The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

A few weeks ago, I posted a need for a Columbia BY lid hinge, with a picture of the hinge. Yesterday, somebody contacted me by direct email and wanted to know if I still needed it. I responded yes, and he sent me pictures of some completely different hinges. Hmmmm....so I checked out his email address ([email protected]) and it led me to scam alerts on other venues, as well as "rael soul" being some sort of religious sect.

I'm about 99.9% sure this was an attempted scam.

I know this kind of stuff has happened here in the past and just wanted to remind members to continue to be careful.

Raphael

THANKS FOR THE HEADS UP

BLIZZ

Raphael,
Appreciate the heads up. Same thing happened to me! I asked for pictures and that seemed to be the end of it. When it gets down to the nitty-gritty, I always ask for pictures with a handwritten date and then a phone call and then I'll think about it. When I ask to set up a time to pick the item up, that really kills it.

Lee,

I now amend my opinion that he is a scammer from 99.9% to 100%

Raphael

You probably already know this, but it's worth repeating:

Never download and open any attached photos sent from someone you don't know. (For all other types of files, that goes without saying.)

If you have a safe way of previewing them, without downloading, you should be okay, but if they don't appear, don't take a chance. See: https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/co ... g_a_image/

OrthoFan

Thanks for the info. I'm afraid that Reddit stuff is a bit above my pay grade. Although I didn't download or click on the photo, I had done a right-click "properties" search. Thus, I just ran a security check and it came back clean.

Raphael

The name is a dead giveaway!
My intuition told me to delete his email, which I did.
Markie in NZ.
Happy New Year Everyone