Another Scam

Well, I hate to admit it, but I got scammed. I put out a classified ad that I needed a QHY5III174 camera.  After a few days a person named "Yuri Elson answered my classified. We agreed on a price and luckily I paid through PayPal goods and services. After the transaction was completed, "Yuri" would not answer my emails. So I filed a report with PayPal. "Yuri then responded via email with a French header. This time Yuri revealed himself to be Iliass Zitouni and not Yuri Elson. According to Yuri's profile he is supposed to be from Livingston NJ. There was also a time difference of 5 hours in the email header (Header was in French as mentioned above) of of 5 hours when email sent and when I received. So, I gathered that Yuri/Iliass is in the GMT time zone. France is 6 hours ahead of EDT, so maybe little Yuri is in Morocco? So anyway I think "Iliass" might have hacked Yuri's account and scammed me. I also wanted to point out that there now is an item for sale under Yuri's account for a 15" Obsession Dob. Caveat Emptor to anyone considering answering this classified. I also ask the administrators to look into this.



Thanks,
Richard Strouse

Richard, I got hit with this guy as well. Offer was too good to be true and was suspicious and reported it, but it still sad. :/

You paid with PayPal

Make a claim and get your money back

Good move on your part - he is no longer on the site and we are investigating

Herb

Originally Posted by Anacortes Telescopes

You paid with PayPal

Make a claim and get your money back

Good move on your part - he is no longer on the site and we are investigating

Herb

Thanks Herb. I am in the process with Paypal. Its just disheartening. First time this has happened to me. I have a feeling it was a kid.

So - a guy named Yuri says hey I have that thing you want and it is 60% off

Then you make a PayPal payment to a different name in a different country

Sometimes you guys make it hard on me.

Originally Posted by Anacortes Telescopes

So - a guy named Yuri says hey I have that thing you want and it is 60% off

Then you make a PayPal payment to a different name in a different country

Sometimes you guys make it hard on me.

No. The agreed upon price for my deal was an average amount for other such items on this site. I looked at his ratings and previous classifieds to make sure. It was only after the transaction with his email responses that I knew he was in a foreign country and not on the up and up.  I did make sure I used Paypal goods and services. I would never wire money or use Venmo.

I placed a want ad for a Obsession 15" UC.   I got a reply from our boy Yuri. What a sweet deal it was. He said he had a complete 15" UC scope with ALL the trimmings as listed on the Obsession website site for $4000 and he would pay shipping.  You know as they say "if it seems to good to be true, it usually is".  Says he would ship from Livingston, NJ.

I requested a phone number from him and actually talked to someone who spoke english.  I gave him the benefit-of-the-doubt but, something seemed off...  I don't know where the call actually went to.

RED FLAGS:
The price was $4000 then he wanted to bill me through Paypal for $5,500.
He seemed to concerned "has the money been transferred yet".
Paypal cancelled his invoice and notified me saying he was very possibly a scammer and they (Paypal) would not deal with him. At this point I had to pursue the deal on my own.

I presented this information to him via text messages. Told him I was out.  He then wanted to know if he could re-bill me through Paypal again. I replied NO.  At this point I was out for good.

I was really disapointed but glad I didn't get burned. The phone number he used to text me is 341-444-9616

Edit:  I NEVER sent the money. I was/am on vacation. Came back from sight seeing to PAY that scum bag his asking price of 4 G's but, Palpal stopped his billing process.  I owe Paypal a big thank you.

Additionally, he was VERY convincing and had knowledge about the scope.  I also had all the bells and whistles going off in my head. Everything seemed just a little off.  I know we are a eclectic mix here in this hobby and a quirky group sometimes so I wanted to cut him some slack. My desire for a very sweet deal almost got me into some serious trouble  I did try to do my do diligence.

Wow David that was a big chunk of change. Glad you didn't get taken. It's interesting that PayPal stopped the payment. I wonder if my or someone else's complaint had something to do with it.
Was his email [email protected]

What a nerve wanting to recharge you.

The 341 area code is for Oakland CA.

I got hit too.  I tried messaging the astromart support,  still no reply.  
By the way, there were red flags,  but what made it plausible was how well he knew the subject of astronomy items he was trying to sell.  

I paid via invoice,  can anybody that had similar experience please help on best way to report to paypal this fraud?
  I'm getting lost in their automated system.