AKG C414 Scam, any help?

[JamieOxford]

Hey guys,

I recently found an AKG C414 for sale on Gumtree and decided to purchase it. The guy I was buying from (supposedly called Alan Mckay) lives in Aberdeen and I live in Oxford so I wasn't going to drive up there to buy it. I paid him online via a funds transfer and have not received the mic nor have I heard anything from him even though I've tried calling and e-mailing several times.

I'm pretty sure it's the same guy that was involved in this scam (Neumann Scam) and a few others I've heard about in Scotland.

I've reported the fraud to the police who are 'dealing' with it, to gumtree who I've had no response from, and to my bank though there's little they can do to help apparently.

I found a cached page of the advert here AKG C414 EB Microphone in Aberdeen | Studio & Live Music Equipment for Sale | Gumtree.com and also have a phone number for him which I'm unable to reach him on - 07968500671

If anyone has dealt with this seller before or has any other information of other related scams, I'd be very grateful if you could share any information you may have.

Cheers,
Jamie

EDIT: I also have bank details for the individual registered with Bank of Scotland, account number ending 1010 if anyone has anything similar.

[smokescreensam]

Exact same thing happened with me with the same guy.

Give me a PM and we can compare notes. Police are on the case for me.

[JamieOxford]

PM'd.

[kedbear]

When a deal looks too good to be true...

Always ask for an address before spending any money.
Always speak to the person you're buying from to check them out.
Always use Paypal.

I know you don't want to read this but this is for anyone who may also be tempted by this guy or any other deals.

[binarymilton]

Originally Posted by JamieOxford

Hey guys,

I recently found an AKG C414 for sale on Gumtree and decided to purchase it. The guy I was buying from (supposedly called Alan Mckay) lives in Aberdeen and I live in Oxford so I wasn't going to drive up there to buy it. I paid him online via a funds transfer and have not received the mic nor have I heard anything from him even though I've tried calling and e-mailing several times.

I'm pretty sure it's the same guy that was involved in this scam (Neumann Scam) and a few others I've heard about in Scotland.

I've reported the fraud to the police who are 'dealing' with it, to gumtree who I've had no response from, and to my bank though there's little they can do to help apparently.

I found a cached page of the advert here AKG C414 EB Microphone in Aberdeen | Studio & Live Music Equipment for Sale | Gumtree.com and also have a phone number for him which I'm unable to reach him on - 07968500671

If anyone has dealt with this seller before or has any other information of other related scams, I'd be very grateful if you could share any information you may have.

Cheers,
Jamie

EDIT: I also have bank details for the individual registered with Bank of Scotland, account number ending 1010 if anyone has anything similar.

Have you notified the Bank of Scotland? If you both paid to the same bank account, and you both complained, they might take some kind of action.

[JamieOxford]

Have you notified the Bank of Scotland? If you both paid to the same bank account, and you both complained, they might take some kind of action.

Just been discussing it. Gonna try and get on it properly on Monday.

[euphoria89]

Yep, i had noticed many offering at really low prices, all from Scotland.

It really puts you off purchasing second hand.

I really think its the same guy. Hope you can get all your money back and he's found and stopped before it happens to someone else.

[JamieOxford]

I've bought a lot of stuff online and second hand before, the majority through gumtree. I've got far better deals than that microphone and thought it was a good deal, but nothing exceptional. Smokescreensam and I have transferred details and will be contacting the police on Monday.

Anyone who is considering buying online, please use paypal, visa transfer or pay cash in person. It's just not worth losing several hundred or thousand pounds. Even if you do get it back, it's a lengthy process - something I've been working on for several weeks already.

Does anyone know how to contact an admin to get this sticky approved for a few weeks? Maybe collectively we can find some further details on the guy and track him down?

[Trev@Circle]

Originally Posted by JamieOxford

Does anyone know how to contact an admin to get this sticky approved for a few weeks? Maybe collectively we can find some further details on the guy and track him down?

pm Jules and ask him nicely...

[binarymilton]

If you use the Search facility you'll also find details of a very different recent scam somebody tried to pull on me using Gumtree. In this instance, it was someone trying to pretend they'd paid for the microphone i was trying to sell, by using a very well-designed fake Paypal email.

It won't stop me using Gumtree - you can often find some real bargains on there. But you have to be really, really careful: it looks like there are more scammers on Gumtree than there are on eBay.

[The Audioman]

I was on the verge of buying a u87 last week, the thing looked mint and we agreed on 1050 euro (to good to be true). Anyway, the last mail he sent was some vague story about him and his wife had to move suddenly but the deal could still proceed. When I googled some words of his mail, i came across someone who got scammed on an expensive mountainbike and he received the exact same mail. Saved me just in time.... I reported it, but doubt they'll do anything with it.

[Bullseye]

I find it remarkable that the police don't do more about this. I seriously doubt it would be that hard to track the guy down. Presumably it would take quite a bit of work to prosecute considering jurisdictional problems, evidence problems and such.

Caveat Emptor when buying anything over the net is the best policy. Always assume a scam and put the burden on the seller to prove legitimacy. I do no buy gear over the net. That is my policy and I will stick to it. The overall savings I might get could be gone in one scam not to mention how easy it is to show a photo of one item and send another.

