WARNING - SCAM listed on Gumtree.com for READING TICKETS

philipjq · Joined: 17 Apr 2008 Posts: 1

This is a warning to all!! I just encountered a scam on Gumtree.com, someone, "Matt", scaming people to sell READING FESTIVAL tickets. For example, items:

Gumtree.com ad #22844033: 2 x READING Festival Tickets - with WEEKEND Camping!!

Gumtree.com ad #22843993: 2 Tickets READING FESTIVAL WEEKEND/CAMPING HAnd

I think there is one more from the same "seller". He will email you telling you that he only does transactions over eBay. You then get an email from "ebay" that in fact is not, if you sign into your account you see that there is no purchase there. He requests payment via moneygram and not paypal. Also, the email header shows it is NOT from eBay but from the server outblaze.com. See header below.

I did not get scammed since I look for this sort of thing so don't let it me you!!

EMAIL HEADER:

Return-Path: <safe-purchase@insurer.com>

Received: from webmail-outgoing.us4.outblaze.com (webmail-outgoing.us4.outblaze.com [205.158.62.67])

by mx.google.com with ESMTP id 32si2194783wri.0.2008.04.17.10.14.06;
Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:14:07 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: neutral (google.com: 205.158.62.67 is neither permitted nor denied by best guess record for domain of safe-purchase@insurer.com) client-ip=205.158.62.67;

Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=neutral (google.com: 205.158.62.67 is neither permitted nor denied by best guess record for domain of safe-purchase@insurer.com) smtp.mail=safe-purchase@insurer.com

Received: from wfilter.us4.outblaze.com.int (wfilter.us4.outblaze.com.int [192.168.9.180])

by webmail-outgoing.us4.outblaze.com (Postfix) with QMQP id 995721800120
for <phil.quayle@gmail.com>; Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:14:05 +0000 (GMT)

X-OB-Received: from unknown (205.158.62.182)
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Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="_----------=_1208452444177895"
MIME-Version: 1.0
From: eBay <safe-purchase@insurer.com>

To: phil.quayle@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:14:00 -0500
Subject: eBay Transaction Started - 2 x READING Festival Tickets - with
WEEKEND Camping!
Received: from [86.123.209.106] by ws1-6.us4.outblaze.com with http for

safe-purchase@insurer.com; Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:14:00 -0500
X-Originating-Ip: 86.123.209.106
X-Originating-Server: ws1-6.us4.outblaze.com

Message-Id: <20080417171405.6600F1CE7C0@ws1-6.us4.outblaze.com>

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

the_tidy_kiwi · Gumtree Moderator Joined: 26 Feb 2007 Posts: 523

Thanks for letting us know. I have removed these ads from the site.

Please see this thread for information on how to keep safe when buying tickets on Gumtree: http://forums.gumtree.com/viewtopic.php?t=157815&sid=4630ffde718ebeb02f1f13afccef8869

Be extra careful with festival tickets. There are a lot of genuine sellers, but check first that the tickets actually exsist, and follow the other tips we offer.

andy kennedy · Joined: 30 Apr 2008 Posts: 2

Hi, I have just found out that my daughter has paid £320.00 for 2 weekend tickets and £30.00 fee to find out that this is a scam. Does anyone know anymore about this. She is a student and has worked hard to save for these tickets which was her celebration of leaving Uni.
Does anyone know if there is any way of getting her money back etc. The details she gave me was that she sent the money to a Micael Raned in Bridge Street Manchester which happens to be a record shop and they have never heard of him but have had a few calls re Reading Tickets.

If there is anything anyone can do to help please let me know.

Thanks

montyzuma · Community Moderator Joined: 25 Jul 2007 Posts: 2611

how did she pay?

andy kennedy · Joined: 30 Apr 2008 Posts: 2

Money Gram in Thomas Cook. Paid money in, got a reference number which she gave him to go and collect the money 2 hours later.

the_tidy_kiwi · Gumtree Moderator Joined: 26 Feb 2007 Posts: 523

Dirty Mom · Joined: 15 Jan 2008 Posts: 1124

rob2516 · Joined: 11 May 2008 Posts: 1

Hi,

Here is a reply i recieved which fits in with these scammers!

