15" powerbook on ebay


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exactly what are the ramifications if its stolen?

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nothing too obvious, but by the fact that it was NEVER OUT OF THE BOX...and he is selling it for so little money, might suggest it was stollen. And why is he trying to get rid of the Powerbook so quick?....I noticed many ASAPs in the emails in different forms, seems that he want this off his hands quick...this also suggest that it might be stolen. My suggestion is that don't be scared to ask questions, before sending him the money, ask a couple good questions, and if it is stolen, than he will supect that you notice and will drop the deal. If not, than one more point on why you should get it.

One time, I got 1GIG of RAM on eBay for $50CAD, I suspect it was stolen, so I asked a lot of questions, and after a good explination from the seller, I decided it was safe to buy and I did. Been happy with the buy since. so ASK QUESTIONS! Don't just pass it off because it could be a perfectly good deal...

DUDE!, THIS IS A SCAM. trust me, i got burned on ebay and have done the research. Scammers are very fond of money orders and western union. I am serious, do not go through with this.

RUle of thumb: If it seems to good to be true, then it probably is.

As for the feedback rating. hah, the guy probably bought the account from a site like... stealthdivision or shadowcrew. These sites thrive on this stuff.

Wonder why the auction ended early? a) ebay smelled some scam, cause they are rather good at it or b)the guy purposely did it to send emails out to all the bidders and maybe even sell a few of these so called laptops.

Also, why would a guy in the UK want AUS? Maybe to make the auction look more appealing but also consider the fact that he might not be in the UK at all.

If you wanna know the low down on ebay scams read over www.paypalsucks.com , they have tons of stories about people getting scammed. site mainly deals with paypal but also with ebay.

*edit

looking over it again i noticed something else. The letter he sent ^above appears to be a template. Most scammers are in foreign countries and have broken english so they need these templates. Notice the following:

So, the final price is 2100 AUD for the Apple PowerBook G4 1.5GHz, 512mb, 80GB, CDRW/DVD-R including all shipping and insurance charges.

might as well read: So, the final price is <insert price> for the <insert scammed product> including all shipping and insurance charges.

One other thing i noticed as typing this:

From Western Union , you will receive a number (MTCN-Money Transfer Control Number), you must send me that number as soon as you have arranged the payment

this is the point where your money will be gone. And u can't get this back via WU.

srry for the long post but it really hurt the bank when i got burned and hate to see it happen again.

Edited by russ0943

DO NOT DO IT!!!!

Its a scam and a common one, with Western Union there is no comeback and another thing to consider is his history, its comprised of items no more expensive than a pound and then suddenly he sells a powerbook. He's most likely part of some syndicate and there were a few doing similar scams maybe even him with Powerbooks and 23" Displays for silly prices with ebay actually having to step in to remove all the sales.

Again its a scam and an obvious one, do not do it by any means.

Edit: Where might you of heard this before.

DO NOT DO IT!!!!

Its a scam and a common one, with Western Union there is no comeback and another thing to consider is his history, its comprised of items no more expensive than a pound and then suddenly he sells a powerbook. He's most likely part of some syndicate and there were a few doing similar scams maybe even him with Powerbooks and 23" Displays for silly prices with ebay actually having to step in to remove all the sales.

Again its a scam and an obvious one, do not do it by any means.

584934623[/snapback]

Well now now, some good deals can really be good. Back in the day when Visual Studio 6 was the latest and very expensive, I bought a legitimate copy of VS6 Professional for $300, a very good deal. Don't always just throw away a good deal, just take the necessary precautions, and it seems Freakz is being careful. He's asking us isn't he? ;)

i updated my post on the previous page. i noticed some other things about his letters. For ur info, paypal isn't completely safe. If you do end up going with paypal, make sure you don't have a CONFIRMED address with your account. scammers have to ship to one of these in order to do a chargeback on u.

Scam

He wants money in advance and is his doing it through WESTERN UNION. Also the 'gift' thing would make it so there is no proof to get back to him for the transfer.

Going through Western Union is untraceable and has no insurance associated with it. Don't do it under any circumstance.

