Bas La Bois

I subscribed once to an American modelling magazine published by Carstons Publishing. Each copy took months to arrive; after a couple of failed deliveries I tried to contact every person listed on their website to get any information about my order and didn't get a single reply. In the end I had to shame them into replying by joining RC Universe and putting my experience with them on a complaints thread. Eventually I was contacted by one of the editors through through the forum. How they're still in business is anyones guess if that's how they run it. I reckon that if you live outside of the US borders then you might as well live on Mars as far as US suppliers are concerned. After I cancelled my subscription and got a refund, I still received a couple of issues...although copies that  I'd already received. Useless incompetents! But definately chase them up for your money, either directly or through your bank and you might get sent the plans anyway. Edited By Bas La Bois on 28/01/2013 21:38:45

That seems to be the latest mo. Sell five different kits using Banana Hobby advertising media and then disappear. Then reappear under a new false ebay name. How anyone can bid on a high value item when the seller has no feedback; I just can't comprehend. Wishfull thinking I suppose. The new scammers name is: zhongxingeng13 It is definately the same person as previously outed. Definately DO NOT BID ON THESE KITS you will be conned. Ebay ownes PayPal so neither are interested in making a fuss as it will hurt their business to clean it up. PayPal pretends to be an online Bank but it isn't and doesn't have financial protection that high street banks offer. They would rather support their criminal clients and let us take the fall. Whether you get your money back or not is up to the discretion of PayPal but is less likely where a scam is involved. Do your research before you buy as you are not really protected from the criminal vermin that infest ebay. There are a lot of honest ebayers out there but..... if it looks too good to e true then IT IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.

Just for general information. The ebay scammer that went under the names of 'honghong98720' and 'jianjunjian2013' has now reemerged from its rock under the name of '2013yaoyaobingbing'. Exactly the same mo, lists five kitsusing Banana hobby photos, then dissappears. I have reported the first false identity to ebay but it seems that little was done about it. The name is still active although not scamming at the moment. As a point of interest did everyone that paid for one of the nonexistant kits get reimbused by Paypal?

Latest update on the lone RC kit scammer. 'honghong98720; has ceased selling the Lanxiang kits but has re-emerged under a new name, 'jianjunjian2013'. The same mo, listing of five different kits and the theft of Banana Hobby advertising media. I will send a link to Banana Hobby in the US.

I see that 'honghong98720' has started selling Lanxiang RTF kits in a continuation of the Christmas scam and yet there are still people bidding on them. Also the ebay seller 'ayiyang' is still a registered user and yet has scammed loads of buyers with fake Wii consoles. The negative feedback for 'dehau445' is starting to roll in from buyers of other fake products as well. Still a registered ebay user. This could be an ongoing problem unless ebay does something to police its criminal users.

Hello Andy in Kent I see in your screenshot that you paid £170 for your unsupplied kit. Which seller was this with as I didn't see any others getting this high a price especially at such a late date. By the way wellcome to the forum. What area of rc flying are you interested in? You seem to have forgotten to give any profile details.

Paul I phoned Paypal about two weeks ago to bring this scam to their attention and although they didn't seem very bothered about it occuring, they did assure me that anyone caught by the scammers would be protected and receive their money back once they'd gone through the claim process. If the process is different if you actually receive something i.e. plastic earrings then the obvious answer is to refuse delivery of the unsolicited goods and make the post office send them back. You don't have to prove that you didn't receive the wrong goods; the seller has to prove that you signed for and took possesion of the bought goods. My advice is to make a claim to Paypal. They are usually very reasonable to deal with as a buyer.

dehau445 has now ceased selling but has started a new fake identity as :zhuliangbo8899. Zero feedback and ebay registered 28-12-12. Exactly the same listings. I have been contacted by Banana Hobby in the US who are looking into ebayers illegally using their advertising media

As Andy above has pointed out beware of ebay seller: lihongli999 looks like another scammer and with no feedback (registered 23-12-12), but some people are still bidding on these items. Also found a new seller. Same kits for £9.99 + p&p. Seller is : dehua445 (registered 7-4-12). This is very likely one of the previous sellers under a new false identity. Not even woth a punt! I've kept bookmarked links to the previous sellers feedback scores. The negative scores are now flooding in. Also looks like a lot of people were caught out buying Wii Consoles; some for £100+. Very sad as that'll be the kids presents.

