Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum, which I find amazing and extremely useful. I am writing to ask advice to more experienced people about what I suppose is a scam or fraud.

I was looking around in some Swiss forum and marketplaces for a specific Canon camera (5D mark II). The price of a new camera (+ new lens) on reliable online shops such as digitec.ch or microspot.ch is around 3200 CHF.

Yesterday I bumped into a very appealing adv on tutti.ch [ The working link is here ]. The same camera plus the lens for 2000 CHF. All new.

At the beginning it seemed a very good bargain to my eyes, but I started thinking it could be a scam. The pictures posted of the camera show a camera which is SIMILAR to the original one, but there are some differences in small visible details. I have the feeling that the camera is not an original one but it is a fake imported from somewhere far.

What do you think? Do you have any previous experience with buying on tutti.ch? Shall I trust the vendor?

Thank you very much in advance for your help.

Kind Regards,
Brian

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Welcome to the forum, Brian.

Your link doesn't work, so either you need to repost it, or the website has removed the advert as they also believe it is a scam.

However, from your description it is pretty obviously a scam or a stolen item - otherwise they would sell it for far more.

Link works fine if you remove the trailing "):"

Not sure what the issue is. New price at digitec may be 3k+ but this advert is surely for a second hand item (amature pictures of unboxed item). I'm not up on current used prices for a 5DmkII but 2k including a used 1k lens - a bit cheap maybe, but wouldn't entirely surprise me. I would be cautious though as the advert title may state including lens, but there is no sign of it in the picture, nor is it mentioned in the text. I would guess 2k for a used 5DmkII body only would not be such a bargain.

Thank you very much for your fast reply! I agree with Jaudi about the the fact that the price could be good for an used 5DmkII, but the vendor privately told me it is new and that it comes with the lens and with guarantee. Sounds too good to be real to me

Won't be too long before the 5D Mk.III is released

Very true!

If it is an import model it could quite easily be this price to clear stock...

Yep me too.

He might mean "it's as good as new", but then still, that's very cheap.
I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole to be honest.



Nov/Dec this year apparently.

Thanks everyone for your replies! After extensive research on the internet and further communication with the vendor, I found out that IT IS A SCAM:

http://www.kamerabetrug.de/2011/05/f...otmailcom.html

and apparently they do it also with other types of cameras. I found this out when I googled a part of his reply that seemed very strange to me ("In this way you are protected and you will not buy something without seeing or testing for 7 days, is a protection program offered by Google Checkout.") and I was surprised by how many other fraud cases popped up.

Does anyone know how to report this to some kind of authority? thanks again for your help.

PS. I will probably wait until Dec so that the price of the camera goes down

Also, stay away from:

http://www.tutti.ch/zuerich/elektron...50.htm?&last=1

This is also a scam. I tried calling and the number was to some guy who had no idea what this was about (wrong number so to speak). An email to the seller gave me the usual escrow-email reply, the one that tons of Internet forums mention is a total scam.

To make sure no one else falls for it, here's the exact reply:

--

Hello,
My name is Sandra and I am now in London UK, the reason why I listed this ad in your local area is because the item was buy from there and work only there also the warranty is valid only there. if you are interested to buy i`m ready to support the shipping cost.
The item is in perfect condition barely used for a few hours so I wouldn't mind calling it brand new. Obviously we need a safe way to complete this deal without worrying about the safety of your money or my item.
The best way I could think of is to use a shipping company that will also act as an escrow service and found one with quite a good name.
I chose to use TNT WorldWide Transaction, a subsidiary of the well known(at least here in europe) TNT.
Using their services your money will be safe with them until you receive and check the product and I will rest assured that I'll get paid if you like and decide to keep the item. Also the company will provide you with 5 to 7 days to test the item and make sure you're making the right decision.
Please let me know what you think so I can explain to you the transaction steps in detail.
Thanks for your time,
Sophia

--

I contacted Tutti.ch and they took the post down, but I'm sure whoever the scammer is will start a new similar post from a new account, with a new name. Don't they always?