Trading Advisory
(Updated May 2023)
Important Information

If you believe you have been scammed by someone, please report the classified or private message by clicking the "Report" link located on the bottom left of the post or PM. Please do NOT PM a moderator. Flagging the post/message sends it to all moderators at the same time. One of the moderators will then contact you if necessary.

A Letter from Head-Fi

Hello everyone,

There has been a rise in scam attempts on the For Sale forums lately, and we feel that there's a need to reiterate some of the important guidelines that are listed at the top of every For Sale forum, starting with buying and selling:
Do not request or send money using PayPal Friends & Family/Personal, Western Union, or MoneyGram.
Only send to the address on the PayPal account.

As a buyer, if you pay for an item using PayPal Friends & Family and the seller doesn't ship said item, there is no protection for you. None. Please do not agree to pay for items with PayPal Friends & Family. Even if you feel that you can trust the other party, we still recommend against it. Making payments via PayPal Friends & Family could end up costing you far more than the PayPal fees (roughly 3% + $0.30 on many US transactions).

This is what to expect at a few price points:
  • On a $50 sale, that's $1.80 in fees.
  • On a $100 sale, that's $3.30 in fees.
  • On a $1,000 sale, that's $30.30 in fees.
  • On a $4,000 sale, that's $120.30 in fees.
Our Buy Sell Trade Rules ask that sellers do not request payment via PayPal Friends & Family or any other unprotected methods such as wire transfer or money order. If a seller is asking you to pay via any of these methods, we recommend declining and offering to pay with a protected payment method. With PayPal, this will help ensure that both parties are protected under PayPal's user agreement.

If you're a seller, make sure that you're shipping to the address listed on a PayPal account. Shipping to a different address voids PayPal's seller protection and can potentially result in both a loss of product and payment. For your protection, please only ship to verified PayPal addresses.

Now as for trades:
BEWARE SUSPICIOUS TRADE OFFERS
Always consider trader history, profile age, and post count before agreeing to any trades.
If it sounds too good to be true, it likely is.

We cannot stress enough how important it is to look at all of the information available to you before even considering a trade offer. Does this person have enough feedback (trader history, found in their profile) for you to feel comfortable trading with them? Is this the profile of a long-standing member of the community or was it recently created? Has this person been active on the site? If the answer to any of these questions give you pause, then it's probably wise to not accept the offer.

Remember, when agreeing to a trade you are giving up all protection as soon as that package reaches a shipping location. We ask that everyone consider every trade thoroughly before agreeing to an exchange. Also keep in mind the other party's location. International trades carry greater risk than those completed within your home country.

We love the Head-Fi community, and we don't want to see any Head-Fi'ers end up losing gear or money to a bad sale/trade. All we're asking is that everyone who uses the For Sale forums look out for themselves and be awesome to one another.Head-Fi.org

Best of luck in all your sales and purchases,

How to Protect Yourself

MOST IMPORTANT: Do not ever send money to people using Western Union or bank transfer. There will be no way to get it back if the transaction goes wrong.

Do not ship to any address other than the address verified by the payment service, as we have had at least one scammer using stolen PayPal accounts as well as stolen credit cards.

Do not send packages to other countries by any method that doesn't have tracking. The customs agents in some countries, if not the mailmen themselves, are known to borrow or steal packages. Again, there will be NO way to get the item back, nor any insurance generally available if it is sent regular mail. Not using registered mail and/or tracking may end up resulting in you throwing your money or merchandise away.

If you don't like the terms of a trade, then BACK OUT before either of you sends money or the goods.

You can leave negative feedback on their profile which can be edited or deleted later if necessary. Click on their user name and then "Trader Feedback" and "Leave Feedback" to warn others. If you paid money via PayPal, you can open a dispute that way. If you have their address if necessary you can contact the police in their country.

Tip: A Head-Fi'er caught a previous scammer by noticing that the images for the item for sale were taken from another site. Using Google Image Search to check if an image in a classified is not genuine can be a great way to prevent falling for a scam.