There is still one seller left who has five Lanxiang kits for sale currently between £200 and £300. However this seller has only 1 feedback score and this was for some boxer shorts. I can't believe that people will take such a chance on what is very likely another scam. I'm surprised ebay hasn't pulled this one aswell. The seller is: honghong9872012

John Good work contacting ebay Honh Kong. I hope its having a good effect as the scammers will just ruin ebay for everyone if it becomes infested with criminal sellers. However there are still four sellers on ebay with Lang Xiang kits for sale: ayiyang, yuguoq, yuner2012, honghong9872012 plus high value diecast model cars and Wii Consoles. They've been using faked feedbacks to instill confidence in the sellers' will to deliver. Same mo, same previous low value goods except the last one who only has 1 feedback score. Grasping at straws I think.

Don't be fooled by being given a tracking number as they can easily be faked or can be the tracking number of a pair of earing that's being sent instead (see feedback posts of some of the buyers) or even of an item that is sent within the country. The person with only 1 feedback score who bought a kit for £30 inc p&p and who replied to the seller asking about when it would be delivered, is a young lad from Brazil. I've let him know that he should make a claim to Paypal asap. There have now been seven sellers with the same mo, previously selling more or less the same types of trinkets, beads, hair straighteners, baseball caps etc and then suddenly changing to high value items. Five of them are still active. Put in a search for the Mig kits and you will find them.

Hi John Yes you are right, the now, no longer trading seller who sold 270 Mig 29s had previously sold mostly baseball caps, electronic hair straighteners and beads strangely enough. I wonder if it isn't a female scammer as they all seem to have previously sold beads and other jewellery type trinkets and have now suddenly changed to fur coats, Lang Xiang RC kits and scale model cars. Some are also adding the odd tablet for rediculously low prices and gaming consoles. I've just clocked another new seller with the same MO and the same kit for auction. They also all seem to have registered as ebay members between April, May & June of this year. I reckon that they planned to sell cheap trinkets to get their seller feedback scores up and then make the 'play' for the big money in the run up to Xmas. I just hope there weren't too many people relying on getting their purchases for Xmas. Although of course these won't be the sort of kit that would be bought as a childs present. Not a beginners flyer.

I've been following with interest (and documenting evidence) a recent flood of ultra cheap LX RC Mig 29 rtf kits that have appeared on ebay since the begining of November. The listing uses the photos and description of the kit taken from the Banaba Hobby website and even shows a picture of Pete Young. The MO started off as a listing of 270 kits, averaging a final price of about £50 each and free p&p from China, normally retails in the UK at about £350-400 each. That's about £14000 if they get the money from Paypal. I contacted one of the buyers (in Chelmsford), who apparently bought five kits that arrived in 4 days from China (!? - I didn't get a reply) and the listing promptly dissappeared. But reappeared under a different seller name. Total number of sales up to 369, nearly £19000. There are now two new sellers also selling other Lang Xiang kits and using the Banana Hobby photos/descriptions, some offering the kits for a buy it now price of £20 + £10 p&p. Too good to be true...well yes. I suspect this is one seller using several ebay names or a small gang of fraudsters, basically scamming Paypal through Ebay. This is for information only as I haven't found any discussion of this subject online and would like to make potential buyers aware of the risk. There are going to be a quite a few disappointed Xmases I suspect. NB: Anyone who has successfully received one of these ebay kits please reply as I would prefer to be in error. By the way I contacted Paypal to inform them of this potential scam and was told that any buyers are protected against loss, but they didn't seem very concerned about being robbed.

Just for info. The stock pictures used in these ebay offers are from Banana Hobby in the USA and show Pete Young who does all the promo videos for BH. Apparently they have a really bad customer service record. The ebay seller based in China offering misdescribed items that seem too good to be true; probably are! I noticed they are also offering fairly comprehensive Mig kits. 99p starting price and free postage. My guess is that this would definitely be a gamble so only bid if you are willing to lose your money.... or maybe you'll win a bargain. Who knows for sure. Just my 2p worth.