I am hoping my story will save someone from losing their money after my family lost ours on this scam.
We found a boat we were interested in (a 2006 Avalon Tropic 2023) on Craiglist for $5100. We emailed them and received the following email back from a Monica Bennett:
Hello,
I am sorry it took so long to get back to you, but your message was in my spam folder, glad I always check it before I clean up. Hopefully I am not too late and you're still looking.
It's still available, but unfortunately my sister was involved in a car crash last week and I had to come here, she ended up with a broken arm and can't take care of things around the house, so I have to be here for a while. She can take care of herself but we have the little one to worry about LOL.
I'm not complaining or anything because I am selling this through OST anyway, so my situation has nothing to do with the actual sale, I was just clarifying that I won't be available for a while. If you are familiar with OST, then you know what I mean, if not I'll be happy to walk you through it.
Feel free to ask any questions.
Thanks
After learning that OST was short for Opus Safe Tranactions, I decided to do some research. I found many positive reviews, LinkedIn profiles for the employees, a company blog, everything to convince me that I was dealing with a legitimate consignment and escrow company that was quickly gaining popularity amongst the automotive industry. We decided to move forward. The best thing about Opus was the online status, quick customer service replies and 7 day guarantee. Hell, I even got a bill of sale through the online system.
Now the bad:
The craigslist ad, the Opus Safe Transaction company, the customer service, the escrow account, everything is operated by one very professional scam artist behind the scence. You will be told that Western Union is not accepted because it is not safe and that the bank-to-bank transfer is being sent to Barclay's Bank (or another popular institution). The logo is copy psated to the Opus website. It is not going to that bank. Once you have sent your money, it is gone.
In this day and age of technology, you CAN NOT send your money to any person online without seeing the merchandise. Nowadays, it IS a fair assumption that unless you are exchanging the money and merchandise at the same time, it IS a SCAM.
Here are additional keywords from our experience to help you. If any of these come up in your conversations, stay away:
Ad: Has depthfinder, bimini top, 9 person capacity, no leaks, floor good, runs good, 176 hours on engine, wil pull skiers, 20-25 Mph. One burn place on seat as pictured, other wise great condition.
Opus Safe Transactions is a scam! It's a fake website, and there's a whole bunch of fake posts on other sites that claim it is legit, but it is not. I lost $3500. Do not, under any circumstances, use this service or any service that looks similar! It looks like they are making up variations of the same scam to confuse people and say that they are the "real" service.
I was scammed on Craigslist by "Angie" - here's the original email, which others have recently posted as well:
On Jul 30, 2013, at 5:55 PM, "Angie M." wrote:
> Hello again and thanks for your email address. It's still available, unfortunately my sister was involved in a car crash last week and I had to come here, she ended up with a broken arm and can't take care of things around the house, so I have to be here for a while. She can take care of herself but we have the little one to worry about LOL.
>
> I'm not complaining or anything because I am selling this through OST anyway, so my situation has nothing to do with the actual sale, I was just clarifying that I won't be available for a while. If you used OST before, then you know what I mean, if not I'll be happy to walk you through it.
I lost $1692 in a transaction for a boat with Opus Safe Transactions. There were no refunds and they never delivered anything. Opus Safe Transactions has gone by many names and has had several fake locations. They have closed several websites and reopened under other names after bilking thousands of people. Prior to Opus Transactions they were known as
eAutomix Safe Transactions
eViza Safe Transactions
Automix Traders Safe Transactions
Alco Safe Transactions
Their fake warehouses and headquarters are undeliverable by mail. They are an Internet Fraud Company that that claims to provide safe transactions between buyer and seller. They advertise high value items (boats, cars, motorcycles, etc.) on Craig's List and other legitimate sites, but they do not have any of these items in their possession. They require at least half down by cash wire and will not ship anything. They have no phone, no customer service and no refunds. They deal in misrepresentation of goods, false advertising, internet fraud, internet scams, and more... Jorge, Houston, TX
Opus Safe Transactions Reviews
I am hoping my story will save someone from losing their money after my family lost ours on this scam.
