My post a few days back related to one of my recent shopping experiences. Now, here's one I want to share with you and hope you never become the victim of a "seller" like this.
We were perusing the site, KIJIJI, when we came across an ad for the ring above. Don't go searching for it. You won't find it now. But we did find a link under Kijiji (Toronto) warning shoppers not to fall for this as it was a scam. You can see that notice here: http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-jewellery-watches-SCAM-Cartier-2-4ct-Diamond-Platinum-Wedding-Ring-SCAM-W0QQAdIdZ164545195
But before we saw the scam notice, we contacted the seller. This person wrote back promptly saying she (might be a he) had to sell the ring quickly for financial reasons and $5000 US was the lowest price she could take for this incredible Cartier ring. The ring has a single 2.4ct diamond and the band is stamped "Cartier" as shown below:
She also indicated she couldn't meet with us to show us the ring as she was in the US at this time and that the ring was already with a shipping company, packaged and ready to ship. If we were interested, all we had to do was hit BUY IT NOW at a link he/she provided on eBay. We were unable to locate the ring at all on eBay, so we wrote again. The person sent us this link below in an email:http:/cgi.ebay.com/Cartier-2-40ct-Diamond-Platinum-Wedding-Ring_W0QQitemZ310157683485QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Fine_Rings?hash=item4836d6ab1d&Item
Well, as you'll see if you click that link now, you'll get an error reading i.e. page not found. But before that, it "redirected" you to the link below which I cannot enable as a link here (you can try copying and pasting but it'll produce an error message now)
http://754654554444554566565.limewebs.com/W0QQitemZ2802163510QQihZ018QQcategoryZ50029QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZVehiclesListingItemListings/
So you might ask me why put all this here for us to read now if neither link brings up a web page? Answer: please compare the two links:
In the first one, you see "ebay" and "cartier 2.40ct diamond platinum wedding ring" etc. That is that url looks legit doesn't it.
So you click on it and get redirected, as we were, to the second url. Now take a close look at that one. Notice, there's NOTHING about ebay on it; no mention of a Cartier diamond ring. In fact, it re-directs you to a site at www.limewebs.com. And notice the last few words again in that url: "vehicles listing item". Vehicles? What's that got to do with diamond rings?
We have since reported this to ebay which is perhaps why you can no longer access anything about this "Cartier 2.40ct Diamond ring) but how very sad all this is! First of all, some scammer has hijacked a legitimate seller's page/identity, set up a page that looks so much like a legitimate ebay page that the unwary can easily be fooled, then actually corresponded with a potential buyer, using the legitimate ebay seller's name, and urged us to BUY IT NOW! Imagine if we'd fell for that!! After all, they were asking $5000 for the ring. Ay yay yay!
I wanted to share this with you, if you're a buyer of anything online, not just jewelry: be very cautious of anyone saying they need the money as they're in financial distress. If they also say they can't meet with you when the item costs this much, and their location is in easy commute of where you live (as this supposedly was), then something's up. Furthermore, become just that little bit more net savvy: study the url, the link you are being sent. Does it look right? If you then click the link out of curiosity (caution here as you never know where it's going to take you ie.. could be a porn site, a phishing site, anything) look at the url showing in your browser to see if it's the same one you were sent (After all, there's no similarity between the two urls above!) If not, you know you've been "redirected" and some scammer is out there just dying to take your money!
Incidentally, this one even told us we were covered up to $10,000 by eBay/PayPal. Yeah right! Under payment, however, they said only by "wire transfer"... another red flag especially given ebay's latest policy of payment only via PayPal. I hate that new ruling as legitimate sellers are happy to take cheque or money order (we do at Ruby Lane) and some buyers prefer to pay that way too. But in situations like this one, eBay's new rule might just prevent heartache.
Saying you can never be too cautious is an under-statement!
And by the way, this same scammer still has the ad running on Craiglist HERE!!!
Someone report this NOW!
While I have you, if you really want a gorgeous diamond ring, top quality diamonds, designer signed too, why don't you check out the latest additions to our Estate Jewelry Showcase HERE
That spectacular ring by COAST, shown below, appraised at over $6900 USD and is being offered on sale now, with the appraisal included, for only $1835! Click the photo to learn more!
Or how about the one below with 1.30cts of incredible diamonds?
It doesn't get better than this at our reasonable prices for truly valuable vintage rings. And you're buying from a reputable seller with hundreds of very happy customers who'll be happy to give us a referral...and do, all the time!
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