[time-nuts] Watch out for a scam by Alex Barski. VE3XAX

Collins, Graham CollinG at navcanada.ca
Wed Jun 15 11:51:13 UTC 2011


Good morning David (and all),

Unfortunately this type of behavior is becoming more common and I read
about such happenings far too frequently. Usually starts from someone
posting a "wanted" ad someplace.

You are correct, from you description this sounds like a scam plain and
simple. Asking for payment via Western Union is one of the BIG
indicators. You did your homework and made the right call. 

There are a number of websites devoted to out-smarting the scammers (a
quick google search will find them). There are some individuals that
make a sport out of screwing over those that they can and go to great
lengths to do so.

However, I know of Alex, he belongs to same the ham radio contest club
that I do - Contest Club Ontario and is a member in good standing and I
have not heard of any complaints.

http://www.va3cco.com/index.htm

Concerns about Alex could be asked about through the club executive.

Alex also holds callsign ve3kf - the QRZ web page for KF has a yahoo
email address and the email address in part includes another previous
ve3 callsign he has held.

I think the real issue is that there is someone or some group pretending
to be Alex ve3xax and is attempting to perpetrate a scam and NOT that
Alex ve3xax is behind the scam. I guess what I find inappropriate is
your subject line in that it is directly being accusatory. 

Scam artists always pretend to be something or someone they are not.

I would suggest that if you already have not, contact the real Alex
through the Contest Club Ontario and advise him of what is going on and
your concern. He may already be aware of someone defaming his name but
then again he may not. As you have already posted to a variety of other
email groups and reflectors including at least one of the ham radio
contest lists I would suspect that Alex is already aware.

Play along with the scammer if you like, you may figure out where he is
located and it will most likely not be in North America and could be
somewhere in Europe or else where (think Africa).


Cheers, Graham ve3gtc


-----Original Message-----
From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On
Behalf Of David Kirkby
Sent: June 15, 2011 06:42
To: amps
Cc: kenwood at mailman.qth.net; Discussion of precise time and frequency
measurement; Yaesu
Subject: [time-nuts] Watch out for a scam by Alex Barski. VE3XAX

I advertised on eHam.net and qrz.com that I was looking for a Kenwood
AT-230 ATU. I got a reply from someone claiming to be Alex Barski from
Canada with the callsign VE3XAX who has an email address of
ve3xax at blumail.org. I've no idea if his real name is that, or if he
holds that callsign, but I'm suspicious.

This person offered me the ATU for $220 shipped to my house, but there
were a number of things that make me suspicious this is a scam.

1) When I checked on QRZ.COM, the address and name did not agree with
the callsign. The only similarity was they were in Canada. Today when
I checked, the information agreed.But yesterday they were definitely
different.

2) When I offered to pay via Paypal, I received this:

"Thanks for the response to my email David but i am sorry i don't use
paypal or bank transfer as means of payment due to the instruction
giving to me by my bank and lawyer but i will entertain any other safe
and reliable mode of payment. Also what is your full shipping
information and we can discuss about the payment over the phone, give
me your number and i will give you a call to talk."

This immediately made me "smell a rat", but I decided to play along
and gave him my mobile phone number.

3) Today he rings me, withholding the number, and says Western Union
would be a safe method of payment.

I'm rather sorry I did not play him along a lot longer, but I told him
the deal was off. I might email him and say I had second thoughts, and
will string him along for a bit of fun. But basically be aware.

Today I looked on qrz.com and found others have basically formed the
same conclusion of this person

http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?300792-Fake-VE3XAX-Scam-from-wanted
-add

The strange thing is, the other person reporting the scam also played
along with it. Sometimes these scams can be fun! I think I'll play
along a bit more too.

there.




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