Is this a scam or not???

[Monsta-Tone]

I received an email the other day asking me to work on an amp that will be in transit to Saudi Arabia.
While I would like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, there is simply way too much scamming going on.

What do you guys think? And, has anyone here had any dealings with this guy, one way or the other?
His name is Steve King.

Andy,
>>
>> I saw your add on the Boogie board site (hey the ad stuff works)!
>> I live overseas in Saudi Arabia, but own a pile of tube amps (2-
>> Diezels, 4 vintage Marshall, a Mark IV and a V on the way. I want
>> to buy a Mark III off of ebay, but would like to have it serviced,
>> cleaned up, the R2 mod, retubed, etc, before sending it over.
>>
>> What would be your turn around time and would I be able to drop
>> ship an amp straight to you off of ebay, then you send it on to
>> me. It can either be shipped international, or I have an air
>> freight forwarding address in NY you could ship to. Just depends
>> on how much trouble you care to go through.
>>
>> What is foot-switchable NFB?
>>

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I forgot to mention, I don't currently do any work on amps from overseas because of the fact that I have to miss work to go to the Post Office and they are always swamped and poorly manned.

I emailed this guy stating this fact and here is his reply:

You can ship to a US address though right? As I said, I have a freight
address in NY. You can send from NM to NY and it gets to me in about
the same amount of time.

I went to college in Socorro. Great state NM is!

Thx,
Steve

Like I said, I want to trust everybody, but when it comes to things like this, I am a bit leary.

 

[LTE]

Honestly, anyone who asks you to ship it to someplace that will then send it to them is probably a scam, although this one looks like its from someone who can actually speak language, and has done the research.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Being a small business owner (actually 2 businesses) I get a lot of these type of emails and calls.

It's so hard to tell. He said that he got my name from the BB, so I was hoping that someone here has done business with him in the past and that it's legit.

 

[surferdeac]

Ah this one's a tuff one.

IF he is serious about it tell him to give you a call
anyone who collects amps like the ones he mentions is going to have some knowledge regarding them.

Well he could be a knowledgeable scum bag to boot, but what you could do is tell him you want some money up front. See how he responds to this. You don't have to prove your honesty to him. The fact you are considering doing business with this guy means you have good intentions especially in this situation. Your reputation precedes you. He has to prove his honesty to you.

Maybe he is trying to buy an amp off ebay. if that be the case find out who is selling it and go from there.
Good luck Trust your gut

 

[ryjan]

Just hold his amp until the check clears.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Just hold his amp until the check clears.

Believe it or not, that is unsafe these days!
It would have to be a bank check and I would have to have it in hand before even receiving the amp.

In this economy it's really hard to turn work down, but at the same time, I don't want it to bite me in the ass!

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I thought about it all day yesterday.
I emailed him this morning saying that I prefer to deal with US customers only at this point in time.

I just don't really have time for drama and don't have the desire to be scammed or open an amp laundering business!

Thanks for the help guys,
Andy

 

[ak47]

Diezel? Saudi Arabia? yep... this rings a bell... I have seen his posts on 'rig-talk' ... his nick is steve_k from (yes...) Saudi Arabia... Seems like he is for real in my opinion after brousing his posts on the Diezel thread... Have a look:

http://www.rig-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=53725

Of course, that is a big distance over which to do amp repairs so I understand the predicament. But then again, I don't know how many good amp repairers there are in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia either... :mrgreen:

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Here is the email I just sent him. Like I said, I hate to turn down work, especially with the economy in the toilet. I just want to make sure I don't get scammed or I'm not helping to scam someone.

I apologize for the skepticism, the world is a dirty place.

I would be happy to do the work for you under a couple of conditions.
1. Can you provide references of deals that you have made? I would just
like to be able to email a couple of people to make sure it's for real.
Maybe the seller of the amp
2. I would have to make sure the payment clears before I could ship the
amp out.

If this is ok with you, I will be glad to fix your amp up for you. Again, I
apologize for the inconvenience, but we have been scammed before and it
really sucks.

What do you guys think?

 

[ryjan]

I would do buisiness with you under those conditions.

 

[surferdeac]

that sounds good. If he thoroughly answers those questions and you cross reference it then I would consider doing business with the guy. If he can't provide you with thorough references then to hell with that

 

[tonefreak25]

I would do buisiness with you under those conditions.

Yep, no question. I don't think you are being unreasonable at all with your requests.

 

[Herbie the Rad Dorklift]

That guy posts on Rig Talk all the time. Seems like a sound guy, just wants good gear but lives in a place where good gear is hard to come by and expensive!

 

[MrMarkIII]

He sounds legit but I don't know how many sellers on eBay would sell to one address (him) then ship to another (you). Been there, done that - I told the potential buyer his address had to be Paypal confirmed and it had to be the address that showed up on the Paypal shipping page. (You can change this address manually but then you lose any seller protection).
Twice, this worked out fine; once, I never heard back from the potential buyer.
Send it Registered Mail, Global Express Guaranteed, get paid before shipping anything. It's got to be under 70 lbs. IIRC.
USPS will do free pickups, either phoned in or on their website.
I would Just Say No to anyone balking at paying in full up front.