BEING AN HONEST PERSON, IT AMAZES ME THAT PEOPLE WITHOUT CONSCIENCES EXIST AND DO THIS FOR A LIVING…

I was looking for concert tickets and had never used an online classified ad service before. I heard it was great because you could deal locally and pick up your merchandise personally from the seller. I searched for the tickets I wanted (in my geographical vicinity in NY) and I found someone who was selling the EXACT seats I wanted for a fantastic price. I contacted him through the online service's anonymous email service. He replied the same day and said that he was glad that I emailed him because I was the first buyer who was not a scalper to contact him. We had a few emails back and forth. I asked him if I could use an online payment service to pay for the tix and he told me that the online payment service had messed up his account and he did not want to deal with them. I asked if he could email me a scan of the tix so I could see proof that they were the seats he said they were and he said that he did not have money for a scanner because he spent all his money on the computer. I asked him where I could meet him to pick up the tix and he says, 'sorry, I live in Ontario, Canada.' This is definitely not LOCAL to NY City area so I wondered how this was even allowed on the online classified ads. He told me he had other buyers waiting but he wanted to get the tickets to me since I was such a big fan and he was too.

The entire way to the wire transfer office I was telling myself that I have no guarantee that he either HAD or was going to SEND these tix. I took money out of my savings account even though I had been out of work for 4 months and told him this. Long story short, I sent him $300 and had to spend $29 to send it by a wire transfer. He stopped answering my emails after he gave me a bogus phone number and a bogus tracking number. What a complete loser. Being an honest person it amazes me that people without consciences exist and do this for a living. Don't they know that God is watching them? I am a fool for sending it when all my red flags went up, but the key is NOT to get emotionally involved with the purchase. The band meant a lot to me and I wanted those tickets. Now I will not get to see the concert. I really hope that people will learn something from this and I hope that the online classified ad service will improve there site because right now THIEVES are running rampant on there because there are NO CONSEQUENCES. Today I had a wonderful transaction on the online classified ads where a legitimate buyer came to my house to buy something I was selling. It gave me new confidence that not everyone on the internet is bad.

Lin, NY