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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Bummer First Post - Scammed by 'Kate Strugenko'

I just checked my email and went back through her posts. It looks fishy. I emailed because she didn't have a location on her profile. I tend not to even approach users if I don't know where they are shipping from and they don't have a location on the profile.

When I emailed her and asked where she was, she said Kiev Ukraine. I was going to be in Germany so I said maybe I would give her the address in Germany but i never followed up with the sale. Its a hotmail address but I will look at the header and see if i can find anything.

Again Jesse let me know how i can help, if you want I can contact my friend and see if he recognizes the payment designee information she gave you for the wire.

Regards,
Josh
 
i bought my whole kit through RU. only things i didn't buy were i wanted paglink batteries, dsmc belt clip, paglink charger, nikon AL mount, and usb3 redmag reader...rest of the kit all used... besides tripod and 8mm fisheye...
 
as I said, not every apple is bad. Its just that it is a hotbed for scams. A lot of fishing comes from there. I just did a great transaction for a funky piece of audio gear with a guy from Russia and it was a smooth transaction. I'm just saying I tend to investigate a little heavier, usually require phone call/skype something else and some other verification if I'm dealing with someone who has limited history and is from a place that often is a source for these sorts of scams.
 
I have bought a lot of camera stuffs from RU and except for one $250 transaction, I had no issues at all (and even the $250 I got it back from Amex).

Even Paypal is not 100% secure for buyers, I have done several transactions both domestically and internationally using Paypal in RU as well outside (ebay/amazon marketplaces). Never accept money requests sent through Paypal Mobile in your computer internet browsers - because if a seller sends a money request from their mobile, you will not know whether they used the "Goods" options or "Services/Gift" option. Remember Paypal won't cover the "gift/services options", only "Goods" are covered under paypal buyer protection. Even if you use paypal, use a credit card to pay through paypal, this way you will be double protected. Though most of the time Credit card companies go with Paypal's decision on a disputed transaction, it is always better to have two different people defend you and credit cards like Amex provide one year warranty for products bought using their card.

As Joshua said, all former Soviet countries, Brazil and some southeast Asian countries are highly vulnerable to fraud and try to avoid those - it is not just the buyers, but the customs officials and transport carriers are bad and most of the fraud happens at this level. Also their customs laws are so stringent (socialist/communist "closed economy" principles/ideas/laws) and these folks manipulate/exploit it to their benefit.

Good Luck and safe buying/selling in RU. Thanks a lot to RU administrators for keeping this place safe!
 
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Hey Jesse, welcome to Reduser.

You asked about how can you prove your credentials here . I think, now you've posted some links it goes along way to creating some cred.

Buying or selling here can be safer than other routes. My rule here , never buy or sell too someone with a low post count & who has only recently joined, unfortunately you fall into that but with posted links that will help . Small items paypal fine, as long as they provide tracking number. Bigger items escrow or face to face. No western union or direct deposits.

Hotmail or msn accounts also raises some flags.

"kate" or other aliases scam was always sus , 512 SSD WTF for a 1st timer.
 
first of all - i feel really sorry for all scammed Buyers here. but how does it happend ??? i do business in internet for over nine Years. buy and sell hundred items monthly and never even smelled scam. all scammed Buyers just wanted to do "business of their lives". they buy things a lot under their real value from not well checked users. this is how it works.
my advice. just buy from well checked Sellers, do not believe in "amazing deals" and You will avoid scams. i try to sell many items here in good, under new item prices, but Buyers are still looking for better offers and do business with scammers, because they give better prices for... non existing items! this is main problem here and that's why scammed Buyers have to pay for it. sorry for my words. but there's no better prices than offers from well known or trusted Sellers. everything has to get it's price. so please, do not cry here, becuse You've been cheated. just do business with Sellers who has reputation here, has accounts on eBay, take PayPal or Escrow payments. there's NO bargain prices for many items. there's no amazing deals here. there are just better than normal or new prices deals. and You have to remember it. and DO NOT do wire transfers transactions. this is really stupid thing. ONLY PayPal transaction or Escrow. if someone is not taking PayPal he has something to hide. that's why wire transfers are NOT so safe and many Buyers get scammed so often.
i have full awareness of my words. i'm just read some posts about scamms here and can't understand it. many says "only wire transfers for my transaction", but how can Buyers do it if there's so many scammers even in elite senior members here ? and like i said before - if someone do not accept PayPal or Escrow he has something to hide or just is aware of it's own ass and this is not 100% fair with potential Buyer, because we have to be partners in business with the same rights and no one has to be 'over the transaction'. becuse it's NOT fair!
this is my opinion.
and i'm sorry for my English - it's not my main language.
 
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Another Scam!?!

I have read through most of the posts, but also being a noob the real problem is that ultimately you would not navigate to this site until you were either:

a) Considering buying a RED

or

b) Had newly purchased one

or a cynical

c) Worked for the competition and wanted to sully the brand.

I have no rapport with anybody on this site, I have not met most with the exception of a few in real life, all of my relationships here are virtual, so without the benefit of intimacy how can you make a judgement on who is who and what is what.

