Well I was looking thru Cloudy Nites just now and guess what?
In the 'Refractors' section of Classifieds Ad.# 100899 is a 150mm f8 Skywatcher refractor on HEQ5 , nice scope .
But there is a problem ,,its a SAXON and that's MY scope that's in Hamilton NZ being looked after and loved by my nephew , GOD ! , I only spoke to him last night in FB and he was going to set it up and use it on Mars and Saturn .
That photo was taken in Whangarei NZ in about 2008 .
I cant believe the cheek of some people . as that photo was pulled out of the refractor forums in one of my threads there .
I have posted a warning in the refractor forums and sent a PM to a Moderator there .
Some people g got no idea how closenit the world wide ameteure astronomy community is these days ,, fool ! ! .But you gotta laugh and all I hope for is someone gets saved from loosing his hard earned cash by this scammer .
This lowlife has 1 post there ( this ad) and I sent him a really evil e/mail .
Here is a photo of it in Hamilton taken about 2 weeks ago .
Now, how do you know your nephew hasn't sold it to the USA? You only have circumstantial evidence "proving" your nephew still has it.
Pulling ya leg. Had a guy once "proudly" posting/boasting with pictures of his rifle, how minty it was for a 1941 made rifle blah blah. Problem - it was my rifle, I took the photo, and I still had it in the vault!!! I asked him a few salient questions publicly before I exposed him as the poser he was.
(As an aside: I logged onto the USA BMW M3Forum a few years ago to see a guy boasting about the beautiful Avus blue BMW M3 he had just bought ...... I looked again at the photos and thought " that house looks like our house in the background, sure enough he had 'flipped' the photo to make the car look like a lefthand drive ....... I did go out to the garage to check though ...)
There are so many good things on CN and arguably cheaper but if something goes wrong it is pretty much good bye $$$
Despite all their hype and assurances I have found "in my opinion" facilities such as Paypal and ebay to be ineffectual and you have to really press issues to get some action. On most occasions you are lucky to actually get a response that is actually written and not some recycled piece of verbage they have used a million time previously.
Buy local as you can track things much better and/or buy from a shop that most importantly "has a physical store" in addition to whatever online facility they may offer
O'seas Internet only astronomy purchase - when this circumstances arises only one thing pops into my mind - an old fashioned robot maddly waving it's arms around frantically repeating the words "Danger Will Robinson DANGER!"
Might be Greg but I doubt it as I am only a PM away on the CN's site and he couldn't take the time to do that . Also that OTA rotating system using 2 strips of Teflon was done by me and it works very well , I doubt he has the brains or skill to do that .
.
This guy is a scammer ,,, a bottom feeder .
And Planetman you make a good point there . WARNING !! , WARNING!! ...Ha ha I like that .
Brian.
Quote:
Originally Posted by taminga16
Might it be possibile that this fellow is selling a telescope using your images without crediting same?
Greg.
I have checked it against my original photo and its identical , why do you ask ? and no I only spotted it this afternoon .
Its my scope , my old house in Whangarei NZ is in the background man I lived there for 12 years , I know it well and I can PM you the address.
I could ask any number of old friends to stand in about the same position and take a photo of the house .
Brian .
Quote:
Originally Posted by OICURMT
Did he change the photo? I do remember seeing your photo on the ad yesterday...
The photo on CN classifieds is mine , that photo is on my back up external HD but I do have this one , taken at the same time , the same observing session and waiting for dark .
This photo is looking east and the CN stolen photo is looking west, its my scope .
'Edit'
I just dug the external HD
and downloaded the original ,, same scope as the 1st photo
but looking west .
Yep my scope , just for a lark here is MY scope in my telescope room , I have many more photos .
Brian.
Last edited by brian nordstrom; 26-04-2014 at 01:00 AM.
scammer OIC! that's all and a low life to boot , and thanks for the back-up ..
'Up-date'
I just received a PM from ScottNY ,refractor forums moderator over on CN's and this scum bag is about to be squished and banned , good news .
A world wide effort by us and CN'rs to stop another 'scammer'.