Hello,
I am selling the 2 tickets for £320.The price including shipping.You will receive the tickets in 24 hours.
I will do this transaction only trough eBay.In order to start the transaction please reply me with your full name, address and your eBay id.eBay will send you an invoice how to purchase the tickets from me !
Reply me and let me know
Thank You

bodell10 · Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 1

gums · Joined: 18 May 2008 Posts: 315

yes have to watch out for the ticket scams allways be aware and cautious when buying tickets allways best to meet in person and not buy from people abroad or that say then can only send etc as thats how scammers work and we keep saying never use western uioun or money gram its 2008 dont fall for it and dont use it

Bass Cadet · Joined: 18 Jul 2008 Posts: 1

I received a similar email from these 2 names (the exact same email when replying to 2 different ads)

>>>Hello,

I am selling the 2 tickets for £300. The tickets are bought from HMV and i have them in hand !
If you are interested to buy them now i will do this transaction only through eBay in order to have a safe transaction for both of us.
In order to start the transaction please reply me with your full name, address and your eBay id. The tickets will be sent via UPS overnight.

Thank You<<<

The broken English is a dead giveaway first of all

Anyway the name on the first email was: Christina Mya christinamya@hotmail.com

2nd was Rebeca Michel rebecamichel22@hotmail.com

A SCAM

gums · Joined: 18 May 2008 Posts: 315

yes a scam it is

danouk · Joined: 21 Jul 2008 Posts: 3

This scam is still active, I almost made the mistake of buying them.

However that was before I saw the payment method requested, I would have guessed after that.

My email's were from christinamya@hotmail.com and read as follows in order:

"Hello,

I am selling the 2 tickets for £300. The tickets are bought from HMV and i have them in hand !
If you are interested to buy them now i will do this transaction only through eBay in order to have a safe transaction for both of us.
In order to start the transaction please reply me with your full name, address and your eBay id. The tickets will be sent via UPS overnight.

Thank You"

"Hi,
I will contact ebay right now and explain them our transaction and if they accept they will send you an invoice with all the payment instructions. when you will receive it please read it carefully and let me know!
Thanks for your time !"

"Hi,
I've managed to contact ebay. they accepted our transaction, did you received the invoice from them ? let me know !"

No offence to anyone who has purchased through this person, but the broken English and rubbish she talks would be a keen indicator to be careful. You really do need to watch your back out there.

I have given her 3 different MoneyGram reference codes so whoever it is doing this looks like an idiot in their local post office 3 times.

I think everyone should email her and ask for tickets, say you will send cash or do whatever is needed because you're desperate.

Stay safe!

weeowen · Joined: 21 Apr 2008 Posts: 1250 Location: Someplace sharp.

Money Gram (and Western Union) need a "warning, scammer" code. One that can be sent to a scammer, so that when they use it, the person behind the till knows to call the police. Laughing

danouk · Joined: 21 Jul 2008 Posts: 3

I'm really sorry Christine, I was just about to go out to my post office and send you the money, but it's my dad who's paying for it and he works my MI5.

He's doing an IP check on you first apparently, shouldn't take too long!

From: christinamya@hotmail.com
To: @hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Your Gumtree.com ad #26389028: 2 Reading Festival Tickets For Sale
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:54:20 -0400

no because this transaction is made through ebay not on ebay. all you have to do is send the money to the ebay agent and i will go and ship the tickets. please let me know if you want to go ahead with this transaction because i just got a customer offering me a good price

From: @hotmail.com
To: christinamya@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Your Gumtree.com ad #26389028: 2 Reading Festival Tickets For Sale
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:50:31 +0100

Hi Christina,

Thanks for sending that to me! It's strange though, I can't see that link on my ebay page. Do you have an ebay link to it?

danouk · Joined: 21 Jul 2008 Posts: 3

The rimjims in the old gammer. Aren't playing up like they're supposed to, any chance of sorting a tinkler out for the peacemaker????

It's only because the old bill's been sniffing round.

From: christinamya@hotmail.com
To: themansheedy@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Your Gumtree.com ad #26389028: 2 Reading Festival Tickets For Sale
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:01:02 -0400

ok

From: themansheedy@hotmail.com
To: christinamya@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Your Gumtree.com ad #26389028: 2 Reading Festival Tickets For Sale
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:58:55 +0100

I'm really sorry Christine, I was just about to go out to my post office and send you the money, but it's my dad who's paying for it and he works my MI5.

He's doing an IP check on you first apparently, shouldn't take too long!