I got this ad on my mr pinball classified email this morning. 9-21-15.

I said I'd pick it up but he would sooner ship it.

Got some pics from him and they look kinda fishy. He Also sent me a video he said he put on you tube. Game doesn't match the pics he sent.

I'd believe it's real if this thread title had a few more question marks and exclamation points.

Kevin is back!

Don't get Gaskuleked

I inquired and here was the reply. Same photos that have been posted before.

"Hello

Thank you for your inquiry and the interest you have on my Medieval Madness pinball machine. I Purchased my MM in 2007 , This is the only pin that will meet the needs of every pinball player. The playfield and cabinet are in excellent condition. This game has been home use only since new. It has the full manual set included. A Pinball Pro speaker has been installed. It plays great. All functions have been checked by a trained technician for proper operation. My final asking price for my MM is USD5,000 and i am simply looking for a quick sale to my pin because i will be moving from here in a couple of days now from now to Join the other part of my family including my Pregnant wife in Southern California for this is the time she needs me most beside her . I have also attached couple of pictures of my MM for a better view and appreciation. Kindly check out the pictures and advise where you are located precisely so that we can make a deal as soon as possible . Maybe we can arrange shipment or pick up today since i will be free all through the day .

Kind Regards

Michael Summers"

I contacted him just for the heck of it as well and got the same response. I asked to see pictures of the "sealed backglass" and he responded with "didn't you watch the video?" I did but you didn't show me the sealed backglass. As above, it's pretty obvious the game in the video is not the same as the one in the pictures. I didn't bother to tell him that the game in the pictures is plugged into a european outlet (as noted by someone else above) as I didn't want to help him be better at scamming people.

I did ask if I could send a friend to look at the game before shipping. He said yes but he'd only meet him at the Walmart Super Center to make sure he was "ok" before bringing him over to the house. I'm guessing he wouldn't have shown up but if he would have I'm not sure what game he would actually show him.

I think we've all figured out that this is an obvious scam.

Dave

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-nigerian-scam-emails-are-obvious-2014-5

"Levitt and Dubner explain the genius behind such an obvious scam in terms of "false positives," referring to email recipients who engage with the scammers but don't ultimately pay. Reaching out to scores of potential victims isn't much work, thanks to the ease of email, but with each reply from a gullible target, the scammers are required to put forth a little more effort.

Therefore, it's in the scammers' best interest to minimize the number of false positives who cost them effort but never send them cash. By sending an initial email that's obvious in its shortcomings, the scammers are isolating the most gullible targets. If you trash their email, that's fine. They don't want you, someone from whom there's virtually no chance of receiving any money. They want people who, faced with a ridiculous email, still don't recognize its illegitimacy."

Maybe Manti Te'o will buy this pin, after this guy's wife dies and is launched into space on a rocket.

I should have offered more money if he agreed to meet in the parking lot of the local Police station. Of course telling him that I had already forwarded his email to my friend who works there, so he could meet us and supervise the transaction.

I paid less than that for the one I had, and it still wasn't worth keeping.

Yea yea we know Captain but Stargate and CV are perfect 10's right?

These are the pics he sent me two different games not sure what game that is with the playfield up

image.jpg

image_1.jpg

image_2.jpg

image_3.jpg

image_4.jpg

image_5.jpg

image_6.jpg

Game in the background is Shadow.

Hmm, my email was like this.
Hello Dan,

Thank you for your inquiry and the interest you have on my Medieval Madness pinball machine. I Purchased my MM in 2007 , This is the only pin that will meet the needs of every pinball player. The playfield and cabinet are in excellent condition. This game has been home use only since new. It has the full manual set included. A Pinball Pro speaker has been installed. It plays great. All functions have been checked by a trained technician for proper operation. My final asking price for my MM is USD5,000 and i am simply looking for a quick sale to my pin because, i will be moving from here in a couple of days now from now to Join the other part of my family including my Pregnant wife in Southern California for this is the time she needs me most beside her . I have also attached couple pictures of my MM for a better view and appreciation. If you are not local then you are going to spend extra $400 with Air Pilot for shipment since it their price for all shipment within the USA. Air Pilot will deliver to a major airport near you in your state for just $400. They can also deliver to your door for an additional fee ($100) I do have an agent with them who will handle everything , He will do the packaging ,do the pick up at my home address and set up everything for shipment with Air Pilot. He is a local collector who operates from terminals to homes and was the same guy who delivered to my home when I purchased though.

Kindly check out the pictures and advise if it meets the need of your bills so that we can make a deal as soon as possible . Maybe we can arrange shipment today or tomorrow since i will be free all through these days. Also advice where you are located precisely .

Kind Regard

Michael Summers

I also liked his point that displays line segments were all there and bright. Wow, displays in a DMD game.

