Zeno Groenewegen
Member
There is a lot a internet fraud going on with fake ads on mutiple websites worldwide for Red One Camera's. Both M and MX.
This is a warning to prevent anybody to fall into these carefully and professional setup scams like i did. I consider myself a very
carefull person when it comes to online transactions. I found several Red equipment offers on ad sites worldwide en when showing interest sellers would
ask me to make payment on bank accounts which names did not match with the sellers names. Like accounts on womans names
in Greece. Fraud obviously. The sellers in Greece claimed that it was the bank account of the executive producers wife....
Sometimes these ads are translated with online translate services like Google translate and then placed on ad sites in the targeted country
and therefore translations with language errors but most of the time in English.
I recently found and ad for a Red One M with the following text on a Dutch ad website, it can also be found on several British sites.
"I've decided that its now time to sell my Red One camera,serial #4050
If you're looking at this listing then you probably know enough about the camera,its reputation
and capabilities.
In brief,it is a 4k single sensor digital cinema camera.
It shoots up to 30fps in 4k - 60fps at 3k - 120fps at 2k
It also shoots widescreen 2.40:1 in 4.5k resolution.
It uses standard V-Lock batteries,which are widely available"
I exchanged several email with the seller, a guy that called himself James Hill from Scotland. He seems to know a lot about the camera and provided me
with lots of photo's. After reaching an agreement i told him i don't just sent money overseas to people i don't know. He sent me a scan of his passport
to identify himself which matched his mail name as a proof of trust. I also checked the given Red serial with Red Europe but got an email back that such information is private and will not be given.
He had a perfect solution for a safe transaction, we would use FedEx Express Shipping, a service that would act as a neutral party for online transactions.
I would make payment of the total amount to FedEx, they would deliver the camera to me and i could inspect the package after deliver.
If i agreed that if everything was as as agreed i would release the funds and FedEx would pay the seller. This sounded safe to me and i agreed on this.
Then i got in invoice by email from FedEx, official mail layout logo etc with confirmation of everything and a bank account number in London
at Barclays Bank with the request to make payment. I did and transfered the money in the name of FedEx Express Shipping to the given account.
I replied to the mail with a copy of bank payment and asked for confirmation which i got by email two days later that i would be contacted when
the package would arrive in the Netherlands. I sent the seller an email that i had made payment on which he replied to thank me for my great
communication and ask me to let him know when the package has arrived. When after a week i did not receive anything i got i touch with the same
FedEx mail address. It bounced back as undeliverable and an error message that i had mailed a non existing mail address. Then all alarmbells went off.
I called the Dutch FedEx office. They knew nothing about this shipment and the trace number i had did not exist. The number combination was
something the did not use they told me. I called my bank to file a fraud report. They could not help me they said as i made payment myself and
reversing my payment was not possible. I asked why the standard name and number check as done by banks came up blank. As i made payment
in the name of FedEx how is it possible that the transaction went through to a bank account on another name? Which by the way was "blank" in the
transaction info.The bank told me that name-number checks are done at random and i just had bad luck. The James Hill seller name and email address
james4hill@gmail.com are probably fake or a case of identity theft I did mail him to confront him with all above but no answer offcourse.
I also called Red Europe again and to my surprise i did get the owner names on file for this camera this time. Offcourse no match with this seller who had
claimed to be the first and original owner.
If Red Europe would have given me the info i asked for before making payment this would not have happened. I do not understand why i did get
the requested information later on when it was too late. I lost a lot of money on this fraud so beware of Red offers like this. Don't fall for it like i did even
if it looks so solid.
This is a warning to prevent anybody to fall into these carefully and professional setup scams like i did. I consider myself a very
carefull person when it comes to online transactions. I found several Red equipment offers on ad sites worldwide en when showing interest sellers would
ask me to make payment on bank accounts which names did not match with the sellers names. Like accounts on womans names
in Greece. Fraud obviously. The sellers in Greece claimed that it was the bank account of the executive producers wife....
Sometimes these ads are translated with online translate services like Google translate and then placed on ad sites in the targeted country
and therefore translations with language errors but most of the time in English.
I recently found and ad for a Red One M with the following text on a Dutch ad website, it can also be found on several British sites.
"I've decided that its now time to sell my Red One camera,serial #4050
If you're looking at this listing then you probably know enough about the camera,its reputation
and capabilities.
In brief,it is a 4k single sensor digital cinema camera.
It shoots up to 30fps in 4k - 60fps at 3k - 120fps at 2k
It also shoots widescreen 2.40:1 in 4.5k resolution.
It uses standard V-Lock batteries,which are widely available"
I exchanged several email with the seller, a guy that called himself James Hill from Scotland. He seems to know a lot about the camera and provided me
with lots of photo's. After reaching an agreement i told him i don't just sent money overseas to people i don't know. He sent me a scan of his passport
to identify himself which matched his mail name as a proof of trust. I also checked the given Red serial with Red Europe but got an email back that such information is private and will not be given.
He had a perfect solution for a safe transaction, we would use FedEx Express Shipping, a service that would act as a neutral party for online transactions.
I would make payment of the total amount to FedEx, they would deliver the camera to me and i could inspect the package after deliver.
If i agreed that if everything was as as agreed i would release the funds and FedEx would pay the seller. This sounded safe to me and i agreed on this.
Then i got in invoice by email from FedEx, official mail layout logo etc with confirmation of everything and a bank account number in London
at Barclays Bank with the request to make payment. I did and transfered the money in the name of FedEx Express Shipping to the given account.
I replied to the mail with a copy of bank payment and asked for confirmation which i got by email two days later that i would be contacted when
the package would arrive in the Netherlands. I sent the seller an email that i had made payment on which he replied to thank me for my great
communication and ask me to let him know when the package has arrived. When after a week i did not receive anything i got i touch with the same
FedEx mail address. It bounced back as undeliverable and an error message that i had mailed a non existing mail address. Then all alarmbells went off.
I called the Dutch FedEx office. They knew nothing about this shipment and the trace number i had did not exist. The number combination was
something the did not use they told me. I called my bank to file a fraud report. They could not help me they said as i made payment myself and
reversing my payment was not possible. I asked why the standard name and number check as done by banks came up blank. As i made payment
in the name of FedEx how is it possible that the transaction went through to a bank account on another name? Which by the way was "blank" in the
transaction info.The bank told me that name-number checks are done at random and i just had bad luck. The James Hill seller name and email address
james4hill@gmail.com are probably fake or a case of identity theft I did mail him to confront him with all above but no answer offcourse.
I also called Red Europe again and to my surprise i did get the owner names on file for this camera this time. Offcourse no match with this seller who had
claimed to be the first and original owner.
If Red Europe would have given me the info i asked for before making payment this would not have happened. I do not understand why i did get
the requested information later on when it was too late. I lost a lot of money on this fraud so beware of Red offers like this. Don't fall for it like i did even
if it looks so solid.
Don't even trust paypal, theres a scam going around at the moment on ebay in London not sure if its happening else where, where the