I can't believe this site is still up and operating. If anyone else has been scammed, please post here to bump this thread up in Google searches. opus-transactions.com is the site we were sent to. It looks like they are already starting to post a new site, opus-safe-transactions.com.
Our scammer on Craigslist was "Angie", though there are reports that she also goes by "Monica". Here are some of the initial messages:
Hello again and thanks for your email address. It's still available, unfortunately my sister was involved in a car crash last week and I had to come here, she ended up with a broken arm and can't take care of things around the house, so I have to be here for a while. She can take care of herself but we have the little one to worry about LOL.
I'm not complaining or anything because I am selling this through OST anyway, so my situation has nothing to do with the actual sale, I was just clarifying that I won't be available for a while. If you used OST before, then you know what I mean, if not I'll be happy to walk you through it.
Feel free to ask any questions.
And this one:
No problem, there you have more pictures first and I apologize for using acronyms, I should've specified the service name from the beginning but no worries, I'll explain the process myself. OST stands for Opus Transactions and their website is opus-transactions dot com. I've wrote it like that because I want to make sure you're getting my messages and avoid what happened before.
Anyway, OST is a consignment service that sells Items for people for a fee, you can have a look at their website and see what they are all about. Just to be clear from the beginning, I am not a dealer, I own the trailer and I'm just using this consignment service to sell it, that's all.
So at this point they have the trailer in their possession, so assuming you would want to buy it, the process is very simple. You need to register on their website, they will contact me to confirm you are the buyer and if everything checks out, they will send you an invoice with the payment and transaction details. You send the payment to them by following the invoice instructions and they will start the shipping. At the point where you receive the trailer, a 7 day money back guarantee starts which allows you to inspect and approve it, or you can just have it returned with no questions asked if it's not as described in my original ad or in my emails. So if you decide to keep it, they will pay me, if you decide to return it they will give you a full refund immediately. I personally think that 7 days are more than enough to inspect anything.
Since you said you are not familiar with it, you should know that the registration on their website is free and they will not ask for any personal information such as credit cards details or anything like that, they need only your information as a buyer so they can issue an invoice and know where to ship. At the time of the registration you can also specify a preferred shipping date, you can request a bill of sale if it serves you any good, etc.
The shipping should take between 3 and 5 working days and it's free for buyers, actually the whole process is free for you, they deduct the shipping and handling fees from their commission. If you decide to return the item, they will charge me because they will consider that I failed to specify certain details about the trailer or I haven't described it correctly. Basically the idea is to have the trailer and the payment at the same time and make the exchange with a possibility of returning the item if it's not what you expected.
Hopefully I covered everything, if you have questions please ask. You can also take a look on their How it Works or on the Frequently asked questions page where you can find some more information. Sorry for the long email and I hope this doesn't look too complicated because it really isn't, it's a simple five step process.
Thanks again
Angie
We've reported them to the FCC and local police. Let's help these people get caught and shut down.
