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Old 4 January 2024, 08:31 AM   #1
Xky
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Be careful when buying a watch on TRF

That’s my advice after reading at least 2 people in what I think might be 2 of the past months where 2 people have been scammed for buying watches on TRF.


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Old 4 January 2024, 08:36 AM   #2
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Yep, best advice

I would never purchase a watch from a private sale online. Forget it.
Plenty of proper dealers around to choose from
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Old 4 January 2024, 09:26 AM   #3
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I too would also only buy from established well respected dealers. I am not smart enough to know or figure out all the tricks/scams which evolve daily.
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Old 4 January 2024, 09:35 AM   #4
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This is what Steve (LOL-X), Forum Facilitator, has posted on that section of TRF:

"XTREME CAUTION - Must Read
I've said this many times and I'll say it again.

ONLY BUY FROM TRUSTED SELLERS.

Accounts can be stolen and criminal activity is high on the internet.

Always exercise extreme caution when buying from someone you don't know.

Once you send money to someone you don't know, there is no guarantee you are going to receive your item or get a return of your money.

Even if you think you know someone, you may in fact be dealing with a scammer who has stolen that person's account. If that is so you are potentially dealing with and sending money to a criminal and will never receive your item or unlikely get your money back.

NEVER CLICK ON LINKS SENT TO YOU IN ANY MESSAGE OR EMAIL - it will likely take you to fake website and steal your login and password, thereby arming a criminal to impersonate and act with your identity.
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Old 4 January 2024, 09:37 AM   #5
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I read this story today and honestly feel badly for the member who was scammed.

https://www.rolexforums.com/showthre...=931385&page=2

It surprised me a bit seeing that they’ve been a member here since 2015, deciding to buy a watch from someone with no reputation and only 14 posts.

It’s sad that you can’t trust people these days. I’ve done a few private deals here and on another forum I’ll no longer participate on. Perhaps I’ve been lucky but I’m probably finished doing private deals anymore.

The only way I’d buy a watch privately, is if I knew the member personally.
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Old 4 January 2024, 09:51 AM   #6
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I read this story today and honestly feel badly for the member who was scammed.

https://www.rolexforums.com/showthre...=931385&page=2

It surprised me a bit seeing that they’ve been a member here since 2015, deciding to buy a watch from someone with no reputation and only 14 posts.

It’s sad that you can’t trust people these days. I’ve done a few private deals here and on another forum I’ll no longer participate on. Perhaps I’ve been lucky but I’m probably finished doing private deals anymore.

The only way I’d buy a watch privately, is if I knew the member personally.
Hell, I take more precautions than that when buying things for less than $100 on eBay. Seriously, that's just not thinking.
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Old 4 January 2024, 09:55 AM   #7
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Buy the seller or don’t buy.
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Old 4 January 2024, 09:55 AM   #8
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If people followed advice given by so many here including me personally hundreds of times over the years then this would not happen. I don’t understand for the life of me how people wire unknown people thousands of dollars. There are so many well known established sellers that there is no reason to even contemplate it.
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Old 4 January 2024, 10:11 AM   #9
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If you get scammed on TRF in most cases you have no one to blame but yourself. There are exceptions but for the most part it’s on you.
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Old 4 January 2024, 10:31 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HL65 View Post
If people followed advice given by so many here including me personally hundreds of times over the years then this would not happen. I don’t understand for the life of me how people wire unknown people thousands of dollars. There are so many well known established sellers that there is no reason to even contemplate it.
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If you get scammed on TRF in most cases you have no one to blame but yourself. There are exceptions but for the most part it’s on you.
have to agree... if someone is spending 4-5 figures or more and doesn't wanna do any research then idk what to say. i feel bad for these people obviously but some lessons in life are only learned the hard way
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Old 4 January 2024, 10:37 AM   #11
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If people followed advice given by so many here including me personally hundreds of times over the years then this would not happen. I don’t understand for the life of me how people wire unknown people thousands of dollars. There are so many well known established sellers that there is no reason to even contemplate it.
But what if you could save several hundred dollars on your luxury timepiece? /s

I don’t get it either. If you can’t afford a watch from an actual dealer/TS; news flash, you probably shouldn’t be buying luxury watches.
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Old 4 January 2024, 10:47 AM   #12
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But what if you could save several hundred dollars on your luxury timepiece? /s

I don’t get it either. If you can’t afford a watch from an actual dealer/TS; news flash, you probably shouldn’t be buying luxury watches.