Known Scams

Do not give your phone number, email address, or screenshots of any recent transactions to third parties via PM when buying and selling on Head-Fi Classifieds

We've received reports of recent scam attempts where an unauthorized third party has accessed a community member's profile and posted false listings in an effort to lure unsuspecting buyers with "too good to be true" listings. In some cases buyers have gone against our safety recommendations and guidelines and used unprotected payment methods (PayPal F&F, Zelle, bank transfer, etc) and have ended up losing their payment in the scam. Others have used protected payment methods (PayPal G&S) which adds an additional layer of security to the purchase, and many of these scam attempts have failed due to those additional protections.

Recently we've received a few reports of a seller asking for a screenshot of the PayPal transaction, personal phone number, email address associated with the PayPal account, or other personally identifiable information from the buyer via PM. The seller has then, at times, been able to use this personal information and accessed the buyer's PayPal account, closing any claims or reports in an attempt to retain the payment. This act is known as phishing (Wikipedia), where one party attempts to gain access to your personal information.

Do not give your phone number, email address, or screenshots of any recent transactions to third parties via PM. As a buyer, a PayPal Goods & Services transaction will provide the seller with all required shipping details necessary to get the package to you via your registered shipping address. As a seller, you should only be shipping to the verified address provided to you in the documentation included in a PayPal Goods & Services sale.

If someone is asking for additional personal information like phone numbers or email addresses to complete a transaction, please report the message and bring it to the attention of the moderators.



One of the most common scam attempts that we see is a PM where the sender appears to be reaching out on a friend's behalf, and suggests that you email the friend. Here are a couple examples that we have seen:
Joe here! Decided to drop you a PM in respect to your ad places. Email Christine, [email address]. She might still have it for sale.
Hi, Emailing about your request. Please contact Bob on [email address] regarding your request. Fast shipping and trusted.
These profiles are often newly registered with few posts on the forums, but can sometimes come from profiles with an active history. If someone is asking you to contact a third party off-site, please report the message to the moderators using the Report link.

Another common scam we see is the cross-shipping trade. Never cross-ship during a trade. The other party will may even go as far as to provide a tracking number of sorts, but during a scam no item will be shipped to you. This tracking number come from something as simple as a recent Amazon order, or the scammer can create a label and provide the number, saying that they'll ship it soon. If anyone offering a trade has no post or trade history on the site, we discourage agreeing to ship your gear first. Wait until you have received the trade item (and verified that it's as described) before shipping yours.

Note: This type of scam is the preferred method of the person who has come to be known as the Lakeshore scammer, below.

Past Scammers

While the vast majority of people (and thus trades) on the forums go ahead without issues, unfortunately a handful of people, despite being banned, sometimes re-register multiple times, at times to abuse our forums, either flipping items sold cheaply on eBay (and/or elsewhere) or taking people's money or items and sending nothing in return. Following is a list of members whose activities regarding for sale/trade we have become uncomfortable with, and so whom we advise caution transacting with. If you believe they have re-registered on Head-Fi, please report them to us immediately.

While we wouldn't normally share detailed contact information online, we're doing so here as a very last resort after these people, despite numerous warnings have gone far out of their way to evade bans, and to re-register additional profiles.

(Click on the spoiler to open the archives)
Repeat Scammer/Spammer (added 2/11/21)
Nuno Vasco Costa
Lisbon, Portugal
Head-Fi username: nunovpc, audiophile9000, thebigheadfy, therealsound, and countless other aliases.
Banned for registering multiple profiles claiming to be from various different European countries, spams classifieds, spams and harasses sellers/potential buyers via PM.
Recent scammer (added 3/31/19)

Aaron Rudberg
8112 NE 88th st.
Vancouver, WA 98662
360-602-2637
Aaron La'Plante <aaron81182@gmail.com>
Head-fi username:aaron811
Banned for the loss of Questyle CMA Twelve Master product in loaner program, and for the loss of the Oppo PM-2 headphone in a loaner program :

Repeat trade scammer (added 1/2/19):
Justin Ruiz
1233 Lakeshore Drive
Camden, New Jersey 08104

thepooh, jeronim0
thepooh: Agreeing to trades then never sending the item.
jeronim0: Attempting to sell items asking money be sent to Paypal accounts with different names.

