Pianotech

  • 1.  Possible Scam

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-20-2021 10:36
      |   view attached
    I received this email (to undisclosed recipients) which is well into the "seems-to-be-good-to-be-true" territory:
    "I got a Yamaha Baby Grand Piano to give away to someone that can cherish and take good care of her. Let me know if you are interested or refer someone who might be interested."

    Not recognizing the sender, I replied: "Have I seen this piano before?" (a good opening query to disguise my distrust)

    The reply: "The Yamaha Baby Grand Piano (model #DGB1) used to be owned and played by my husband who passed away last year. It was last tuned sometimes around October last year before he passed. I'm moving my properties to California and I don't think my husband will be happy if I sell this piano, at the same time am settling to a home of lesser space, so I'm hoping to give it out to someone who is a passionate lover of the instrument. I wasn't going to leave it alone in an empty house.

    The Piano is currently in storage in Tennessee with the movers I employed to move my properties from my house. In attachment is the pictures of the Piano. Do let me know if you are interested."

    This could easily be a set-up for me to agree to pay shipping costs for an excellent & free piano, only to have the piano disappear into thin air once the check for the shipping clears. I know my next reply, but I wanted to see if maybe some scammer had scraped up all the addresses on this list, with the result that all of you had received the same offer.

    ------------------------------
    William Ballard RPT
    WBPS
    Saxtons River VT
    802-869-9107

    "Our lives contain a thousand springs
    and dies if one be gone
    Strange that a harp of a thousand strings
    should keep in tune so long."
    ...........Dr. Watts, "The Continental Harmony,1774
    +++++++++++++++++++++
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Possible Scam

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-20-2021 10:41
    We received this email a few months ago and we were vacationing so we said we would stop by and look at it on our way home. They quickly changed their story- this is a SCAM!





  • 3.  RE: Possible Scam

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-20-2021 10:42
    Many of us got the same message a week or two ago. Scam. Some went along with it, some played with it for fun. The moving company doesn't exist, but the website looked legit unless you took a good look at the copy. The address given was an empty lot. Yeah, too good to be true.
    Paul McCloud
    San Diego




  • 4.  RE: Possible Scam

    Member
    Posted 04-20-2021 12:56
    I was one of the early receivers of this email and played along. I stated I needed an address so I could get a quote from various movers. Response was I had to use their movers. I you read the email closely there is some awkward wording in it. They cast their net quite wide into Canada and all over the US.

    I once got a series of rapid text messages about repairing and tuning two Steinways for a concert to be given at a hotel in Columbia, SC .When I checked the hotel it was news to them- no such group and event was on the calendar. I asked the sender of the texts for a phone number so we could talk. Response was they had just had mouth surgery and their mouth was sewn shut......

    ------------------------------
    James Kelly
    Owner- Fur Elise Piano Service
    Pawleys Island SC
    843-325-4357
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Possible Scam

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 04-21-2021 01:55
    Yes, it is a scam. It's been around for years but it must still be working as they keep trying it out. 

    Run, don't walk, in the other direction. 

    ddf

    --
    Delwin D Fandrich
    Fandrich Piano Company, Inc.
    Piano Design and Manufacturing Consulting Services -- Worldwide
    6939 Foothill Ct SW -- Olympia, WA 98512 -- USA
    Phone 360.515.0119 -- Mobile 360.388.6525





  • 6.  RE: Possible Scam

    Posted 04-21-2021 10:49
    I received this email yesterday! Fishing for sure!

    ------------------------------
    Melanie Brooks
    Brooks, Ltd. Piano Products LLC
    Uncasville CT
    860-848-6605
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: Possible Scam

    Posted 04-24-2021 06:11
    Oh, happy day! I was feeling sooooooo left out, but good things happen to those who wait: I just received an email for an offer of a free Yamaha baby grand piano!!!!!!  Oh, luck me!!

    I'm glad that someone posted about this type of thing. Without this thread I would certainly have at least responded to the offer. I'd like to think that I wouldn't have fallen for it after they asked for my credit card number, but a nice heads-up is always welcome!  So thanks William and all those that responded.....

    ------------------------------
    Terry Farrell
    Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
    Brandon, Florida
    terry@farrellpiano.com
    813-684-3505
    ------------------------------