Possible Celestron Scam please look at images.

[lguise]

Hi All

Trying to avoid a possible scam! This telescope was offered for sale recently on the Isle of Wight ( not on this site I must add) if you recognise the images or can do a better image search than I can please drop me a pm. (I have searched for a St Giles Church near Shanklin but can’t find one)

Thanks

Linton

[nickarp2000]

I would agree with your findings. After an extensive search on Wikipedia of all churches on the IOW there is no St. Giles. There is a church that was designed by a cornish architect by the name of Giles but they didnt name it after him.

Sounds a lilttle suspicious unless they are sending photos of the telescope from where they bought it from ??

Nick

[tomato]

And why is there a Council Highways sign apparently erected in his back garden? 

[Franklin]

Maybe they are from Cardiff and received help from the charity St Giles. The sign is for St Giles Cymru which is in Cardiff.

[Mr Spock]

Having a sign in your back garden isn't a crime. Seems to me people are jumping to conclusions without sufficient evidence.

[Louis D]

8 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

Having a sign in your back garden isn't a crime. Seems to me people are jumping to conclusions without sufficient evidence.

It is in the US if you stole it from a highway post.  College kids love to do this with signs with evocative messages and put them in their dorm, fraternity, or apartment as decorations.  Heck, I remember some college kids driving down a street after high winds blew down some stoplights.  They picked up one of them, tossed in the back of their pickup, took it back to their home, refurbished it with electronic controls, and now it cycles through its red/yellow/green lights in a corner of their basement bar.

[Mr Spock]

1 hour ago, Louis D said:

It is in the US if you stole it from a highway post. 

You can buy them here 

[tomato]

2 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Having a sign in your back garden isn't a crime. Seems to me people are jumping to conclusions without sufficient evidence.

My point was it looked like folks were using the sign to try to identify the location, if it is in somebody’s back garden it won’t be much help.😊

[lguise]

Some answers to questions I’ve sent seem ‘off’ to me despite the advert reading well, and seller has now gone silent. I think it’s one of several scam adverts out there at the moment which seem to feature Celestron scopes which are just a little bit too cheap. They seem to be lifting text and photos from genuine adverts so all seems good until you dig a little.

As always take extra care with anything you are not actually viewing in person.

Linton

[maw lod qan]

Seems to be a lot of this on FB market place around me.

[Elp]

Looks like there's more than one listing on there like this (other scopes). Gone within a few hours then reposted under a different name.

[John]

Here is a recent UK AB&S advert:

U.K. Astronomy Buy & Sell (astrobuysell.com)

This "barely used" scope bears a remarkable resemblance to this one reviewed on the CN forum 11 years ago:

A review of the Celestron CPC 1100 telescope - User Reviews - Articles - Articles - Cloudy Nights

 

[Franklin]

12 minutes ago, John said:

This "barely used" scope bears a remarkable resemblance to this one reviewed on the CN forum 11 years ago

My word! It IS the same scope!

[John]

I've reported it to the webmaster and it's been removed promptly. Makes you wonder how many other dodgy ones are out there though 🤔

[John]

17 minutes ago, John said:

I've reported it to the webmaster and it's been removed promptly. Makes you wonder how many other dodgy ones are out there though 🤔

Now it's back but with no photos 😕

[bosun21]

A while back I was going to buy a GSO 32mm eyepiece from this seller. He/she gave me a PayPal address for payment which I paid. I checked to see if my payment went through okay and was met with " Awaiting for seller to open an account "! I immediately retracted the payment. No more communication was forthcoming from him/her.

[Louis D]

On 24/06/2023 at 18:14, bosun21 said:

A while back I was going to buy a GSO 32mm eyepiece from this seller. He/she gave me a PayPal address for payment which I paid. I checked to see if my payment went through okay and was met with " Awaiting for seller to open an account "! I immediately retracted the payment. No more communication was forthcoming from him/her.

Most scammers prefer Zelle, Venmo, or Cash App because there are no fraud protections.  Luckily for you, your seller seems like a stupid scammer that hasn't really thought this through and chose PayPal.