iPhone Gumtree Scam?

GordonR on 21/12/2015 - 23:53

I've been looking at Gumtree for replacements for wife's dropped (and damaged) iPhone.

I've noticed a bunch of similar strange ads that smell like scam, except I can't see how they would work. In particular I can't see how anyone would reply to them.

The ads are all "iPhone 6S wanted, must be new at least 64 Gb, $850" or similar, so obviously no one would ever genuinely respond.

They are all placed by new users (Gummie since 2015), using sort of meaningless names, and supposedly from various suburbs, about one new one every 3 or 4 hours.

I like to know how scams work to reduce my chances of falling into them, but I can't figure this one out!

Any clues?

Mobile

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Gumtree
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Comments

  • nocure on 22/12/2015 - 00:16

    Just hit the report button.

  • ilostnemo on 22/12/2015 - 01:44
    +1

    They aren't scams

    And these people are buying, not selling.

    These people will buy cheap and sell them on, people sometimes get in desperate situations, if they didn't pawnbrokers wouldn't exist.

    Put an ad in yourself for $50 more, you may be suprised, do all the necessary checks and you may grab a bargain.

    • GordonR on 22/12/2015 - 10:38

      But new or near-new iPhones are easy to sell for close to the new price, so I can't see where they would find anyone dumb enough to think "Ah, I need to sell my one week old iPhone 6S which costs $1200 and I can see lots of ads offering the same for $ 1050, so I think I'll call this guy offering $800".

      • Brianqpr on 23/12/2015 - 15:43

        Enough of these phones end up in dodgy pawnbroker type shop windows to show this sort of thing can work.

  • [Deactivated] on 22/12/2015 - 05:44

    Erm, isn't it easy for this to be a scam? i.e. All they have to do is pay using paypal, claim the phone never arrived, and get the phone and the money back. Cash only - and in the case of $800+… meet outside the police station too.

    • sraymond on 22/12/2015 - 07:20

      So they are hoping to find somebody dumb/desperate enough to sell an iPhone 6S for $800, plus ignore gumtree's first rule and post the item rather than conduct a face to face transaction.

      I see you edited your post and added in the part about cash only and face to face.

    • fruit on 22/12/2015 - 10:05

      Always check if it's locked first https://www.icloud.com/activationlock/

    • GordonR on 22/12/2015 - 10:21

      They are BUYING not selling…. The ads are in the "wanted to buy" section.

  • kolorijo on 22/12/2015 - 08:31

    For a big money item, always conduct the transaction face to face in a relatively secure place. If you are paranoid, you could also bring a family or friend to watch the whole transaction from a not so distant location (close enough so they can see something isn't right & can help you straight away if something went wrong).

    • fruit on 22/12/2015 - 10:04

      or do it at a cop shop

  • Google Chrome on 22/12/2015 - 11:25

    I have listed on gumtree a few times wanting to buy for example " Ipad Air 2 64gb $500" . Got a few offers and that's how I bought my second ipad. So I don't see what's wrong with the listing because the buyer is saving time looking through all the "for sale" listings by having people come directly to him/her.

    • LYRICALRAVER on 22/12/2015 - 20:28

      why are you pretending to be Google Chrome? LOL

      • Google Chrome on 22/12/2015 - 20:59

        What do you mean by pretending ¿ People refer to me as Google :p

  • lazydesi on 22/12/2015 - 11:39

    I do put an AD for wanted iphone 6sPlus for $600 and got it for $600 (16gb) via Gumtree.

    I would suggest, just put an Ad and wait for the replies.

    • myozfree on 22/12/2015 - 23:02

      6splus? not 6plus.

      very good strategy to buy!

      • lazydesi on 23/12/2015 - 11:38

        yep, its 6s plus gold. not 6 plus.

  • ilostnemo on 22/12/2015 - 17:36

    http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/ellenbrook/iphone/wanted-ipho…

    here is an example, this person is a dummy ie they are both buying and selling on the same user.

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