Trying to scam sellers

[Kelly R]

I am selling my L&H Prelude (listed on here), and recieved an email yesterday that seemed very suspicious (you know — they never actually mention what they want to buy, it’s just “the item” and they want to make an outright purchase of it, blah, blah, blah…)

[carl-swanson]

This is only slightly related to this. But every day now for the past several days I’ve gotten an email saying that_______(fill in the blank, someone I either don’t know or do know)has added me to their facebook friends, and that I have to click on the link provided to accept. What’s that all about? I’ve deleted all of them without clicking on the link. But I’m thinking it’s is again some sort of internet fraud. Anyone know what’s going on?

[Bonnie Shaljean]

I’ve been getting those too, from people I don’t know. I’m based overseas, so it sounds like it’s an international operation, though it may simply be touting for business.

[Han Hsieh]

I know Facebook is off the topic of this thread, but the Facebook scam can be very serious. Here is a story I found from MSNBC; after reading the story, I decided to get rid of my Facebook account right the way.

http://redtape.msnbc.com/2009/01/post-1.html#posts

[kay-lister]

You know, unfortunately some people DO fall for these kinds of things and mega bucks are made. It’s all very sad.

Kay

[carl-swanson]

I don’t have a facebook account and I don’t “get” the whole facebook think anyway. If I need to contact someone, all I need is their email address. What the heck do I need facebook for?

[Bonnie Shaljean]

Agree totally.

[David Ice]

I’m with you, Carl.

[carl-swanson]

The thing is David, I don’t know yet what the scam is. Is it a phony Facebook link in order to get important information(Bank numbers, SS number etc.) out of you? Or is it a way to create an email list that they can then sell to god knows who?

I’ve been lucky so far in that I am not deluged with spam and scams. One possible reason is that I buy almost nothing on line. Another is that I have a hotmail address that I use when I’m worried about where my contact information is going. I do my on line searches from that address.

[bart-kleineweber]

This is a common Internet scam.

[jennifer-buehler]

From what I’ve heard, frequent blogging, etc. is really successful for musicians trying to build up a long term relationship with their fan base, create a following for their stage shows, sell CDs, etc.

[Calista Anne Koch]

Oh, come on guys.

[helen-rudd]

Facebook and Myspace CAN be invaluable tools to businesses and musicians. As an example check out these two musicians on myspace-
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=42451356
http://www.myspace.com/owlcity

Owl city in particular has become a mega-hit based pretty much on how he interacts with his audience via social newtorking through the internet. He (Adam Young) (according to Last.fm)

[Bonnie Shaljean]

> buy tracks directly from the artist, locate concert schedules, find new, unique indie music not offered by the monopolisitic companies

> frequent blogging, etc. is really successful for musicians trying to build up a long term relationship with their fan base, create a following for their stage shows, sell CDs, etc.

All this is certainly true, but I still don’t understand why it can’t just be done through the person’s own website and its set of links (which is just Friends by another name).

[helen-rudd]

That’s true, but I would also say that in addition to following a particular band/artist via their myspace you can also discover them via myspace/youtube etc. If i don’t know an artist exists how can I go to their website? I frequently find artists I’ve never heard of on myspace, youtube etc In fact, that is where I do the majority of my “discovering” now and I would guess a majority of the younger generations tend to find their music the same way (although I am not particularly young!) I “found” the two artists I mentioned above exactly that way. Owl city via youtube and Erin via my space. I could name dozens that i now listen to who I had never heard of before “discovering” them on these sites. I guess each artist has to decide whether or not social networking and or viral marketing via the web is profitable in their particular circumstances. I agree that it most likely would not work for everyone, but it certainly does seem to work for some!
Helen

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