Re: [RSGBTechnical] Some suspiciously cheap RF test kit on eBay UK
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Dr. David Kirkby from Kirkby Microwave Ltd
On Mon, 8 Oct 2018 at 13:26, Dr. David Kirkby < drkirkby@...> wrote: This seems to be a regular occurrence on high end test kit. I have seen it many times. It usually occurs at a weekend when businesses are closed and so I guess less likely to spot their account has been hacked.?
Once I decided to play along, to see what happened on a Keighley 2002 8.5 digit multimeter. I claimed I would make the bank transfer requested, but could not do it within the 24 hours requested. With that the seller said he sent via FedEx, but would ask FedEx to return if he didn't receive the money. The email had a link that looked like the FedEx website, which showed the parcel in transit, but was clearly not the FedEx website
I "won" the auction for a faulty RF impedance analyzer at ?310
but needless to say I am not going to pay for it. If it was genuine it would be worth getting repaired, but of course it is not genuine.
Dave
I'm quite surprised eBay are not more on the ball. I won that auction, and they keep sending me messages to pay for it. Today I rang and told them it was a scam. They said it would be reported, but I could ask the seller to cancel the order. I suppose the poor seller had a hard time, as someone put 1500 items up for sale, some of which people have paid for by PayPal. I could not convince the lady at eBay it was a scam, despite there was a link to a site off of eBay, and despite what the seller has written in their shop.
I have sometimes bid on a couple of accounts to push the value of these fraudulent items up, to stop anyone else bidding. I push a 3458A multimeter up to ?50,000. I thought that would stop someone else bidding and being caught out. But as someone pointed out, that could backfire, as someone could think it worth taking ?50,000 for a multimeter they can buy for about ?8,000.
I would like to get a 3458A, but I am not spending ?8000 on one, or even ?4000. If one pops up at a couple of thousand pounds I would buy it, but they tend to be around ?3500.
Dave
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