We found a boat we were interested in (a 2006 Avalon Tropic 2023) on Craiglist for $5100. We emailed them and received the following email back from a Monica Bennett:
Hello,
I am sorry it took so long to get back to you, but your message was in my spam folder, glad I always check it before I clean up. Hopefully I am not too late and you're still looking.
It's still available, but unfortunately my sister was involved in a car crash last week and I had to come here, she ended up with a broken arm and can't take care of things around the house, so I have to be here for a while. She can take care of herself but we have the little one to worry about LOL.
I'm not complaining or anything because I am selling this through OST anyway, so my situation has nothing to do with the actual sale, I was just clarifying that I won't be available for a while. If you are familiar with OST, then you know what I mean, if not I'll be happy to walk you through it.
Feel free to ask any questions.
Thanks
After learning that OST was short for Opus Safe Tranactions, I decided to do some research. I found many positive reviews, LinkedIn profiles for the employees, a company blog, everything to convince me that I was dealing with a legitimate consignment and escrow company that was quickly gaining popularity amongst the automotive industry. We decided to move forward. The best thing about Opus was the online status, quick customer service replies and 7 day guarantee. Hell, I even got a bill of sale through the online system.
Now the bad:
The craigslist ad, the Opus Safe Transaction company, the customer service, the escrow account, everything is operated by one very professional scam artist behind the scence. You will be told that Western Union is not accepted because it is not safe and that the bank-to-bank transfer is being sent to Barclay's Bank (or another popular institution). The logo is copy psated to the Opus website. It is not going to that bank. Once you have sent your money, it is gone.
In this day and age of technology, you CAN NOT send your money to any person online without seeing the merchandise. Nowadays, it IS a fair assumption that unless you are exchanging the money and merchandise at the same time, it IS a SCAM.
Here are additional keywords from our experience to help you. If any of these come up in your conversations, stay away:
David Gantert, PhD
Erik Holcomb
David Lee
Jeff Hurley
Gale Andrew
Debbie Crowell
eViza Transactions
Monica C. Bennett
[email protected]
Ad: Has depthfinder, bimini top, 9 person capacity, no leaks, floor good, runs good, 176 hours on engine, wil pull skiers, 20-25 Mph. One burn place on seat as pictured, other wise great condition.
Opus Safe Transactions is a scam! It's a fake website, and there's a whole bunch of fake posts on other sites that claim it is legit, but it is not. I lost $3500. Do not, under any circumstances, use this service or any service that looks similar! It looks like they are making up variations of the same scam to confuse people and say that they are the "real" service.
I was scammed on Craigslist by "Angie" - here's the original email, which others have recently posted as well:
On Jul 30, 2013, at 5:55 PM, "Angie M." wrote:
> Hello again and thanks for your email address. It's still available, unfortunately my sister was involved in a car crash last week and I had to come here, she ended up with a broken arm and can't take care of things around the house, so I have to be here for a while. She can take care of herself but we have the little one to worry about LOL.
>
> I'm not complaining or anything because I am selling this through OST anyway, so my situation has nothing to do with the actual sale, I was just clarifying that I won't be available for a while. If you used OST before, then you know what I mean, if not I'll be happy to walk you through it.
>
> Feel free to ask any questions.
>
> Thanks
> - Angie
I lost $1692 in a transaction for a boat with Opus Safe Transactions. There were no refunds and they never delivered anything. Opus Safe Transactions has gone by many names and has had several fake locations. They have closed several websites and reopened under other names after bilking thousands of people. Prior to Opus Transactions they were known as
eAutomix Safe Transactions
eViza Safe Transactions
Automix Traders Safe Transactions
Alco Safe Transactions
Their fake warehouses and headquarters are undeliverable by mail. They are an Internet Fraud Company that that claims to provide safe transactions between buyer and seller. They advertise high value items (boats, cars, motorcycles, etc.) on Craig's List and other legitimate sites, but they do not have any of these items in their possession. They require at least half down by cash wire and will not ship anything. They have no phone, no customer service and no refunds. They deal in misrepresentation of goods, false advertising, internet fraud, internet scams, and more... Jorge, Houston, TX