Watch forums attract crooks and criminals
Fraudsters offer Luxury Watches at Bargain Prices in Watch Forums
The reason: More and more frequently, watch forums are becoming marketplaces in which private sellers sell to private buyers. For criminals this is the perfect sphere in which to pull the wool over the eyes of bona fide watch buyers with supposed "bargain watches" and pilfer their money from under their noses. The ostensible trust amongst members reflects a feeling of security which does not actually exist. The security vetting performed by these forums is mostly lax or does not exist, and the operators own responsibilities often have to be shouldered by the users.
Almost always, the swindlers build up a suitable profile over a period of months, making appropriate contributions and slowly sliming up to forum members in an attempt to gain their trust. The best past master at this was the case of the "ducaticorse21" swindler who was on the rampage as a member of the German Uhrforum.de, and also present in the Swiss Watchtime forum for months, maintaining active contact with several frequent users. The damage he wreaked amounted to several tens of thousands of euros.
Currently the damage caused is running high. Customers were offered luxury watches by IWC, Rolex as well as Patek Philippe in a German watch forum, and bought them. To this day, they have still received nothing for their troubles, even though the purchase prices were paid in full. Peter T. from Hannover was hit even worse than this. He was fooled by professional swindlers into buying a "genuine" Rolex twice. First he acquired a stolen Marriage which was impounded during an authenticity examination by Rolex. Then things got even worse. The public prosecutor's office initiated a case against him citing receipt of stolen goods. Only with the help of a lawyer was he able to defend himself against the charges. The purchase price and the legal costs were never recouped by Peter T.
Police experts urgently advise against acquiring luxury watches via internet forum marketplaces. The options offered by many forums where private individuals can sell their goods to third parties opens the flood gates to criminals.