The whole timeshare business operates on this greed / need for a deal.
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Old 4 January 2024, 10:58 AM   #13
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I've purchased a couple on TRF. Both are established members with thousands of posts and who I have interacted with.

Established sellers here have dozens of listings and a lot of feedback. It's not difficult to find out all you need to know before pulling the trigger.
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Old 4 January 2024, 11:23 AM   #14
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Buy the seller or don’t buy.




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Old 4 January 2024, 04:33 PM   #15
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This game isn't for everyone unfortunately.
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Old 4 January 2024, 05:28 PM   #16
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I feel for the people scammed but for me I’d only be using some of the sellers that get recommended on here on a regular basis
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Old 4 January 2024, 05:39 PM   #17
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One can’t buy a watch “on TRF”. One can buy a watch from a seller who happens to post on TRF.

Absolutely no one gets scammed “on TRF”. People unfortunately get scammed by scammers.
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Old 4 January 2024, 07:51 PM   #18
Xky
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I think it’s way too easy for scammers to scam people on TRF, not everyone is a seasoned knowledgeable person of who and how to buy from and precautions to take on TRF.

There are unsuspecting genuine buyers that just want a good deal. There doesn’t seem to be any fall back measures that protect people on TRF.

My advice if you’re new to buy on TRF take many precautions, post a thread first on the TRF forum about the watch you want to buy.

There so many trusted grey dealers around, go and see what you’re buying first, at least make sure these people have a website.

I’m sure people have bought many watches on TRF safely and happily, but if you’re new to or not that knowledgeable be careful, stick to trusted grey dealers, I can buy a brand new 2023 GMT master ll for 13.5k in minutes in London, after a minute 30 journey, I know the US for example is much bigger and journey times can be much longer, but surely it’s got to be better making a long journey than being ripped off for thousands of pounds/dollars.

Even buying online there are so many well established trusted dealers out there.

EBay have authenticity program, Chrono have an escrow account, and I still wouldn’t buy from them, I’d want to see the watch in person, but that’s just me.

All I’m saying is be careful, and very sorry to hear that those that have been scammed on TRF recently.


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Old 4 January 2024, 08:42 PM   #19
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You have to be always careful when buying the watch online
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Old 4 January 2024, 08:59 PM   #20
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Quote:
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It’s sad that you can’t trust people these days.
Has it ever been any different, really? Sadly, for as long as mankind's been around there have been criminal folk looking for any opportunity to rip other unwary folk off.

And unfortunately, because "there's one born every minute", a too good to be true offer will be temptation enough to make some of those unwary folk completely abandon common sense.

I guess that's fine, as long as your level of disposable income means the loss of thousands of $$ to a scammer is something you can just shrug off.

If you aren't in that position, then heed the advice being given here!
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Old 4 January 2024, 10:23 PM   #21
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Buy the seller or don’t buy.
Spot on, Henry!
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Old 4 January 2024, 10:28 PM   #22
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One can’t buy a watch “on TRF”. One can buy a watch from a seller who happens to post on TRF.

Absolutely no one gets scammed “on TRF”. People unfortunately get scammed by scammers.
Another very important distinction
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Old 4 January 2024, 10:29 PM   #23
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No one gets scammed on TRF as TRF does not sell watches. The challenge with some of the less experienced buyers is they either do not do their research and/or they do not ask or listen many times when they are told. So many get blinded by the money that is involved that instead of buying from a reputable seller they get focused on the cost and how much they can get a watch from another seller for. I watch prices on several brands everyday across several platforms and have found that some sellers routinely ask a bit more, no problem, I get on the phone and have a discussion. Many times the price will be negotiated downward and it is a lot closer to other no name/no reputation dealers than listed. Even if it is not, is the price a fair market price and can I live with it? Most of the time the answer is yes. I do find, for the most part, that experienced members here are very patient with less experienced members and couch their responses to questionable statements to try to help the poster. This is an example.
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Old 5 January 2024, 12:51 AM   #24
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There are many great people here on TRF, and yes some also happen to sell timepieces. In fact, the SS SkyD Blue on my wrist right now came from a TRF member (when the SS version was first released). GB-Man earns my personal GREAT TRF GUY 2023 AWARD for the green M.A.D.1 that's here.

