Scams

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forum.staff
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2018 6:04 pm

Scams

Post by forum.staff » Mon Apr 02, 2018 12:18 am

A new Square 4 Owner sent this account to the forum, which is replicated here:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Here is my story.
Old guy, new member, new old bike.
I was sitting on the beach in MX feeling sorry for myself after being scammed by an unscrupulous fellow in Minn.
I had just returned from a trip from PV, MX to Minn and back. I was looking for an Ariel Sq 4 II and got the email from "a
friend" about a '57 Ariel for 15,000. This sounded like it was too good to be true. You know the rest of that statement.
My wife Sherry matter of factly said it was a scam.(first clue, listen to wife). Ignoring that, I emailed and asked for a telephone number and he replied he would rather
communicate by email. (2nd clue). Ignoring that, we asked for pictures. There it was, a completely restored Ariel Sq 4!. Could not pass up this "deal"I arranged to meet the fellow, Bell Wilkinson, in Nov, 2017. Flying into Minn, driving to Alexandria to the address I was given and sat in the car for six hours
(3rd clue) while Sherry tried to contact Bell and relay by phone to me. Did I mention it was 22°, snow on the ground and me with tennis shoes
and borrowed clothes,(flying from PV to MX in Nov, bad idea). I waited until Sherry had called (six hours later) saying Bell had an emergency and could not make
it. Meanwhile the owner of the house pulled up and asked what I was doing in her driveway. A good question as this was 12 miles north of Alexandria,
in the middle of nowhere, at a rural farmhouse. I explained my story and she said that she didn't know the person and that there had never been
a motorcycle here. Suffice to say, Sherry was right. I had to admit I was scammed. The scammer is Bell Wilkinson (bellwilinson20021@gmail.com). Back to PV.
All I got was a plane ride to cold country and a bruised ego. Sherry continued with email as we tried to get more info on this guy. We asked for more pictured and he sent pics of a different bike. easily viewed on Pinterest.
So I started browsing the Internet for Ariels for sale in England and ran across an upcoming auction by H&H Classics Dec 9 2017. I decided to register.
There were two Ariel Sq's up for auction. Both in original condition according to the pics. Knowing this was a long shot, I was determined, along with a credit card, my computer and not so good Internet service (remember this is MX) to give it a try. Sherry called the bank to notify them that H&H was a legit company. Registering
was really easy, give them the credit card number, max bid, assign bidding authorization to the auctioneer and wait for Dec 9. The date arrived and I got on the sight
and found the auction was over. It took a minute to realize that the time difference is 11 hours!! I went into the final bid sight, looked up my lot number and saw that I was the proud owner of the '59 Ariel.!! I should say here that I never talked to a soul during the entire transaction including shipping to my door!! Amazing what you can do with a credit card and computer. Scary actually. (Hide those credit cards)
Shipping was a breeze. Shippo, a company that specializes in International shipping handled ALL arrangements. The bike was flown to Phoenix on Virgin Air Jan 2, 2018 and arrived in our driveway Jan 4. Schumacher Logistics was the importer and a local company delivered it.
Our son took the top off the crate and sent us pics. It was better than expected. When we got home in March, I took it out of the crate, Put in fresh gas,
charged the battery, kicked it over about six times and it started after sitting in the last owners private collection for 10 years.
There is an extensive history file that came with it. As of today I have added to this file with info from a member of the AOMCC club in England who knows
the bike and rider well before the last owner. It was previously owned by Bob Brassington (deceased) who was a legend in the club, having been a member since 1968 until 2010 when he was involved with a car accident. He was a passenger in a car that was hit head on by another car that was being pursued by the Police. He died of his injuries in the hospital a week later This member, Paul Jameson, also sent me pics of Bob, the '59, and articles of his extensive travels around Europe and Russia. We're talking in excess of 200,000 miles on various Ariels, including the '59.
I feel very fortunate to have stumbled on this history and promise to refresh the bike to pristine condition as it was when Bob owned it.
Regards,
Fred Ferrari

CycloneDan
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2018 2:25 am
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Re: Scams

Post by CycloneDan » Tue Apr 03, 2018 1:38 am

Great cautionary tale Fred...I just had one come across my editor desk..New something was up and posted it (the advert) on a couple of UK Facebook sites...A few UK members were kind enough to run the plate. Turns out the Square was registered and belonged to a gentleman in the UK! And he wanted me to post his ad on our forum...Yeah right...Cheers, Dan

.Dan!! I wanna sell my Square 4. I am hoping it's free to place an ad with you.
Literature: It was ridden briefly, and put into storage. Then sold. The previous owner, who commissioned the restoration, is gone, so I have no way of knowing who did the work. But... whomever did it, was an expert. The attention to detail and use of correct parts, is evident. Please look closely at the photo, it tells the story.. better than I.
The bike has been stored in a climate controlled building, covered and safe for years. The gas was drained and the Ariel was parked.
I recently move to Oregon and make to place to store the bike. I believe the time has arrived for this classic to be sold to someone who will start it, ride it, enjoy it, and share it's beauty with others. Located at Corvallis Oregon.
I'm selling for $7,000 OBO Regards,
John.
Square4Scam.jpg

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