It's true! I bought 4 used tires for $80 and it turned out, it was a big scam. She was even PREGNANT. What the heck??
When someone gets scammed, and talks about it publicly, I've always enjoyed that... that's how we stop scams from spreading. In addition, we all could learn something so it doesn't happen to us.
Recently, I bought four used tires in terrific condition. I found the seller on craigslist. I went to his home and his wife stepped outside, she was very pregnant.
"My due date is in 3 days" from now, she said.
"We're moving, because the owner of the house sold it on us. We have to get out quick" he said.
I took a quick look at the size and dimensions of the tires he was selling. They were in fantastic shape.
"I only want $80 for the four of them. I gotta sell off all this stuff quick", he stated.
Here's the stack of tires:
So I looked closer at the tread depth.. They look nice!! Almost BRAND NEW!!
"$80 for all four? I'll take them. Wish you the best for you and the baby coming. Hope everything works out", I said.
I loaded them all up, got them home. It was late at night. Next morning, I went to go look at them.
OH NO! I WAS SCAMMED! The tire bead on these are all chewed up! They're REJECTS from a professional tire shop! That's why the treads are so nice... they were never used!
I tried getting ahold of the guy, and he's not answering my calls. I messaged him, no response.
He knew what he did.
My first reaction is.. well I guess that's how this game goes... what am I suppose to do? Sell them to someone else the same way to get my money back?
NO!!
I'm going to scrap these tires where they belong, so no one else gets scammed ever again.
Then I realized, this was just a young couple, about to have a baby. They probably needed that $80 more than I do...
Then I thought of steemit. This would make a great story, because it has these elements:
- It's a true story
- It's educational
- It's interesting and different
- It may help someone some day
- There's a chance that I may not be out the full $80 if this post gets upvotes.
So even though I did get scammed, and I lost $80, maybe some good can come out of this in the end.
The lessons I learned:
- If it is too good to be true, it probably is (this is about the 10th time in my life I had to be reminded of this lesson. When will I learn??)
- Buying used tires? Don't just look at sizes, make, model, and tread depth. Pay attention to the BEAD where it mounts the rim!
- Even if you have pretty good karma for doing good deads, maybe something like this happens to you, because that young couple really did need $80, and you're not the type of guy to make their life a living hell over it.
- I'm the type of guy who will break the chain and not scam someone else. I'll bring these tires where they belong...to the recycle plant.
Life is strange. I, like almost any of us, can get scammed "just like that"....
With steemit though, if anything, I could share this story.. and hopefully it helps someone avoid this happening to them. :)
Today @intelliguy became @stupidguy -- really kicking myself. :)