Esperanto Begue or Joshua Adrien (Both likely fake names)
12, Rue des Pinsons
Impasse Rouillard
Tombeau Bay 742CU001
Mauritius

Tel: +23059245621

mattsweppes@gmail.com, Used for PayPal, which showed up as Matthew Schneider (probably fake or stolen)
jleveille174@gmail.com
adrienpooh@gmail.com



OICWUTUDIDTHAR, DroppingDimes; trapper1, OGKoosh, kappachino, Yajirobe1, LordOfTheGearz, handthatfeeds, HwanSolo, ChingLongChan, MidgetPalpatine, Chan007. Lied about the condition of goods. Continues to create new profiles in an attempt to use the classifieds. Becomes rude and abusive when confronted.

Also known as "bobbylou" on various forums, including Head-Fi, where he appears to have a history of being banned for bad trades, eg: Here.

Brandon Venier
Alberta, Calgary
Canada T2Z 2G2



Craig Olson, Aka: gabbadabbadoo, olsonc84 (including Audiogon), craigjolson, SunnyMcGrath, spierce, audiophoholic, UofLFAN, nwvalleyrv, Erinmagdalik
2015-2016: L1C4

Notorious for flipping AKG K1000s. He is so well-known I think our UAE scammer attempted to pretend to be him! He sends numerous messages to buyers to try and persuade them to buy gear for massively inflated prices.

Craig Olson
2xxx xth St
#11x
Berkeley, CA 94710
United States

Also:

CBRE: ATTN Amber Smith
10*** Willows Rd NE
STE 150
Redmond WA 98052

Paypal ID: iamnikonguy@outlook.com



2Erly, QuadralSx, Delly, minisc223
Various names, using what is likely stolen Paypal accounts, but all requesting shipping to a different address, whereupon he files a claim with PayPal:
280 Weston Rd
Toronto Ontario M6N 3P5
Canada


Email addresses used: t_wright00@hotmail.com, mmmwrite11@hotmail.com, wpjt99@hotmail.com, wrightcleaningservice@hotmail.com
Terence Pinnock, Maria Write, Terry Wright, Richard Cai



theon3, Johnth3bliss, bluj, zenithofbliss, blackholesunecl, zeromancer, blissking, pulseultra, LunarEclipse, Blackoc3an, blueblackness, lupakansaja123, Eclipsez, Z3nith, jonthenny, skydarkly, kadablu, swallowthesun and numerous other profiles.
Numerous accounts and suspicious classified activity with at least one member having to file a Paypal complaint after goods were not sent. Requested money be sent as a "gift" as Paypal obviously wouldn't let him access the funds for a regular transaction immediately. Continues to make new profiles!

dolphinblackness@gmail.com
Blackoc3an@gmail.com
dr3amz.black@gmail.com
johnnyblisz@gmail.com
jonthenny@gmail.com
subdivin3@yahoo.com

Repeatedly registering attempting trades and failing to send items.

Johnny Rodgers
607 I St
San Antonio, Texas 78220
Phone(text): 210-668-7687



Vlooienuker / tsiknus / iso300and8, snarfarlarkus, audiophilegamer.

Engaged in straight trades with a number of members, but didn't send the traded item. Created a second account to leave himself positive feedback and continue trading. Started again in 2014 with a new profile and new, very likely false name.

Jan 2016: Sent candles instead of a pair of traded headphones.

Leon Optimus / Leon Kuhn
71 D Wiri Station Road
Manukau, Auckland, New Zealand

Leon Oliver
129 Middlefield Drive
Auckland, Flat Bush 2016
New Zealand

leon.khun@my.bdsc.school.nz



Kewstone, lojikman, medicalsupplies, swappie931, tengomalani, goldsilver993, changantoo, tengomalani, orionstone, theodoret1, hamita112, jambalayacfp, kamejame, awatanatum, huhana7748, eylmfao, johnwidked, killowatts, potingjun, Josephrsm, ringostarr910, harud1, ichbon
Sent an empty box as part of a trade. Created numerous profiles, claiming that they are friends and family, with one profile leaving him positive feedback.