[maverickrenegade]

There are a few online sites which will give you the address of a person for a small fee. My girlfriend's bike was stolen and then posted on gumtree the next morning. I rang the number asking to buy the bike and went to meet the guy with a few friends with me. We told him we knew he'd stolen it and took the bike back. There was no force involved.

Or you could find the address and ring his local police station and give them the address. The more you can do to aid the police, the better..

[binarymilton]

Originally Posted by maverickrenegade

There are a few online sites which will give you the address of a person for a small fee ... you could find the address and ring his local police station and give them the address. The more you can do to aid the police, the better..

only if you have the name of the person.

it's highly unlikely the guy's given his actual name.

if there were a site that could give you an address for a mobile phone number, then you might get somewhere...

[maverickrenegade]

He must have the name to make the bank payment?

[maverickrenegade]

The mobile number would just be a pay-as-you-go and untraceable.. It's about the name and the bank details.. Good Luck!!

[binarymilton]

Originally Posted by maverickrenegade

He must have the name to make the bank payment?

Good point. It's still problematic, because Alan McKay is a common name.

Alan Mckay - Email, Address, Phone numbers, everything! www.123people.co.uk

123people lists five people called Alan McKay living in Aberdeen. But there's no way of telling which of those 5 is our man.

There's also the problem that, without being told by the Royal Bank of Scotland, we don't know for sure he even lives in Aberdeen: that's only what he says.

@Jamie: what was the exact name he provided for bank transfer details? What was the bank's sort-code (address?). From the bank's sort-code we can google it and get the location of his bank. You didn't notice what paricular area of Aberdeen he was supposedly from, did you? What was the email address he gave - just a Gumtree one?

[jmikeperkins]

The 414EB in the photo has a brass ring CK12 capsule which you can see if you look closely enough at the picture. With that capsule, in good working condition, that would make the mic worth about $2,000. If it had a replacement, nylon ring capsule like they use on the current 414, it would be worth about $600 - $700 and price would make sense.

[alvinphoto&sound]

Gumtree might be able to help if they keep logs of connections to their servers. If the do, they can check which IP address connected to them and posted the post you see or used that same account to post other things, then from there the IP address is traceable back to the ISP (ISP are allocated a range of IP addresses whic they buy and use eclusively to give to clients using their service) which if they do keep logs of who use their ISP service and the time and IP, and DNS and what not and which actual real life person's account this is with them (usually they'd be able to see which one of their client got that IP at what time) , then they can find him assuming he didn't use any proxy trickery or similar IP masking tools.

I hope this helps

[RFZ DUDE]

The same mic has been offered over here in Berlin on Ebay Kleinanzeigen recently, most probably the same guy.His answer to my inquiry reminded me a lot of an answer i got when inquiring for a Neumann console that has been offered in Berlin by a guy from Scotland a year or two ago.Crappy guy.

[subzero]

Had a run in with what I believe to be a scam a few weeks ago on this forum actually. We negotiated a price on some gear, but when it came time to pay, he said that he was having issues with his bank, and to give him my bank info and he would deposit the money in my account. He said he had references he's dealt with this way before, but since I've asked for them, I haven't heard anything from him.

The username is J-Beam. He has 0 posts on GS and seems to peruse the second hand classifieds. If he has any evidence to refute this claim, I'll pull this post down, but I think everyone else on GS should be informed.

[Graal]

Hey guys,
Could this be a fake C414?

AKG C414 B-ULS Condenser Cable Professional Microphone NR FREE SHIPPING!!!! | eBay

Cheers!

[JamieOxford]

Thanks for all the replies. I thought I'd responded to your posts but obviously not!

Could this be a fake C414?

Graal, it looks pretty genuine to me. What makes you think it's a fake?

I find it remarkable that the police don't do more about this.

Apparently the police are 'working on it' but I'm surprised they aren't doing more. Gonna have a chat with them again tomorrow.

I'm not sure if that's his real name or not but I think it's the right name of the account. Whether it's his account is a different thing altogether though.

@Jamie: what was the exact name he provided for bank transfer details? What was the bank's sort-code (address?). From the bank's sort-code we can google it and get the location of his bank. You didn't notice what paricular area of Aberdeen he was supposedly from, did you? What was the email address he gave - just a Gumtree one?

The sort code is 804635 and the bank is in Edinburgh. The name he gave is Alan Mckay but like I said, it might not be his account or he may have registered it with a fake ID/passport. I don't know which part of Aberdeen he's from and I don't have an e-mail for him. Gumtree have also been pretty useless in responding to my e-mails and they don't have a contact number.

The 414EB in the photo has a brass ring CK12 capsule which you can see if you look closely enough at the picture.

The picture isn't the best quality and it was listed with the Nylon one. It's not really an excuse but then again I didn't think I would be ripped off.

The same mic has been offered over here in Berlin on Ebay Kleinanzeigen recently, most probably the same guy.

I did a search of ebay having read your post and couldn't find it. Do you have a link for it at all? Or do you have the seller's ebay name? If it is the same guy (or you think it is), I could refer that on to the police and see where that goes.

