sandman]

I was wondering if we could start a New topic on all the names and pics of these fraudsters within the forum, or would that be considered too out of taste. Just as a reminder to keep from getting burnt from them I guess.

Just a thought.

 

 

 

____________

Matthew

[outlier48]

Matthew - interesting idea - would love to be able to warn people to be very, very, very careful when dealing with craigslist and the like. Personally, I have heard so many "bad news" stories that I just stay away. This might be hard for an exuberant newbie. Maybe some of the red flags should be posted - doesn't want to use PayPal, insists on funds being wired into account would be 2 big ones. With apologies to those who have been ripped off, perhaps the simple warning we can post for anyone: when buying from an unverified seller - caveat emptor!

 

Charlie Brashear

[machinist]

I placed a craigslist ad hunting swords and only got a lot of fishy responses, including one from Powel Nowak.