I was directed here by RED themselves when I called them, if I were to be an unscrupulous con artist then surely I would be attracted to an unregulated Market Place, makes sense.

I have no solution past suggesting that RED have a database of ALL registered red users, this is important as we all know no reg no firmware etc, etc... Why would it not be possible for them to actually create a users market place, that would without question create buyer confidence.

People would be compelled to sell through this and it would ween out the scam artists, I understand that it may not have helped Jesse, however the problem extends far beyond a red mag to whole kits being sold either broken or fake, with big sums being transferred.

Also, if the market place had a rating system, and a connection to paypals api then you would not only be able to see if the user had a trading rep but also you would be covered by paypals policies.

Just a though
 
Simon N said:
Why can't this forum instigate a feedback score as per dvxuser, which is to all intents and purposes is based on the same structure. I know it wouldn't weed out all dodgy dealings, but at least it would give a starting point for someone to make a judgement on the validity of their purchase.
Click to expand...

Good question !!! :001_cool:
 
Unless i know the seller, or he/she knows someone on Reduser that i know and can vouch for the seller, i do not purchase. Always do lots of research. Most serious Redusers will have lots of information about them online, personal or business websites. It's not difficult to do some homework for yourself, if the info isn't out there, or they can't supply good solid referees then don't purchase. A very good adage " If it seems to good to be true it usually is" . Even after all this research you can still have a difficult trade, but you're less likely to get scammed completely. For me the perfect deal is face to face, but it's not always possible. I think sometimes in the rush to do a deal there is a certain amount of willful blindness that takes place, it's easy to do but can prove fatal.
 
Robert Horwell said:
Unless i know the seller, or he/she knows someone on Reduser that i know and can vouch for the seller, i do not purchase. Always do lots of research. Most serious Redusers will have lots of information about them online, personal or business websites. It's not difficult to do some homework for yourself, if the info isn't out there, or they can't supply good solid referees then don't purchase. A very good adage " If it seems to good to be true it usually is" . Even after all this research you can still have a difficult trade, but you're less likely to get scammed completely. For me the perfect deal is face to face, but it's not always possible. I think sometimes in the rush to do a deal there is a certain amount of willful blindness that takes place, it's easy to do but can prove fatal.
Click to expand...


Are you kidding me? Its quite easy to hide in gmail or yahoo account. Build a fake website and add a number. I believe there are scammers here among us. REDusers are posting just so they can get some creditability.

A few here I don't trust or will never buy from. I think some here aren't who they really are or using fake credentials like we have been seeing here.

How do you protect yourself? Please explain. One member here mentioned about gmail accounts and tracking IP address? How?
 
I believe sometimes if you know what to look for you can find the relay In an email header that shows the address logged at the point of departure but would need to research more
 
Another good cross-check would be a solid ebay account.
It would be a nice thing to ask, because who's into buy/sell today, must have an ebay account for sure.
 
Groan.... Here we go, again...

This Kate has a lot of solid posts to their credit on here. That said, when the whole Ryan Boyer thing was blowing up, Kate was one of the whistle blowers. Almost to the point of being a bit fishy. I swapped a couple PM's with "Kate", won't discuss details of that for obvious reasons, but it seemed a bit fishy and a little too convenient. Now this is happening. So not sure what's up... Interesting that it's a REDMAG ordeal when Kate's original whistle-blowing as in regards to Ryan Boyer's too good to be true REDMAG scam. wow.

Not sure who to believe here. And I think this is one big reason why us moderators and site admins have a hard time jumping into these sorts of things. Damned if we do, damned if we don't... To jump in and try and sort it out, we incur tons of liability. If we sit back and do nothing users feel as if we're ignoring a huge problem.

When it all comes down to it, this is caveat emptor at it's core. You have to protect yourself whenever conducting a transaction through a medium like the internet. Check every reference and resource that you can. I pretty much don't buy from anyone unless they have a couple credible references. Or I use a third-party such as RED (for the camera) or an escrow service. Some cheaper items are not worth the hassle and I'll conduct the transaction if I feel the risk is fairly low.


...some of the scams we moderators read about or see here on Reduser leave us just shaking our heads. Some people are pretty darn naive and trusting. And it seems the scammers have figured this out and are hitting Reduser pretty hard right now. Just because someone is a member of this community it doesn't mean they are a reliable seller, buyer, etc.. Due diligence in researching a potential transaction is of the utmost importance here. That and a good helping of common sense. If it's too good to be true, walk away.
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
Groan.... Here we go, again...

This Kate has a lot of solid posts to their credit on here. That said, when the whole Ryan Boyer thing was blowing up, Kate was one of the whistle blowers. Almost to the point of being a bit fishy. I swapped a couple PM's with "Kate", won't discuss details of that for obvious reasons, but it seemed a bit fishy and a little too convenient. Now this is happening. So not sure what's up... Interesting that it's a REDMAG ordeal when Kate's original whistle-blowing as in regards to Ryan Boyer's too good to be true REDMAG scam. wow.