Had a run in with what I believe to be a scam a few weeks ago on this forum actually. We negotiated a price on some gear, but when it came time to pay, he said that he was having issues with his bank, and to give him my bank info and he would deposit the money in my account. He said he had references he's dealt with this way before, but since I've asked for them, I haven't heard anything from him.

The username is J-Beam. He has 0 posts on GS and seems to peruse the second hand classifieds. If he has any evidence to refute this claim, I'll pull this post down, but I think everyone else on GS should be informed.

They're bastards. All of them.

[fredouli]

Originally Posted by JamieOxford

The picture isn't the best quality and it was listed with the Nylon one. It's not really an excuse but then again I didn't think I would be ripped off.

They're bastards. All of them.

yeah, no one would sell a brass cap as a nylon!

but yeah total git. this could be the same guy that i've had contact with previously over neve and cadac desks.. i kept on pushing him for info and managed to see through the scam eventually.
he tried to send me to scotland and then Hull - not realising i was actually in the north of England, and it's not too far! he quickly vanished and stopped answering mails when I said I'm down the road. good luck!!

[JamieOxford]

this could be the same guy that i've had contact with previously over neve and cadac desks.. i kept on pushing him for info and managed to see through the scam eventually.

I don't suppose you have any contact details: e-mail addresses/phone numbers/ebay IDs do you? They probably aren't still valid but might be useful to the police for tracing.

[fredouli]

Sure to have an email, not sure if any more tho.. Will check tomorrow

[Space Station]

nasty...

I have to say it seems crazy to me these guys that advertise in scotland/shetland isles and still getting peoples money after all these years of scamming...

95% of all high end audio/guitar/synth/mics cameras etc on Gumtree are 100% fake. If you really believe it, you drive and pay cash. If you can't you don't buy it.

[binarymilton]

Originally Posted by Space Station

nasty...

I have to say it seems crazy to me these guys that advertise in scotland/shetland isles and still getting peoples money after all these years of scamming...

95% of all high end audio/guitar/synth/mics cameras etc on Gumtree are 100% fake. If you really believe it, you drive and pay cash. If you can't you don't buy it.

well, no, not quite... surely there's no real ultimate risk in using Paypal? Paypal remains very pro-buyer. If you pay for something via Paypal and it doesn't turn up, Paypal will reimburse you. (Well, that's is what happened to me, when a banjo I bought arrived smashed in half!)

FWIW, I'll be selling an AKG C414B XLS on Gumtree shortly. So if you notice a London-based 414B on there in the next couple of weeks, it's genuine.

[Space Station]

Originally Posted by binarymilton

well, no, not quite... surely there's no real ultimate risk in using Paypal? Paypal remains very pro-buyer. If you pay for something via Paypal and it doesn't turn up, Paypal will reimburse you. (Well, that's is what happened to me, when a banjo I bought arrived smashed in half!)

FWIW, I'll be selling an AKG C414B XLS on Gumtree shortly. So if you notice a London-based 414B on there in the next couple of weeks, it's genuine.

Paypal doesnt cover goods 100% out of ebay, in that instance the buyer protection scheme is very poor. The seller can easily just close his account the second your money hits his.

paypal carries huge risk outside of ebay.

[Johnny2cool]

New to this forum - did a quick mobile phone number search for 447968500671 and came to this forum post.... he's changed his name to Donald Davis now though!!!

It's a long one but please read this!!!!!!

I'm afraid to say I to have been scammed by the guy on Gumtree who sold the AKG C414. I saw an add for a second hand Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin ipod dock for £200
from a fella in Aberdeen City center calling himself Donald Davis - I live in wales, so couldn't go to see it. The ipod docks were going from approx £230 to £280 on ebay so I though that this sounded like a reasonable deal, as with shipping this would be £220. I asked to arrange the sale with paypal, but via email and text he explained that he had closed his paypal account due to missmanagment of funds previously (which sounded plausable, as I know a few people stung by paypal).
We agreed to a bank transfer - he gave me his details and address, but as soon as the transfer took place, he started playing up - claiming that the funds had not arrived. I had to get my bank to trace the money, and it was only then that he agreed that he had recieved the funds.
I can clearly see know that I have been scammed - as the item has not arrived and he has not answered my calls, emails or texts.

The bank account for Bank of Scotland:02331010 and sort code 80 46 35 Iv'e traced to an account on George Street in Edinburgh - So I think the Aberdeen address was bogus.... Also as a side note - I did a 192.com search for all spellings of Davis and Davies in Edinburgh and found a D Davies who lives just over 1 mile from the Bank branch that the money went into... I spoke to a friend who used to live in Edinburgh and apparently the area of Edinburgh that Mr D Davies lives in is a very posh and the people that reside have plenty of money - If it's our guy I can understand how he can afford to live there by ripping people off.

This may not be the guy but its a hell of a coincidence the address is
84 Ravelston dykes - Edinburgh EH12 6HE landline 0131 337 6044.

I haven't been to the police yet but, on the back of this forum I will this Wednesday on my day off