Steel dealers

Payton Vermeesch · From: Santa Cruz California

Hey all! I know there’s a bunch of reputable steel dealers not associated with the forum, I am currently talking to a guy named Frank Booker and he claims to have 2 Rains guitars that have coincidentally been listed on the forum before. He used the same images from both the old listings when sharing pictures with me. Does any one know of Frank Booker or could this possibly be a scam? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Larry Dering · From: Missouri, USA

Don't know him but that certainly smells like a scam. I can't offer much advice but if nobody here has dealt with him I would pass.

Bobby D. Jones · From: West Virginia, USA

I typed the name Frank Booker into members register, Came up 0. Guess he is not a member.
Does the pictures have Steel Guitar Forum written on them. If it does, He has snitched the pictures off the forum.

I think its a scam.

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

The world is too full of scams for me to worry about offending someone...BUT...it is still possible to ask the seller a question without being full-on belligerent. I can't see any legit reason for someone to post pictures that do not belong to them. But I would like to give that person an opportunity to explain why they have done so. So I would ask "what's the deal with the old pictures from a different ad? Could you please explain?"
If they do not respond or if they accuse you of implying that they are dishonest....excellent. We have outed at the very least someone not worthy of being a partner in an honest transaction and at the most, a scammer.

edited to add: a response such as "yeah -- sorry. I was too lazy to do a photoshoot but the guitar is in the exact condition it was in, in those photos that I used. I'll set it up and shoot some pics if you are interested......"

.....would be a possible response that might actually hold water. My point being that nothing's impossible. But it's on the seller to get past this awkward moment.

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

IMO, you should be very suspicious of any non-member who contacts you to stating that he/she has an item that you have posted in Wanted To Buy. Especially since you put your email address on your WTB post - https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=397186 - if you want to deal with forum members, there is no need to give external contact info, as long as you allow emails and/or private messages from forum members.

The second strike is that they are using old pictures of For Sale ads from this forum. I think it is quite unlikely, but not impossible, that such a non-member actually bought two Rains pedal steels from the forum. It's just too easy for a scammer to grab old forum photos.

For me, a third strike is that this is one of the most common scam techniques we see on this forum. We routinely advise people NOT to put non-forum contact info on a WTB ad precisely because it is an invitation to external scammers.

So personally, I would not even respond to such an 'offer'. That is your call, but I would never send money to anybody in this situation. Perhaps if it was local and I could deal face-to-face, I'd consider calling them if they gave me an actual local phone number.

This kind of scam is fairly routine on selling sites like CL and FB Marketplace. And by putting your email address on the WTB ad, you're setting yourself up exactly the same way someone does when they put a WTB ad on CL and FB Marketplace. And we have seen this type of scam run here.

Again - what you do is up to you. But there is absolutely nothing the forum can do to intercede if something goes wrong when you deal with external people like this. Our power is limited to having a community of people that know each other to some extent, we can suspend memberships when we see problems with a buyer/seller, and we can sometimes do sanity checks to make sure a member is a real person. And we have needed to do this periodically. But in this sitation, we can't even begin to verify if the seller is a real person, much less a legitimate seller. As far as I can see, you're dealing with a total stranger with no connection to the forum.

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

As Dave eluded to, NEVER put any personal information in an ad, inquiry, or anywhere else it would be visible to scammers, or bots (spiders?) that crawl the web looking for this type of info. This includes email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses, etc. You're asking for scams and spam emails if you do. It's different if you are a business and the info is needed for potential customers to contact you.
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Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, NV400, NV112 . Playing for 54 years and still counting.

Abe Levy · From: California, USA

I always ask for very specific photos of a part of the guitar that they haven’t shown. If they’re a scammer this always shoos them away.
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Mostly Pre-1970 guitars.

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