Hi all,

I've a puzzler for you...

For several days now I've watched this scam unfold on TradeMe. The person puts up a NEW MacPro for sale, says he'll sell it for a mere $800. But you have to email him, there's no buy now. I've seen some under Sony computers as well -- and you can find these under expired listings, but the listing itself will be removed.

The one that's up at the moment is here:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Computers/Apple/Laptops/auction-129024848.htm

When you email he (?) tells you that he only sells via TradeMe's SafeTrader and asks for your full name and address.

So, I ask, dear reader, what is the scam? Keep in mind that TradeMe removes these listings usually within 30 minutes. Note also, that TradeMe does not want anyone noticiing this scam. I've seen them removing the user from the site and then even removing most all traces of that user (as in old questions on listings, etc).

Wow, it's weird to me. I even saw several listed under a genuine usernames. One user was from the North Shore selling something that had to be picked up only. I asked questions about whether s/he knew there username was being used, but got no reply. TradeMe has now killed this username. Hmmm....

Richard
ihelp.net.nz