Thanks guys for your help , we may have saved some poor bugger lots of grief
Brian.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OICURMT
yepo... the ad number you listed has had the photo changed... I do remember the ad having the original photo you posted in this thread.
Looks like the guy is trying hard to come up with a different photo. Why he is using your shots is anyone's guess.
OIC!
Last edited by brian nordstrom; 26-04-2014 at 01:19 AM.
Well I was looking thru Cloudy Nites just now and guess what?
In the 'Refractors' section of Classifieds Ad.# 100899 is a 150mm f8 Skywatcher refractor on HEQ5 , nice scope .
But there is a problem ,,its a SAXON and that's MY scope that's in Hamilton NZ being looked after and loved by my nephew , GOD ! , I only spoke to him last night in FB and he was going to set it up and use it on Mars and Saturn .
That photo was taken in Whangarei NZ in about 2008 .
I cant believe the cheek of some people . as that photo was pulled out of the refractor forums in one of my threads there .
I have posted a warning in the refractor forums and sent a PM to a Moderator there .
Some people g got no idea how closenit the world wide ameteure astronomy community is these days ,, fool ! ! .But you gotta laugh and all I hope for is someone gets saved from loosing his hard earned cash by this scammer .
This lowlife has 1 post there ( this ad) and I sent him a really evil e/mail .
Here is a photo of it in Hamilton taken about 2 weeks ago .
Brian.
WoW i just seen this and cant believe it im looking at that scope as i write this is definitely a scammer. im shocked what sort of scum dose this crap.
I always try to buy from reputable sellers.
Thats a big danger in buying from cloudy nights as they are so far away in the US
that its much harder to get a refund and chase them up if they are far away overseas.
Good news , I received a PM from David Pavlich CN's Admin Team and the scammers Ad has been pulled , a great world wide effort by all to squash a SCAMMER ! , thanks to all .
Guys, this scamming thing is getting out of hand and shows no sign of diminishing. Moderators, this seems like a good time to propose - if it hasn't been proposed and shouted down previously - that we devise some mechanisms that can be built into IIS that might provide some discouragement to scammers or protection for buyers.
Surely, out of the lot of us, we can come up with some suggestions!
I don't want to make this a Nanny Site, nor to make it difficult for new members to get involved and become active in the Buy/Sell areas. Nor do I want to create any bureaucratic nightmares for the moderators/principals of IIS. BUT having said all that, it does seem to me that there are options that might be worth exploring. I don't pretend to have all the answers, just some suggestions.
Suggestion 1:
No access to the Buy/Sell areas until a member has a posting history on IIS of, say, 20 messages minimum in non-Buy/Sell fora.
Suggestion 2.
IIS allow members to register their equipment and receive a unique identifier - e.g. a Tak FSQ106 owned by Bill Smith might be registered by its serial number and be allocated a registered number XTZ106_1. A member considering the purchase of major items of equipment could then simply check the register to confirm ownership. When an item is sold, the new owner can register it anew if he/she chooses and the old registration can be cancelled.
Suggestion 3.
A Buy/Sell advert cannot be placed unless the seller includes (in a field not shown to the buyer but kept by the moderator) a verifiable address, telephone number and/or Drivers License number.
There must be a lot of good ideas out there. What about it? We can't just cry in our beer.
Peter I like #1 , both Stargazers Lounge and Astronomy Forums in the UK do this and its no big deal to us legitimate members , it goes a long way into weeding out scammers , it is not the end all but as we know scammers are lazy 'so and so's' and it cant hurt .
Brian.
Well I was looking thru Cloudy Nites just now and guess what? 
scope that's in Hamilton NZ being looked after and loved by my nephew , GOD ! , I only spoke to him last night in FB and he was going to set it up and use it on Mars and Saturn .
. as that photo was pulled out of the refractor forums in one of my threads there .
Might be Greg but I doubt it as I am only a PM away on the CN's site and he couldn't take the time to do that . Also that OTA rotating system using 2 strips of Teflon was done by me and it works very well , I doubt he has the brains or skill to do that .
.
