> I had > no idea about this type of scam and you say it is > fairly common..
About every two or three months someone will alert the harp mailing list to another fraudulent eBay listing. Sometimes the listing will use the same picture as an earlier fraudulent listing, either because it's the same person behind the listing, or the new crook is lazy and has stolen the same photo. Sometimes the photo is originally from a legitimate listing, sometimes from someone's website. The other harp-related scams (though not limited to harps) are "I want you to teach my children harp and I'll send you a bogus check for more than your fee, just send me the excess in real money please, quickly before my check bounces" and "please I am wanting to order 30 of your harps, please send them to Nigeria thank you." The gurdy sale, while not via the usual channels, looks on the level. At least there are photos of the seller playing the gurdy on his web site, and he's a known musician and presenter of traditional music. And contactable. -- Tracie
