We have a thief preying on the Aeronca Community

[joea]

Well folks, had hoped that this would never come up but we have a thief preying on the Aeronca community. I need to send this out to everyone so that they know that its happened and to keep your eyes open.

First off, never, never, never pay anyone for anything using Western Union! One of our members was approached about selling some Aeronca parts. Guy has excellent prices and fast shipping. Payment only via Western Union... and alarm bells should have been ringing loudly.

The supposed seller is:

Warren Peterson
15 Liverpool Road, Islington, London, N1 0RW UK
w9313@XXX.com
+447024087504

We are guessing that this is a typical Nigerian scam, as we just found out that its run out of an Internet Cafe, and not a house, home or business.

Am not going to name the Aeronca owner who got scammed but they can chime in if they wish. They were looking for a Champ magneto switch and the thief shot him a price of $145 shipped from England. First off the shipping from the UK would be a good $30 or so, and more like $70 if sent 3-4 day airfreight, so this means that he was paying just over $100, or $30 for a good condition mag switch? Far too cheap and alarm bells should have been ringing by then.

After a week or more and no parts, the buyer contacted me. I send the supposed seller an email saying that I heard he had some Aeronca parts and I needed some. I told him that I needed a complete landing gear, prop and some other parts. He got back to me in two days saying that he had everything that I needed and for the bargain price of $495, and this included "3-4 day shipping from England!" Clearly parts like this are worth 2-3 times what he is asking for them, and there is no way to ship them for this price, so its a scam.

Then he said that his pay pal account was not working, another major flag, so he wanted to be paid via Western Union, which is known to be what scammers use.

Finally he sent the purchaser a tracking number for a supposed freight company named First Flight Courier in London Heathrow. It showed that the supposed package was sent on the 23rd and was on the way. Well kids, this is a fake website copied off of the real First Flight Courier. It uses fake email addresses and is nothing but a spoof website.

Lastly the purchaser here in California has now found out that the emails from the thief were sent from an Internet Cafe in England, another known method for Nigerian scammers.

Bottom line everyone.... if the price sounds too good, its probably a scam. Besides, there are not many Aeronca's in England and buying parts and shipping them from there would be VERY expensive. Please do not fall for this scammer!

I have xxx'ed out the thief's email address as I am now sending this information to the FBI and hope that they can throw a few roadblocks in the way of this crook. Do not want lots of Aeronca list people emailing him and letting him know we are onto his scam just yet.

Joe A

[SFC Hiatt]

Give me 10 minutes in a dark alley with that piece of crap!

[joea]

Give me 10 minutes in a dark alley with that piece of crap!

If we find him, would be glad to help. Do not like people who steal...

[joea]

He is back at it.

Look here: http://www.joea.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4525

[rkittine]

The guy that contacted me supposedly had an Auto Parts businee and Repair Shop

[joea]

Well, the dead give away is the shipping cost along with the price that they are asking. Floats are worth far more than that yet they always ask for something short of $500, plus a bit more for shipping.