The Official 356Talk Forum

The Registry has thousands of wonderful members who will help you with your car. Unfortunately we continue to see criminals joining our club, often using fake identities, and using our website to defraud.

Historically, we’ve seen this mostly in the Classifieds, but the newest scam is an email through our internal system to a member who’s posted a need, like a wanted ad in the classifieds. (or a mention in the Forum) The scammer will claim to have what you want and if you send them money, you’ll be disappointed. This is almost impossible for the monitors to catch. You must protect yourself.

Do not reply to emails offering to sell rare or expensive items, especially if you advertised them as wanted, without verifying the seller. If you see an ad that doesn’t comply with rules or is suspicious, please report to the Moderators using the report button. Provide a complete explanation so proper action can be taken. If you get a suspicious email, please forward it to 356clasmod@porsche356registry.org.

Buyers: do not pay using forms of payment that offer no protection to you if the seller is a scam artist. Never use PayPal Friends and Family unless you are buying from a friend or family member. No checks or cash without merchandise in hand. Standard PayPal and credit card companies offer some protection and are usually safe. BE CAREFUL PLEASE!

Sellers: do not ship to the buyer until real money is in your bank account. Wait until checks have cleared. That includes Bank/Treasury checks which are often forged. Usually 7 days after making a deposit is long enough. Check this with your bank. If the buyer is in a big hurry for you to hand over/ship your item have them use PayPal or a wire transfer. If they try to rush the transaction, be suspicious.

SOMETIMES IT IS BEST TO WALK AWAY IF YOU HAVE THE SLIGHTEST SUSPICION.

Warning signs:
*The offer is "too good to be true".
*The member just joined and is posting expensive or rare items (cars, tool kits, etc,)
*Pressure to pay in any unusual way, including paying a name that doesn't match the members.
*Use of photos from other ads.

Protect yourself:
*Look at the date the seller joined and be extra careful dealing with new members.
*Ask for more information, photos, etc.
*Resist pressure to act quickly or to follow strange payment instructions.
*Even photo ID’s can be faked, so seek definitive proof

Thanks for the information, Michael. I appreciate the knowledge imparted and contacts made through the 356 Registry. I have two 356's that I keep in good running order. Much of what I learn about maintenance and repair of my cars I learn here (on this website). Keeping the scammers at bay is difficult in any digital (market) environment... thanks for reminding us to shop wisely.

Michael Mccormick wrote: ↑Thu Mar 18, 2021 10:46 pm Thanks for the information, Michael. I appreciate the knowledge imparted and contacts made through the 356 Registry. I have two 356's that I keep in good running order. Much of what I learn about maintenance and repair of my cars I learn here (on this website). Keeping the scammers at bay is difficult in any digital (market) environment... thanks for reminding us to shop wisely.

You are welcome. I thank you for the group, because this is an ongoing and significant team effort. For years, Rhys Hayden and Mary Skamser have been our first line of defense, with support from Frank Hood and Curt Dansby. (And others I’m not aware of before that.) People don’t realize how much effort those folks put in.

The new Classifieds Moderation team (Rafik Dous, Tony Proasi, Denis Moore, Mike Wilson, Adam Wright, James Breazeale, and David Jones) has exchanged literally hundreds of emails on suspected scammers ads in the past 30 days. Those conversations and also specific inputs, including from Cliff Murray (who runs a successful Motorsports dealership) created the content above. Mary is working on adding this to a mid-month E-letter that will go out early next week.

We are not perfect, but we will keep working to raise the walls against scammers while trying to invite new 356 enthusiasts to our club.

It is good to have many people with different backgrounds and interests to help in this endeavor. I was able to exchange a fair amount of information about my two cars with David Pateman. I was interested in obtaining the car's Kardex's. In the process, he explained the desire to better document as many remaining 356's as possible to make it harder for the less honorable/criminals among us to take advantage of would-be buyers. Kudos to everyone involved!

I have sold many parts through 356 Registry. My only caution is keep it simple. I use only checks received and cleared by my bank, once it clears I ship - simple. I has worked for me, and when approached by people who want to change this "old fashioned way of doing business" I go back to my roots and let the buyer find alternative sources for the part.

It’s just like a 356- old fashioned but still viable.

Hey Michael,
I am rebuilding my 64C Cab, and have been looking for replacement seat covers, pads for both and carpets, I found what looks like good deals on Ebay at Euroautointerior
Obviously I had questions to ask so tried and just received generic answers once only from someone called Tim e mail @ emmlys_jx3197rdj@members.ebay.com
My question here is, has any of our members had any experience with this group or is this just a scam, that they would be willing to share with me?
Gil.

I am only aware of Autos International, Audubon, and Heritage in terms of having seen the actual work. All are very good but I have only used Autos and a local custom upholstery shop personally. If you are not quite as picky about how original the job looks you may save money by using a good local shop. If your car is ultra nice then I suggest you spend the extra money with the known experts because that will enhance the value of the car. From experience with Autos I can tell you that the look and comfort of a seat redone by them is vastly superior to what your local non Porsche centric shop will provide.

Unless you can get some references from a shop I would avoid them. It very well could be a scam.

Is there a way to show all adds, like a scroll through? Mine shows 25 classified adds, then I need to select next page to view 25 more. Somewhat cumbersome.

Or, is there a way to only view the new adds, those not looked at since last logged in?

Rudie L. Simpson, III wrote: ↑Sun Dec 26, 2021 1:45 pm Is there a way to show all adds, like a scroll through? Mine shows 25 classified adds, then I need to select next page to view 25 more. Somewhat cumbersome.

Or, is there a way to only view the new adds, those not looked at since last logged in?

Until recently, only 10 were shown and we increased it to 25. We are not investing in new features on this platform due to a new site launching in 2022.

New site? New platform as well? Details….

Michael Branning wrote: ↑Sun Dec 26, 2021 6:55 pm

Rudie L. Simpson, III wrote: ↑Sun Dec 26, 2021 1:45 pm Is there a way to show all adds, like a scroll through? Mine shows 25 classified adds, then I need to select next page to view 25 more. Somewhat cumbersome.

Or, is there a way to only view the new adds, those not looked at since last logged in?

Until recently, only 10 were shown and we increased it to 25. We are not investing in new features on this platform due to a new site launching in 2022.

Dave, this comment from 2021 was about a small change to the old website classified ads, to display more ads per page. It was a very cheap change with high value so we did it in the interim while working on the new website.

The new website launched in 2022 runs on ClubExpress (the “new platform”). https://www.clubexpress.com/

The old website was a full-custom, hand coded “Ruby on Rails” website that was deemed not worth further investment.

Darn! I was hoping Club Express, two websites and two logins was going away. I could only hope…

Yea, someone tried to sell my car for parts! POS's

What happened? From our classified ads?