Buyer Beware of polkemson

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dimaxxxl

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I will keep this post as short as possible but wanted to warn the good members of this forum. Unfortunately I fell victim to a scam at the hands of polkemson. I have had so many wonderful transactions with many great hobbyists on this forum that I let my guard down and was scammed. I purchased a radio from him and I received a package with a differnt radio in it from a different persons return address. I immediately contacted him and he said there was a shipping mistake. He claimed his daughter shipped out the wrong radio and that the correct item would be overnighted to me and tracking information provided. Days have come and gone with no package arriving and he has not been able to produce a tracking number despite promising to send it multiple times. As expected he is no longer answering any calls or texts as the excuses have run out. The fine moderator on this forum has already banned him but I’m sure he may pop again under a different username.
 

KevinC

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It's probably this guy...


 

GumbyCT

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FWIW - some years back I got in a scam deal here on RR Classifieds - and like others felt it was safe. I used Paypal which I also thought was safe - this was before Friends & Family. The bottom line Paypal told me I won the dispute but there was no money to refund me. To make matters worse that internet and fraud BS did absolutely nothing, local police did nothing. There were at least a half a dozen people that I posted they had the same problem.

Karma is the best solution for folks who do that.
 

dimaxxxl

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I have been a member for 9 years and would be shocked if I had more than a few dozen posts. I have bought things from new members before but in this case I should have been more careful.
 

KevinC

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I see @rja1 bought something from him. I wonder if he received it?

 

iMONITOR

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I'm happy to say I've been buying & selling on RR for many years, much longer than my current membership (2006) indicates, as I've had a couple other names on here over the years. All my dealings with RR members have been flawless. It's unfortunate that a few bad apples causes us to pause.

The one that shocked me the most was a guy that was on RR for quite some time. He had a massive collection of rare, unique, and expensive radios. He was very knowledgeable, helpful and overall nice guy! He bought a Radio Shack PRO-2006 from me that the famous Bill Cheek did all his modifications on. Fortunately he paid me, no problem. Soon after he started buying up all the high-end stuff on RR for a couple of months. Then he just disappeared! He no longer logged into RR, and as I recall he even sold his his house. I think some people got the police involved but I don't know if they ever found him. I don't recall the name.
 

iMONITOR

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I wonder when a scammer creates a new account if RR's admins check for duplicate I/P addresses? There should be a process to vet new members.

I like to exchange real names, first and last, of course address, phone, email, member name, years on RR, are they a premium member, etc. Even prior to shipping I look up the address on Google Maps and do the earth/street view and check out the neighborhood to determine if it should be insured and possible signature to protect me and the buyer. I'll Google the name & address to see if it matched what the person gave me.
 

rja1

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I see @rja1 bought something from him. I wonder if he received it?

Yes, I did receive it..........but the transaction made me VERY uneasy. I've been looking for a 7010T for a while. Ended up doing a trade of a Unication G5 (that I bought at a Ham fest for $200, in the box with all accessories & paper work) plus some cash for the Icom pkg. I already had a G5, but surely wasn't going to pass up a G5 for $200. He wanted the cash as friend & family (Paypal) & that gave me some pause. When I did the deal, I sent the cash via Paypal for goods or services, so I had some protection for that part of the deal. When I sent the package, I paid for "Adult Signature Required". I made a video of exactly what went into the box, taping up the box with filament tape & affixing the USPS Priority Mail shipping label. He sent me a picture of the box with the USPS Priority Mail shipping label. We exchanged tracking numbers. When I got the package, I did video of opening it up in the presence of the mail delivery person, just in case it contained a rock instead of a radio. I did get an ICOM F7010T, two good BP-284 Li-ion batteries & a BC-219N. He said he would send the software on a thumb drive, but it wasn't included in the package.

I feel VERY lucky that I didn't get burned on this transaction.

BE CAREFUL WHO YOU DEAL WITH!
rja1
 

spacellamaman

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the seller did not meet my minimum seller standards

so i was thinking about buying a scanner from a guy on here, but it appears to be a good deal and no one has jumped on it. which seems odd. got me thinking.

so how do you guys determine if you feel ok with the seller, especially if its a first time seller, since there is no rating or whathaveyou, since the classifieds are not a primary function here. if i wanted to sell something it would be a first time for me, and i would want to only deal with Postal Money Orders personally, which is the same for the one I am thinking about buying, so I don't feel that is a "bad vibe indicator" or anything. it just doesn't allow for any clawback :)
 
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