Not sure who to believe here. And I think this is one big reason why us moderators and site admins have a hard time jumping into these sorts of things. Damned if we do, damned if we don't... To jump in and try and sort it out, we incur tons of liability. If we sit back and do nothing users feel as if we're ignoring a huge problem.

When it all comes down to it, this is caveat emptor at it's core. You have to protect yourself whenever conducting a transaction through a medium like the internet. Check every reference and resource that you can. I pretty much don't buy from anyone unless they have a couple credible references. Or I use a third-party such as RED (for the camera) or an escrow service. Some cheaper items are not worth the hassle and I'll conduct the transaction if I feel the risk is fairly low.


...some of the scams we moderators read about or see here on Reduser leave us just shaking our heads. Some people are pretty darn naive and trusting. And it seems the scammers have figured this out and are hitting Reduser pretty hard right now. Just because someone is a member of this community it doesn't mean they are a reliable seller, buyer, etc.. Due diligence in researching a potential transaction is of the utmost importance here. That and a good helping of common sense. If it's too good to be true, walk away.
Click to expand...

I think you need to specify that who points up a scam make also a service to this community.

I know that is obvious, but please don't let pass the message that now every people that write a post about a scammer is fishy and it's building a rep over that fact.
FYI miss Kate wasn't too good to be true: she was selling 64gb for $550.

Personally i don't appreciate too much your comment, because it looks to me like a "one way speculation".
I'm almost new here, but i dealt with Arnaud Paris for a 7"LCD and a couple of other things, i bought equipment from Allstar and i'll trade again for stuff i need.

If you want to do something really useful, more than your advice, since it seems you are very active, you can keep track of the "done deals" and the satisfied buyers/sellers, checking every transaction and trade in this forum.

Otherwise, allow me to not agree at all at your "fishing whistle blower" thing, because without people interested to collaborate and resolve fraud issues, we can fall into anarchy and create a good environment for the next scams.

All this, obviously, with the due respect to your moderator status from me.

Jean
 
Geoff V said:
Are you kidding me? Its quite easy to hide in gmail or yahoo account. Build a fake website and add a number. I believe there are scammers here among us. REDusers are posting just so they can get some creditability.

A few here I don't trust or will never buy from. I think some here aren't who they really are or using fake credentials like we have been seeing here.

How do you protect yourself? Please explain. One member here mentioned about gmail accounts and tracking IP address? How?
Click to expand...


Geoff, with respect, i've been on reduser for 6 years and bought over 200K of used kit on here, everything i do has always stood me in fairly good stead. I am sharing my experience in the hope it may help a fellow reduser, and don't really appreciate your curt manner especially for someone who has been on here for a couple of months.
 
Jean Maurizio said:
I think you need to specify that who points up a scam make also a service to this community.
Click to expand...

Members who point out a scam can be a service, that is true. Unfortunately, there are, or have been several instances of users pointing their finger and it turns out to be false. How are we supposed to sift through all of this? It can be a full-time job to investigate just one of these scam instances, let alone the several that have been popping up lately. This Kate person was one of the key members who helped notify us moderators and forum administration about Ryan Boyer and the scams he was running. At the same time, Kate's interaction with myself via private message was somewhat strange. This Kate person seems to have run a nearly identical REDMAG scam as to what they claimed Ryan Boyer was attempting to do to them. So perhaps Kate and Ryan are the same person? At least that's one of my theories and the most prominent one I have at the moment.

I know that is obvious, but please don't let pass the message that now every people that write a post about a scammer is fishy and it's building a rep over that fact.
FYI miss Kate wasn't too good to be true: she was selling 64gb for $550.
Click to expand...

Personally i don't appreciate too much your comment, because it looks to me like a "one way speculation".
I'm almost new here, but i dealt with Arnaud Paris for a 7"LCD and a couple of other things, i bought equipment from Allstar and i'll trade again for stuff i need.

If you want to do something really useful, more than your advice, since it seems you are very active, you can keep track of the "done deals" and the satisfied buyers/sellers, checking every transaction and trade in this forum.
Click to expand...

That's not really the purpose of this forum, and it pushes the administration of this forum into an area of greater liability. Not my call to make. I'm just a moderator. Being an active member does not necessarily increase my authority on such things, I have no administrative privileges. Nor am I an employee, paid or otherwise, nor an authorized agent of Landmine Media, the ownership of this forum. Believe me, us moderators do have discussions over these matters, but have yet to come up with a truly good way to offer better protection to the users here. Sites like ebay spend millions of $$$ every year and still have many instances of fraud. And of some of the ideas/ suggestions we have come up with, there is still the matter of appealing to the administrative personnel to see what they think and to wait and see if they are willing or able to implement such measures.

Otherwise, allow me to not agree at all at your "fishing whistle blower" thing, because without people interested to collaborate and resolve fraud issues, we can fall into anarchy and create a good environment for the next scams.

All this, obviously, with the due respect to your moderator status from me.

Jean
Click to expand...

And I respect your opinion on the matter and I'm always willing to listen.
 
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