Though yes, we can't blame the internet because you get a random email from 'Best Buy Geek Squad' for a $349 charge .............. but call this number if the bill is in error... and you decide call that number, and worse still you let scammers into your computer because they claim they need access to it to "issue you a refund".
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Old 5 January 2024, 03:19 AM   #25
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Just happy that once my financial dealings in Nigeria are concluded, I won't have to worry about prices anymore.
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Old 5 January 2024, 06:17 AM   #26
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Just happy that once my financial dealings in Nigeria are concluded, I won't have to worry about prices anymore.
LOL, so true. Sold my Ferrari just last week to a guy who gave me thousands over asking, with his second-party bank draft, who only asked that I float him a few hundred extra to buy dinner, since he was short on cash when his cousin came to pick it up. I was concerned because the draft was written in Russian Rubles, but the exchange rate was in my favor.

Seriously though, although things have appeared to have gotten worse, it really hasn't. Perhaps the pandemic and more reliance on people that you never met IRL but learned of via forums like this and things like Discord, makes them think that virtual friends are trustworthy.

Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but nothing replaces calling a person on the phone and talking to them. Sure, good con men (and women) can talk you into anything, but I'll wager that the vast majority of the people running these scams via email, will fall down flat if you ask them real questions and just employ the smallest bit of common sense before wiring $14,000 to a stranger for a shiny bauble.
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Old 5 January 2024, 06:27 AM   #27
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Originally Posted by Xky View Post
I think it’s way too easy for scammers to scam people on TRF, not everyone is a seasoned knowledgeable person of who and how to buy from and precautions to take on TRF.

There are unsuspecting genuine buyers that just want a good deal. There doesn’t seem to be any fall back measures that protect people on TRF.

My advice if you’re new to buy on TRF take many precautions, post a thread first on the TRF forum about the watch you want to buy.

There so many trusted grey dealers around, go and see what you’re buying first, at least make sure these people have a website.

I’m sure people have bought many watches on TRF safely and happily, but if you’re new to or not that knowledgeable be careful, stick to trusted grey dealers, I can buy a brand new 2023 GMT master ll for 13.5k in minutes in London, after a minute 30 journey, I know the US for example is much bigger and journey times can be much longer, but surely it’s got to be better making a long journey than being ripped off for thousands of pounds/dollars.

Even buying online there are so many well established trusted dealers out there.

EBay have authenticity program, Chrono have an escrow account, and I still wouldn’t buy from them, I’d want to see the watch in person, but that’s just me.

All I’m saying is be careful, and very sorry to hear that those that have been scammed on TRF recently.


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+1

I don't think I'd trust eBay or C24 for high value purchases as I've heard enough horror stories on both.
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Old 5 January 2024, 07:11 AM   #28
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What I can't understand is, why they don't use Paypal, or C24 escrow service for such huge amount of money? Transfer money to an unknown person's bank account is worse then "playin' solitare till dawn with a deck of fifty one"...
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Old 5 January 2024, 07:41 AM   #29
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What I can't understand is, why they don't use Paypal, or C24 escrow service for such huge amount of money? Transfer money to an unknown person's bank account is worse then "playin' solitare till dawn with a deck of fifty one"...
Smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo . . . .
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Old 5 January 2024, 08:22 AM   #30
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What I can't understand is, why they don't use Paypal, or C24 escrow service for such huge amount of money? Transfer money to an unknown person's bank account is worse then "playin' solitare till dawn with a deck of fifty one"...
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Smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo . . . .
"Now don't tell me, I've nothin' to do."
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