2016: First classifieds involved trying to flip an item for a profit.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/777306/got-scammed-by-id-kewstone

WILSON LOK YUN WOON
2, LORONG INTAN BAIDURI 2B, (possibly "Jalan Intan Baiduri 2B")
TAMAN INTAN BAIDURI,
52100, KUALA LUMPUR,
MALAYSIA.


New address, June 2016:

Kor Weng Chai
33, Jalan bukit tembok
Seremban
Negeri sembilan
70300
MALAYSIA



asdfg, weijunz

weijunz, from Singapore, requested payment for the same items from multiple people and was banned. Recently, asdfg, an old account, was reactivated and that person requested payment for the same and other items from multiple people in the same manner, in most cases asking for money to be sent to different Paypal accounts, presumably to avoid being caught. Both accounts were accessing the site from the same IP address. It could also be a group of people attempting to scam others or a criminal group using stolen accounts.

weijunz:
Name: Tan Jun Yan Caleb
Paypal accounts used:
tanjunyuan92@outlook.com, tanjunyan1@outlook.com, weijunz@outlook.com.

asdfg:
Name: Beitriss Chua
Paypal accounts used:
Roshanong@outlook.com
Chuayunqi@outlook.com
beitrisschua@outlook.com
Joycetanyl@outlook.com
michaellimz@outlook.com



chenxi2012, zongpeng123, zongpeng2012, chenxi2014, qqexqwe; chinahifi2012, submarineeew Using stolen credit card details to buy expensive items under multiple profiles.
Paypal emails: qqujfdwfwf@126.com, dbgwhyyddf@126.com, jfgehhhhfgf@126.com
Phone: +86-18561852783
a.k.a. chenxi2014, zongpeng2012, zongpeng123

Email addresses:
ooihjwdw@126.com
submarineew@hotmail.com
66868522@qq.com
3890276@qq.com
zongpeng1@126.com
vot5551934@163.com

Address: (Possibly fake)
Zhong ChengFu
Xi HaiAn Yi Yuan, HuangDao, ShanDong Province,
266555, ShanDong QingDao, China

US Addresses: (Likely forwarding services for Chinese users. See here: http://www.qq-ex.com/user/news/detail/945)
XGPB PengZong
3025 Bowlarama Dr
Suite A-04605
New Castle, DE 19726

or

261 QUIGLEY BLVD. Suite 1 # 114177 NEW CASTLE
DELAWARE 19726-9017

or

3760 W CENTURY BLVD
Inglewood, CA 90303
United States




Gogohuskies, toothlover, huskies
Created a new profile to evade negative feedback, then another profile to continue trading once banned. Continues to create new profiles.



GustavMahler, GradoLove, Kamilion, opencan, TheBigMuse and more profiles.
Flipping items bought from members on Audiogon. Two pages of listing of items he is flipping, including multiple pairs of AKG K7XX!


He will ask to buy something, then put it up for sale even before the item was sent, often asking that the item be sent to a completely different country to the one he lives (Israel), because he is sending it directly to his buyer.



ljhhh
Sold the same item to multiple people and send them all empty boxes to the wrong address so it would appear that their neighbours had taken the item.

Name: Darryl Koh
ljunh@outlook.com
darrylkoh92@hotmail.com

Name: Guo Wei Bin
gwb-1985@outlook.com

BLK 514
Woodlands Drive 14
Singapore



The Nigerian scammer has been returning under numerous profiles. Beware that they are getting clever and even threatened to report people to the moderators or admins in PMs! They very often ask people to email them instead of using PMs (as they can't post pictures) and send pictures taken from the internet.
February 2015 New profiles:

audio432 - audioan47@gmail.com
audioa23 - audioalex68@gmail.com
corscorpius - audioalex5@gmail.com
dadreq - 19984hrm@gmail.com, jxhair@126.com (stolen Paypal account?), tmravenas@gmail.com
meaudio21 - glockhitt43@gmail.com
jodesff - charlesvivian263@gmail.com

Thanks for your response, I have tried to send you pictures here but got a message saying i have no privilege to send a file..After you have seen the pictures, then we can communicate here just want to show you the pictures on email.. Hope you understand and i have nothing to do with your email..Really felt insulted thanks

Hello [...]

