Have You Been Contacted By a JohnnyCool??
Have You Been Contacted By a JohnnyCool??
‘JohnnyCool’ (his Zibbet username), also known as ‘John Abe’ is contacting sellers and asking them to transact off the Zibbet website. He is telling sellers that he will send them a ‘cashiers check’ and use his ‘personal shipper’. He will also ask you to contact him via his email address, johnnyabe62@yahoo.com.
In the online art world, this is generally how this kind of scam pans out…The ‘buyer’ sends a check and then you ship the item. The cashiers check then bounces, weeks later, and you lose your artwork! They are also known to try to manipulate you into returning the money to them, due to hardship. If you feel sorry for them and return the money before finding out the check has bounced, then you will lose both your art and your money!
If you do a Google search on his email address, you will see further information on some other scams he has been involved in.
His alias ‘JohnnyCool’ has been removed from our system. However, there is nothing we can do to stop him re-registering using a different email address and different username. So be careful!
This is a good example of why you should only transact via the Zibbet website and why PayPal is the safest way to get paid online.
Don’t let this happen to you! If anyone ever asks you to transact off the Zibbet website, let them know that you’re not willing to do this. This is against our site ‘Terms of Use’. And, you may be chatting to another ‘JohnnyCool’!
Any future instances can be reported by emailing abuse@zibbet.com
Feel free to comment and interact with other sellers below.
Tags: internet scam, JohnnyCool, PayPal, scam
Yes, I was contacted by someone called “Sean Jerry.” His email address is seanjerry007@yahoo.com. He wanted to send me a cashier’s check for $2000 for a painting that I was asking $500 for and then send his “Framer” the remainder of the money. I have a blog on my web site called “Almost Scammed” (nancyriedellfinearts.com) if you are interested in reading it. He contacted me several times before he finally gave up. I have since had to tell people that I will only accept payment through PayPal.
I’ve been approached twice before by another(?) scammer using the same ploy. Both times, I avoided being taken in. The second time I simply told him how I do business and that, if he really wants to buy one of my paintings, he can order via credit card from the website, like everyone else. That was enough to get rid of him.
i read that paypal only protects sales made at ebay.
has this changed?
I have been approached a few times on my own website for the exact same thing.I always respond saying all purchases are from the website through paypal .There’s just too much of this stuff going on.It’s great that Zibbet has gotton onto it so quickly to avoid their members being taken in my them
Thanks for letting us know. There’s always someone out there …
I feel such a fool that I almost gave him my email address to fascillitate the sale because I was so eager to make my first sale. I assumed that a US acredited cheque was like an English Bank accredited and issued cheque. It has taught me that I must follow the rules of Zibbet scrupulously. It is in effect a firewall that protects us all. These petty scammers are very clever at seeing our weaknesses. They see how we are so eager to help and to prove our own worthiness and honesty and use these good qualities against us.
Crowhurst, Johnnycool maybe thinks he is cool but for sure he is not very smart… When he wrote me that “i was hoping we transact on mutual understanding, and you can settle zibbet…”, I searched his e-mail address on Google and of course I found it in a scam from last October! So long life to Google where you can find everything.
The sad part is that I was happy to make my first sale on Zibbet… But I’m sure that in a short time we are going to have a lot of customers !
Good luck and a lot of sale!
I guess Im more naive than I realized. I think the key elements of his scam technique to watch out for are as follows.
1. that he asks questions that don’t need to be asked.
2. he gives out a good convoluted story that isnt’ really relevant.
3. he waits for us to respond with our own details.
4. meanwhile he hasn’t given out any real information about himself.
But with all of us co-operating, communicating freely and working together we can defeat him and others like him. Remember if we are to be the best number one site with all the best artists world wide we are going to attract everyone including the scummers.
Yeah, PayPal might be safe, but PayPal is not used in all countries. I use AlertPay to send and receive money - and I’ve never had a problem with them.
They are just as safe as PayPal - but they have the advantage of allowing users from ALL countries.
I highly recommend that the Zibbet Administrators use AlertPay as a second form of payment.
Oh, and by the way, I’m not a spokesperson for AlertPay, I’m just living in a country where PayPal has not been implemented. I have artwork to sell, but I can’t use Zibbet because of the PayPal limitation.
PayPal is no longer the only “big fish” in the sea.
VL
Yeah but as they say, just trade by Paypal and we’ll be quite safe…
Look at the profile page of every buyer and he only seems to be a bit strange, check him out on google. Never answer to any guys who just want to get you off the page. those terms of use are our freedom because they protect us and because they give an equal liberty to everyone. And the sales fee is quite fair so why should there be any profit by leaving the safe way? If I were contacted by someone like silly johnnyboy, I’d just tell Zibbet about him…
We’ll make it, I really like the image of a firewall by the way, crowhurst!
Best regards
CDR
I haven’t been aproached yet, I”m glad you let us know what to look out for. makes me more cautious.
We are looking to introduce other payment options for sellers that are in countries where PayPal is not accepted, ‘vlweb3d’. Please check back with us. PayPal may not be the only “big fish” in the sea, but it’s proven to be the ‘preferred’ way to make purchases online.
I haven’t been aproached yet,but will be keeping a keen watch for him,
we all stick together and watch each others back.
Nothing makes me hotter under the collar than people like Mr. Cool. If I see him I wll be sure to let you all know.
I’ll watch out for this PUNK.
Thanks so much. It’s good to know you guys are looking out for us!