Jeffries Scam

[Alex West]

There's a scam on gumtree at the moment. The vendor has a Bb/F 30 key bone button C Jeffries for £2,500 in London.

 

When I enquired, the vendor responded with a gmail address as a female and included 3 failry generic pictures, despite my questions about reed status, instrument history etc. She also responded that she was based in Kirkwall, Orkney and wanted a direct bank transfer of money.

 

As the e-mail correspondence moved on, it transpired that the vendor had a throat problem, so couldn't speak to me (and hence play the instrument to me down the phone). The vendor most helpfully didn't insist on all the money up-front but was prepared to accept 50% on delivery.

 

However, when it came to bank details, the vendor turned out to be male, with a non-Orkney type name, the bank was in Leicestershire and the address given turned out to be a fish and chip shop (and when I rang them, they'd never heard of the vendor).

 

Surprisingly, when I said I needed a bit more confidence and wasn't prepared to lay any money out up-front and was even prepared to take a ferry trip up to Kirkwall to do the deal in person (an overnight trip for me) the vendor declared that if his word wasn't good enough, then he couldn't do business with me!

 

An interesting episode but a warning that sharks are everywhere.

 

Maybe someone out there will recognise the photographs?