Hope you doing great.. Just want to know if you are still interested in buying the westone w40 / w4r?Please i will need your email address to send you pics and details thanks


Hope you doing fine, Are you still interested?Please let me know, Please also send me your email address so that i can send you pictures and details

Greetings from U.S.A

Hello and Happy New Year, I have a lead for you..
Please contact Fred on fredquinton400@gmail.com regarding your request. He is located in the United States and can arrange shipping. I purchased items from him and they arrived in TOP condition. His Cell : (904) 373-1755.
Originally Posted by dan1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Hello Are you still interested in buying this item? I have it in good condition, email me on daniel.louis1972@gmail.com and I will send you details as soon as i hear from you. Thanks

Best Regards
Dan
"Do you still have interest?Let me know and email me at ik8ev50@gmail.com for more details because i am not always on forum or send me your email so that i can give you more details"

Hi Greeting from Spain

i am Contacting you regarding your advert..if still interested in
buying..As soon as i hear from you,i will email you some pics and
details,good price is accepted..thanks and hope to hear from you soon

Best regard

Andy

contact me Via Email...[redacted]


ulogin, headu, uloginhd, abchead and numerous other profiles.
Bad trader. Extremely abusive after trades went wrong.

Man Hin Cheung
*** E23 Street
Brooklyn, NY 11210
United States



jdg0717, mitzy
Signed up with a second account and left feedback from the first account after a bad trade.

jdg0717@gmail.com



Darken23, youngGeezeh
Not sending items and insisting on Paypal gift payments.

Ken Lee, Cantrelle ?
romeo2steps@gmail.com

Under the former account, had a dispute claiming a member tried to scam him by saying an item never arrived, yet then sold it again to another member insisting on a Paypal gift payment then sent a tracking number generated from the USPS web site ("Electronic shipping info received" = Item not sent). Unfortunately that member didn't think to realise that if another member had tried the "item not received" scam then he wouldn't have had the item to sell again to him!

Under the latter account, requested a Paypal gift payment to avoid fees for a pair of HD-800s (likely sold under the other account) then never sent the tracking number.



headgeardiva:
Apparently attempting the WTB scam:

Hi, Please contact Philip on philipparsonsvtx@gmail.com regarding your request. He is located in the United Kingdom and can arrange shipping. I purchased items from him and they arrived in TOP condition



lee0612, thisissparta, Aka: jeydee, iLjimaE, finalaudio999, maynard14, audiomaniac06, finalhope11, crntrggr11, iLjimaE, nokialumia1520
Also known as Squall Leonhart or SquallLeonhart14 and is from the Philippines.
Repeatedly selling the same Final Audio Design and other expensive IEMs over and over again, collecting money but never sending them. Using secondary profiles to PM people wanting to buy expensive IEMs and trying to persuade them to send money.

2015 update: Was trying to sell possibly fake FAD IEMs claiming he was from Hong Kong.

Email addresses: justinejohnanicete16@gmail.com (PayPal), junkilee777@gmail.com, dranyam14@yahoo.com, annecute999@yahoo.com, leila.capili@yahoo.com, leejunki0612@gmail.com



April 2014: IDENTITY THIEF WARNING: nikkicharles198, aishaboulos33, dominguez1155, aishaboulos33, amateur12, audiohw, olsen11, mibull, mibulb, mibulbc, bin12, chol, and other names attempting identity theft:
Email addresses used:
olsenaudio18@gmail.com, mibulbin@gmail.com, maxfazer101@hotmail.com, imackler45@gmail.com

Please note that the members Maxfazer and imacker are reputable people that the scammer has been passing himself off as.

We received complaints from a number of members who had received PMs from this and other accounts from this member offering to buy items to them that they had posted for sale, but then asking them for eBay feedback, copies of their passport and other ID. They then attempted to use those things to scam other people!

