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Dealing with local craigslist scammer selling counterfeit Windows & Office 2010

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L

LxMxFxD4

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I recently saw an ad on my local CL offering windows 7 professional (retail) for $80. Genuinely interested I emailed him and talked him down to $60 and met him in the parking lot of a local business. Upon inspecting the package I determined it to be counterfeit, told him he had better stop doing this but that I admired the size of his cajones for scamming people in person like this. He was visibly spooked and shaken and tried to deny it. But he didn't seem to care much that I told him I was keeping the box which pretty much proved he knew it was counterfeit. I took the box home and mailed it off to microsoft last week. Maybe i'll get a legit copy as it is supposedly their policy.

So, having thought nothing more of it, I am surfing CL tonight and lo and behold tonight, I see his ad up again on CL. This time for a 3 license copy of Microsoft Office 2010 for $100.

So now i'm somewhat pissed. I am not a tattle tale by any measure and getting scammed on CL is almost expected, but this guy (or perhaps its an operation?) has some balls.

So I don't really know what to do at this point. The only information I have on him is his license plate number and the make/model of his car. He called himself George and used a throw away gmail and never gave me his phone number (mainly the reason I pretty much knew before meeting him that the software he was going to try to sell to me was fake).

I live in a major city where there is plenty of crime so i'm somewhat sure that if I called my local police station they would not care at all. What is the recommended path in dealing with this guy? And what are the chances this is some sort of organized ring and i'm only inviting trouble upon myself? I did mail off the copy to MS like I said, but i'd like to see some expediency if that is possible.
 
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I was looking for a genuine version of MSOffice a while back. I searched the Internet and found a company with a good price of what they called "White Box" versions. I didn't know what that was, but after I received it, I immediately knew is was not real. I called them and asked for permission to return. They allowed the return. There are lots of people selling counterfit versions, you don't have look far.
 
You say you're not a tattle tale, but you are in fact just that. I'm not saying what the guy is doing is right, but don't say you're not something, when clearly you are.

As for him not giving out his number, I NEVER give out my number to anyone I deal with on CL. For the simple fact of if I sell someone computer hardware, and they have my number, then some absurd sense of entitlement they have allows them to believe I'm their fucking tech support for life, free of charge.

OP, while what you're doing would normally seem honorable, you're doing it simply to gain something (hopefully a free copy of windows from MS). I just can't figure out why you'd really give a fuck otherwise.

Lastly, you piss the wrong person off doing this, and you may be putting yourself in jeopardy. Is it really worth that???
 
Scammers are a plague.
They devalue the quality of life and leach off trusting people and people on tight budgets.
They commerce by individuals more difficult for legitamate sellers.

This is not "tattle tale" crap. It is personal assault.
Do your best, notify FBI website and microsoft.

This is bandit mugging your wallet, treat as such.
 
MisterJackson said:
You say you're not a tattle tale, but you are in fact just that. I'm not saying what the guy is doing is right, but don't say you're not something, when clearly you are.

As for him not giving out his number, I NEVER give out my number to anyone I deal with on CL. For the simple fact of if I sell someone computer hardware, and they have my number, then some absurd sense of entitlement they have allows them to believe I'm their fucking tech support for life, free of charge.

OP, while what you're doing would normally seem honorable, you're doing it simply to gain something (hopefully a free copy of windows from MS). I just can't figure out why you'd really give a fuck otherwise.

Lastly, you piss the wrong person off doing this, and you may be putting yourself in jeopardy. Is it really worth that???
Click to expand...

First of all, I hope you never breed because your values are completely twisted and I'd hate to see this imposed on your children.

2nd it's not tattle-tailing to report someone selling counterfeit software on Craigslist. The guy is ripping people off who think they are getting the real deal when they are obviously not. How would you feel if the "this copy may not be genuine" message popped up on your PC after you paid your hard earned cash (albeit being cheap about it)?

3rd of all you are an absolute tool if you aren't man enough to state when you sell something that it is as-is without support after sale. I've sold tons of PC equipment online and in person, and work in the IT field. I'm not fixing/helping you fix anything without getting paid. This is how I make my living.

/rantOff
 
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MisterJackson said:
You say you're not a tattle tale, but you are in fact just that. I'm not saying what the guy is doing is right, but don't say you're not something, when clearly you are.

As for him not giving out his number, I NEVER give out my number to anyone I deal with on CL. For the simple fact of if I sell someone computer hardware, and they have my number, then some absurd sense of entitlement they have allows them to believe I'm their fucking tech support for life, free of charge.

OP, while what you're doing would normally seem honorable, you're doing it simply to gain something (hopefully a free copy of windows from MS). I just can't figure out why you'd really give a fuck otherwise.

Lastly, you piss the wrong person off doing this, and you may be putting yourself in jeopardy. Is it really worth that???
Click to expand...

Good old gangsta mentality.
Fuck the scammers
Fuck you.
 
I don't think I'd put myself in danger just so Microsoft can profit a little bit more. We're not talking about a scammer knocking off some struggling artist's shit and reselling it for half the price. I'm not sure I find honor in the actions of anyone involved, really. He's selling fake software and you're trying to flip it for a freebie. It's not about keeping quiet, I just don't think a free copy of windows or getting a software scammer arrested is worth the potential of a bad guy being after you.
 
OP is being just as dishonest as the scammer.

Did he honestly believe he was buying genuine software? Absolutely not. Is he trying to get a genuine copy from Microsoft now? Yes.

Might be a good time for the mod ownage to come and email microsoft a link to this thread.

Get two scammers with 1 thread.
 
sjwaste said:
I don't think I'd put myself in danger just so Microsoft can profit a little bit more. We're not talking about a scammer knocking off some struggling artist's shit and reselling it for half the price.
Click to expand...

He's not just ripping off Microsoft, he's also ripping off everyone who buys software from him.
 
Seems silly to waste time or take any risk at all when ebay provides "distance" and recourse, and yes comparable prices on legit software. CL is for simple stuff that cannot practically be shipped: furniture, weights, roses...
 
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