(I already sent a "scammer" email to Daina @ Mr Pinball with copies of my emails back and forth - he will be blacklisted on Mr. Pinball). I know, he will just change emails - but Daina always wants to know about fake classifieds).

BTW, his youtube is a .be video (Youtube channel in Belgium?)

Email exchange today 9/22. Figured I'd see how far he'd take this ploy. MS = "Michael Summers"

Me - I will be in town for business next week And I want to see and play the game. I'll pay cash right then and take it with me if I like it.

MS:
Sorry I will be moving this weekend . won't be patient till then . unless you will put a down payment as a assurance . I can as well arrange COD shipment if that's fine with you.

me - how much payment?

MS- $500 only will be fine to assure me of your interest then we can set up a date and time . plus where to meet or you coming to my address.

me - how/where would I send it?

And finally, he "asks"
You can send it Via Money Gram from any walmart in your area . when you send the money , just kindly text me the reference number and the senders names, your cell phone number and I will call you so we can set up the rest .

Here are my info that you will be sending it to

Receiver ----- Michael Summers
State ---------- Alabama
City ------------ Birmingham
Zip Code ----- 35232
Test Question -- What for ?
Answer ------- Pinball

Also let me know when next week you will be here .

Thanks

Michael

Usually the scammers are from some non-English speaking country, so I the phrasing is usually suspect. There are broken sentences in there that suggest they copied and pasted text from a traditional scamming script that they use, interspersed with text they found on the web.

You can find various fragments at this site: http://www.pinballandmore.com/pinball.php

"A Pinball Pro speaker has been installed." --> From the Circus Voltaire listing.

"All functions have been checked by a trained technician for proper operation." --> From the Hook listing (and others).

"The playfield and cabinet are in excellent condition" --> Circus Voltaire

"full manual set included" --> Circus Voltaire

etc...

There used to be a site called 419eater I think. It was dedicated to scamming these types of scammers. Everything from just wasting their time making them answer stupid questions over and over, to actually getting them to send pictures of themselves doing ridiculous poses or holding funny signs, and some people even convinced the scammers to send them money to make the deal go more smoothly. I really suggest somebody on here do that and post it for our enjoyment!

I wonder what he would say if you said you had a cousin that lives in Birmingham Alabama and can be at his address in 20 mins. I wonder if he would give an address. I suppose you can ask him directly if he is a Nigerian prince that needs a bank account in the US to split his $10 million that he needs to get out of the country.

Considering he doesn't really live in Birmingham and there really isn't a game he'd either tell you that he's out of town right now but a deposit will hold the game or he'll tell you to go to the local walmart, send him money, and then he'll tell you where the game is. He most definitely is not inviting you over to his non-existent house to see his non-existent machine

Offer him $4,500 cash in person!

Just want to chime in and confirm with everyone this is a big fat fake. Those images Rapzilch uploaded have been used before on a number of fake UK ebay auctions (notice the 3 pin plug? UK socket) which have been recycled over and over and unfortunately were stolen from genuine sales a few years back from a UK enthusiast selling machines. We tend to report these fraudulent listings to ebay when they come up and it seems now they have made their way over to US sites as well!

The ad I saw listed the game in Mobile, AL. So it's in Birmingham now?

Nice, it's closer to me. I think I'll drive over and score this beauty.

This is how I wrapped up my emails with him, it got extremely quiet :

You are hereby notified that this entire email conversation, your ad, and other evidence of fraud have been forwarded to authorities.

Several others have collected your conversations with them as well.

Reply with your phone number. Failure to reply will confirm your claims are under suspicious and fraudulent terms.

Ha! The price and new Pinsider are give aways!

I wanted to have some fun and see how far he would take the fishing line - I knew he'd finally get around to the money gram ask.

I told him I was ready to wire money yesterday....no response...

Trying again. Just trying to get him to go to Walmart and stand around for an hour...cruel, I know....

no game is a perfect 10. but TZ is as close to perfection as a game can get.

I do the same thing. I have a collection going. When I get enough i'm making a framed collage of it all to hang up on the wall. The polaroids are the best ones.

I have a friend who used to have the send the Certified Bank Cheques from the Over Pay scams and pin them to the wall. He loved making them waste the postage.

I did alert Daina Pettit (Mr Pinball) , here's Daina's reply.

"Yeah, I think it's a scam. I've marked it as a scam and removed the
contact info."

Youtu.be is simply youtube.com's shortened URL. The URL is legit.

Aaand I guess the jig is up then.

This is my favorite line/translation. I'm shocked the word "will" got in there though.

Why do scammers always use "regards" or "best regards" or "kindest regards?"

WTF are "regards" in the first place?

Demitri Martin has a bit about this in his latest stand-up routine. It is on Netflix I think, called "Demitri Martin - Live (at the time)".

Finally a fair price for that game, I would be a buyer of MM at $3500.