What one member told us (edited to correct grammar, spelling and remove personal information):
Member "olsen11" contact with me few weeks before to ask me about my 009' for sale.
He asked me for my e-mail, and feedback (I gave him link to my eBay feedback as well).
Then he wanted to pay for the headphones directly to my bank account and asked me about scans of my passport etc. I never gave him that.

After few days I received mail from Sweden from a man who showed me an e-mail from a fake version of my email address from someone who tried to sell him a CD player. He showed me links to my Head-fi and eBay feedback and he had signed the email with my full name and surname.

I am now receiving phishing e-mails asking me to confirm my identity and password eBay and Audiogon.

He was using the name Olsen Stig but I know It is fake. He also sent me scans of a passport and few other important documents from a man named Olsen Stig as proof of his identity (I know he is trying the same thing just as he sent my feedback to others [to try and scam them]).

June 2014: The scammer is back, obviously with someone's passport scan and links they are using to try and scam others:

Email address: flyingpalm64@gmail.com

NOTE: The name given obviously belongs to someone else.
Thanks for your responds, I am a Photographer. You can view my pictures gallery
here https://www.flickr.com/photos/49928025@N08/ I have never stolen
from anybody. My complete name is David Martins and i can give you a
copy of my passport for quarantine.. I promise to ship as soon as i
receive payment.. OK,You can make half payment and upon delivery and
tested OK. You send me the balance and also i will give you a copy of
my passport, Hope this sound good to you thanks



Candc07 / gigtcj
Trades are ok for a while, then suddenly stops sending items, making excuses. Re-registered as gigtcj recently.
Name: Christopher Jones
Address: ** Sandpiper Drive Bloomfield, CT 06002
Paypal email address: candc07@yahoo.com



Lvrhs, whatcar1990, rikardoliepa, Runnlv, tomasskalnin, cubota890, iemguy66, tomy55538
WARNING: CONTINUES TO MAKE NEW PROFILES!
Beware of any user asking you to send items to Latvia!


Numerous bad trades under multiple profiles with members having lost money and items.

Tomass Kalnins amatierisraicha@inbox.lv
Rihards Linde extronfi@gmail.com

Address:

Skunu 16
Valmiera
LV-4215
Latvia

Once used the Ship-to service to avoid detection:

11407 SW Amu St.
Suite # D3084
Tualatin, OR 97062



TakashiMiike / AmbientRevolut
Multiple incomplete trades under two profiles. Agreed to sell or trade items then never sent them and stopped communicating.

Justin Schiff
4111 N Blythe Ave. Apt #257
Fresno, CA 92722
United States

jschiff@uccs.edu
AmbientRevolution@gmail.com




juniorheadfier, stationwagon, ozrocks Sri-Lankan scammer.
ozmanali85@yahoo.com, rosesaidso@gmail.com, onewaystogo@gmail.com.


Basically i had tried to purchase a pair of westone 4r on the 31st dec 2012 from a user ozrocks. I spoke to her on the phone about it and all seemed good so i paid her via paypal. i didnt use gift so had protection but i was swindled out of that too.

i spoke to this woman who was going by aishwarya on the phone a few times (private number unfortunately), she claimed to be based in the usa and said she would be coming to europe (im in london) so could post them while she was in the eu. i was fine with that and agreed. she claimed to have gone to italy and not been able to send them as they dont allow non-italians to use the post. After this i opened a case on paypal about it. in an attempt to get a refund.

