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During the latest bout of my on-again-off-again search for an Edison Opera, I stumbled across an ad on phoenix.freeclassifieds.com for a beautiful Edison Opera priced at $2,200.00. In short, it was indeed too good to be true and I wanted to share this experience with you all so that you can be on the lookout.

I replied to the ad and was contacted by 'Prof Adam Albert Stone' ([email protected]) who wrote the following


Greetings,

The problem is that I had to get back in my home country in Poland and I will not be able to meet with you. I was there for only three months and I had to deliver it to my home in Poland because I didn't have a safe place or a trusted person there. I hope you don't mind , but I will gladly pay the shipping fees to you if you want to buy it.


Sincerely Yours,
Prof. Adam Albert Stone
Aleksandra Gryglewskiego 16
Gdansk, Gdansk, 80-303
Poland


After a hearty chuckle over the realization that this was a scam, I started searching for where this individual came across the images and a compelling description for an Opera, and found that it had been copied from the following website that documents online antique sales:

http://www.greatestcollectibles.com/191 ... 8SnFPkrLIV


The following is the link to the ad I replied to. I will post a jpeg of the ad shortly.
http://phoenix.freeclassifieds.com/clas ... nGLmWvEw==

Happy and safe Hunting,
Jesse

Too bad!

A couple sold last month for around that

http://www.ebay.com/clt/collectibles-li ... op=3#igrid

I Emailed this add and said again as above it is in Poland. I asked how to buy it and he said his sister knew a escrow company to use. Send money to escrow company, he will send phonograph from Poland by DHL,( Are they in business,) and I will have ten days to examine or check out. If I am not satisfied I can send it back DHL at his expense. WHAT COULD GO WRONG??? Sounds good. I would like to trade him a big bridge in Brooklyn for the Edison if he will go for it. . I believe he may also recommend a Nigerian Prince to help too. I do not know how to add the Emails to this string. Tom B

This has also happened repeatedly on ebay, of which we all know cares the least of all.

Another scam that has been online since July 3, 2016 is a Zonophone on the German ebay classifieds:

https://m.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzei ... 5-240-6353

The photos were ripped from a legit US ebay auction by firebottles, who also has been unable to have ebay doing anything about this. Even the original English description was ripped and apparently poorly translated via Google. It barely makes sense that way.

This scam was also posted on a different classified website, where it, after my complaint and explanation, was taken down right away. But this one belongs to ebay, so they don't give a ....

Again, if sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.

tomb wrote:I Emailed this add and said again as above it is in Poland. I asked how to buy it and he said his sister knew a escrow company to use. Send money to escrow company, he will send phonograph from Poland by DHL,( Are they in business,) and I will have ten days to examine or check out. If I am not satisfied I can send it back DHL at his expense. WHAT COULD GO WRONG??? Sounds good. I would like to trade him a big bridge in Brooklyn for the Edison if he will go for it. . I believe he may also recommend a Nigerian Prince to help too. I do not know how to add the Emails to this string. Tom B

Yup, DHL is still in business. They're bigger in Europe, but still offer services in the U.S.

Hi! Is Prof Adam Albert Stone a scam?

Because he is selling online (freeclassified ads) a machine which I want to buy.
In the ad, it was indicated that the machine location is in Las Vegas but when I asked him, he said that the machine is now in Poland and he is willing to shoulder the shipment fees.

Please help because he wants the payment to be in T/T. Thanks.

"Please help because he wants the payment to be in T/T. Thanks."

IF he's legit, then he shouldn't have a problem with PayPal, who will refund if you don't receive it... What is T/T by the way?

Here is a picture of the house at: Aleksandra Gryglewskiego 16. Gdansk, Gdansk, 80-303. Poland
You can almost see the Opera sitting on his porch behind the gate...

T/T - telegraphic transfer.
He even send his bank details:

Account Holder: Adam Albert Stone
Bank Name: Bank Zachodni WBK SA
IBAN : PL91 1090 2008 0000 0001 3327 7135
BIC (Swift Code): WBKPPLPP

STAY FAR AWAY FROM THIS... a bank transfer cannot be reversed once it is placed, so there is no way to recover your money in the event of fraud. Ask if he will send the machine to you for inspection and once you receive it, you will send the money... he can send it registered to make sure you receive the machine and then trust you for the payment, instead of the other way around. It would be difficult to go to Gdansk to try and recover your money or machine...