[SOLVED] Is this a Scam??

_dawn_chorus_

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Aug 30, 2017
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Found an EVGA 3070 XC Ultra on my local Craigslist for $550!! (o.o)
-A red flag or a Robin Hood?
He said he'd only had the card a couple months, and I looked up the serial number he posted in the pics and sure enough it was purchased May 5th. I figured maybe he got it and his queue number came up for a higher tier card.

Then the major red flag... over our google voice text I said I'd come pick it up today and he said he has moved to Santa Monica to live with his Mom... and sent a couple more pics of the card being held in front of a gaming rig.
I wouldn't trust anyone on CL to ship something via mail... sadly.
So this must be a scam. Thoughts?
 
Depending on how far you are away from him and how willing he is to meet up somewhere in the middle, I figure it can't hurt to at least set up a meeting to have a look at the card. Maybe offer some cash (I dunno, $10 or something if it's far) for his trouble if you don't want to go through with the deal.

If anything else I'd also ask for pictures of the card in a system and with GPU-z running.
 
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_dawn_chorus_

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Depending on how far you are away from him and how willing he is to meet up somewhere in the middle, I figure it can't hurt to at least set up a meeting to have a look at the card. Maybe offer some cash (I dunno, $10 or something if it's far) for his trouble if you don't want to go through with the deal.

If anything else I'd also ask for pictures of the card in a system and with GPU-z running.

EVGA has such a generous rma policy, even for second hand cards, I felt pretty secure taking the risk. But Santa Monica is 1100 miles away.. so very suspicious. The hopeful part of me thought maybe CL posted his add in the wrong area. I sell on CL a lot and it often tries to post it in the city I used to live in.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
and he said he has moved to Santa Monica to live with his Mom
A variation on the typical apartment rental scam.

"Oh, I just moved across the country, and...."
You send him the security deposit and first months rent, he sends you the keys.
Except he has no connection with that property, at all.


If this guy just moved, why doesn't he sell it on his local craigslist? Or fleabay...
 
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EVGA has such a generous rma policy, even for second hand cards, I felt pretty secure taking the risk. But Santa Monica is 1100 miles away.. so very suspicious. The hopeful part of me thought maybe CL posted his add in the wrong area. I sell on CL a lot and it often tries to post it in the city I used to live in.
Oh yeah, if I can't see an expensive item in person, I usually won't bother.
 
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_dawn_chorus_

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A variation on the typical apartment rental scam.

"Oh, I just moved across the country, and...."
You send him the security deposit and first months rent, he sends you the keys.
Except he has no connection with that property, at all.


If this guy just moved, why doesn't he sell it on his local craigslist? Or fleabay...

Very true.. and asking BELOW msrp in the current market for a barely used product just seems unbelievable.
 
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Very true.. and asking BELOW msrp in the current market for a barely used product just seems unbelievable.
I'd give that the benefit of the doubt, but I'd rather see the item in person first.

For instance, I was able to get an Xbox One S at the beginning of the year for like $200 when the market price at the time was $400+. They also included a few controllers and several games.
 
Sometimes people just are in a jam or offer a good deal. It seemed last Nov, Lenevo and a bunch of companies were selling workstation pc's and adding a second RTX quadro 4000 in the box for people to install if they wanted 2, so I saw all these $3000 cards coming up BNIB for like $500-$1000. Grabbed one for $500 and tried for a few more but they wouldn't budge on price. This sounds fishy though,
 

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
And this by OP:

"He said he'd only had the card a couple months, and I looked up the serial number he posted in the pics and sure enough it was purchased May 5th. I figured maybe he got it and his queue number came up for a higher tier card. "

If OP could do that so could a seller/scammer.....
 

Joseph_138

Distinguished
Somehow I doubt that you would be getting a 3070 at that price in this market. He might have upgraded the cooler on his 3070, then slapped the stock 3070 cooler on an older card. He may have even gone to the trouble to flash the BIOS to identify as a 3070, like the Chinese fakers do. There's a big difference in buying on CL than on ebay. You have no way to get your money back if you get scammed on CL.