After this is where i got scammed. the woman called me again and asked why i did this, i explained and she said that her aunt who is in the uk is a friend to my mother cousin, which i didnt believe, but she told me a lot of stuff to "prove it" knowing my mums name as well as her job and address. and knowing the name and address of her cousin also. this convinced me so i closed the case, believing she was in effect a person i had a connection to. im still not sure how she managed to get so many details about my family but she had enough to really convince me. after that she said she was on holiday in sri lanka and was using a phone whilst there (the number to this is +94 77 363 4443) and that she would send it with her uncle to the uk. as for a time frame this was only in april, so i had already waited 4 months, however i had already gone passed my protection date and also thought she could be trusted. she told me she was back in the USA around april also and would send it with her uncle from there.

i got suspicious about it last week when i stopped getting emails back. I sent her tracked emails and found she was actually in sri lanka and had opened all my emails using an android device and a windows computer. i confronted her and she has stopped replying. after googling her email address i find she has been on forums trying to remove negative ebay feedback and also subscribed to youtube channels trying to learn english (on the phone she spoke perfect english with a twinge of an american accent.). Im now 100% certain i have been scammed (its been 6.5 months after all) and have filed a report with the fraud department of the UK police, however i doubt ill see that money again. i see now the listing for the 4r has been changed to "monster tips". i thought i would tell you now that i know what has happened to make sure it doesnt happen to someone else, and to see if you have any advice for me on if there is anything else i can do.




Serotonin
Sold a pair of Ultrasone Pro 900s to 4 different people. See his feedback for information.
Because the buyers didn't use Paypal gift/personal but a regular transaction, they were able to get their money back.



nkkuma, nkkuma1, gogators, socialscene, faithmore, leixingzhe, microsound, safer and numerous others.
Paypal emails:
landeron@live.com
juli0920@hotmail.com
99microsound@gmail.com
mazemabo@gmail.com sometimes using the name Chaghao Bi


This person has been reselling products on eBay for a profit (flipping) under numerous Head-Fi profiles (the above is only a partial list), and repeatedly re-joined with these numerous profiles despite being banned and told not to register on the forums again.

Address: (Partially blanked)
Ju Li or Changhao Bi
**** Yosemite Ave
Apt 5
El Cerrito, Ca. 94530



Miow and a great many aliases.
Attempted to avoid the rules for Members of the Trade and promote his headphone modding business through multiple accounts. Also issues with items not received from one of his trades (see feedback). Update: Re-registered as Divine33 and was asking people to send him money for items using Western Union.

Address:
Luis Paulo Dias Ferreira Almeida (and other names as he is/was sharing an apartment)
Rua Dr. Maciel, 153, 6 ESQ.
3700-175 S. Joao da Madeira
PORTUGAL



i2ehan, Night Crawler, Oof Oink, Yprime17
Was caught flipping items from the classifieds on eBay. He repeatedly registered new accounts pretending to be a newbie presumably to try and avoid detection.

Rehan Saeed
**** Stonecrest Drive
Ellicott City, MD 21043



Scam warnings: From the "Protect yourself against Scammers" and another thread:

We've recently had a rash of attempted and successful scams perpetrated by the same person who's been re-registering under different names. Those who have been ripped off by this low-life didn't take the time to investigate the seller, not even getting a verifiable phone number or address. They don't even know what city the guy's from.

It's unfortunate that scum like this exist, but they do, so if you intend to buy something of any great value from a member .... especially a brand new member .... it would be prudent to at the very least get a phone number, speak to them in person, get proven references, and if possible pay by credit card through paypal so you at least have some sort of protection.

While it would add 2 or 3 days to the transaction, a good method to verify a name and address would be to snail mail something to the name/address provided by the seller and ask them to identify something from that snail mail via PM or email once they've received the letter....then, if you're satisfied, proceed with the transaction. It's not 100% foolproof, but it would weed out the majority of these low-lifes. A non-scammer should understand your concerns and be willing to go through this procedure. If not, take a pass. And keep their information on file at least until the transaction is 100% complete.

It's up to you to act prudently and to protect yourself. Don't send off money to someone, especially someone you know nothing about, without having some sort of verified identification from them.

Please report any suspicious For Sale forum activity to the moderating staff immediately.

Thank you.

PS: Be very cautious of any non-For Sale thread posts where someone says something like: "I'm thinking of selling my XXXX . How much do you think I can get for it?" This can often be bait designed to get people to quickly respond via email or PM hoping to be the first to scoop an item before it officially goes up for sale. A scammer can sell the same item many times over to different people this way, without any public posting to tip everyone off.