Only do Paypal and you will retract payment if you don't recieve it, at your door, in 7 days(or however long Paypal's insurance is). Do not accept any excuses even if UPS or whatever delay it.

If he won't accept doing things your way through Paypal, it's not worth comprimising to his terms, because you will get screwed, no doubt about it. If he was legitimately trying to sell it, he would do Paypal or whatever terms you say.

As far as it being stolen, if it is real. Who cares. As long as you get it as advertised and you don't get into trouble for it.

noticed how many people say its a scam? When i sold my laptop, i had to meet the guy in person i was selling it to in order to get any money for it. ha, thats how careful some people are and you should be as well.

I also packed heat in that situation :D

hahah okay what about this email..

geez hes desperate

Hi again,

Sorry, but I don't use PayPal ,I have used it and it didn't satisfied me. I only accept Western Union because is very fast.

I understand your concerns...

  But please take a good look at the situation:

  I really don't want to spend a few years in jail for  this amount of money (would you ?)

The laws are verry strict here and I really don't want  to put my ass in jail for a few bucks.

All i want is to make a good deal and to receive a  good rating from you.

Here is my propouse to make you feel safe:

You will send the money on my location.

You will send the money thru Western Union but you  will not send the money on my name.

You will put as the receiver name the name of your father or the name  of a friend.

You will tell me that name so I will be able to  verify if the money are there but I will not be able

to colect the money (you know that)

After you will receive the package you will give a  call to Western Union to change the receiver's name  into my name.

Please tell me if you agree.

Thank you.

Klaus

my email to him in reply:

this is a very large transfer of money, using western union there is no guarentee that i will not be burned. I have asked around and i have been told that SCAMMER sellers use western union as the buyer dosent get a refund.

How do i know that you are not a scammer? Can you send me a photo of your hand making a piece sign next to the box of the laptop.

I would very much prefer to pay through paypal.. at this stage i will not buy the laptop through western union as the whole deal is seeming more and more dodgy

looking less fishy due to the smooth english. I would still want to see the picture thing. Just for your info, your money isn't completely safe even though its not in his name. Western Union often doesn't even ask for ID!, as long as they have the MTCN thing, they can usually get the money.

*edit

excellent reply

one more thing, if u know how. check the IP on the email. Trace it. You might run into a problem if he is using ebays messenging service though. Just look at teh email and tell it to show the full header. Grab the IP and someone in here can get u more info. :cool:

On the countrary, I think the english is not smooth at all. In fact, it seems exactly like the template you described.

This part esepcially got me:

You will send the money on my location.

You will send the money thru Western Union but you will not send the money on my name.

You will put as the receiver name the name of your father or the name of a friend.

You will tell me that name so I will be able to verify if the money are there but I will not be able

It sounds unnatural in English.

You will send the money on my location? Does he mean to? Send the money on his name? And furthermore, he seems to be curteous and all of a sudden becomes commanding...you WILL...you WILL...it makes me suspicious. But, if he is willing to allow you to use a trustworthy person as an intermediary, by all means go for it. Just make sure he doesn't have you give him the password to the intermediate account to check it or something.

>Hi again,

>

>    Thanks for your answer.

>

>    About the deal ,I m sorry because you feel like that about me.

>Now, if you are in my place to sell something,you'll take the risk

>to cheat people and have the police on your door in a few days?????I

>don't think so!!!I m in thisposition!!!!Liberty is more precious

>then everything in this world!!

>

>    I am a 50 year old man who owns his own successful business.  I

>have  been married to the same woman for 28 years and we have two

>grown suns who are successful in their own careers.  We are all

>college educated.  I didn't get to this stage in life by doing dumb

>things. I want to take this opportunity to asure you that there is

>nothing to be worried about this deal. I would never cheat you or

>swindle you!! I have a reputation to protect and a good Christian

>and I do not want to be imprisoned. You have my word and good faith

>on the fact that I'll keep my end of the bargain. I have never lied

>and cheated anyone. I will not risk my career, my freedom and my

>future for anything in the world! I would rather close this deal

>with other person than to know that you'll be very stressed hoping

>that I am a honest person, until you receive your powerBook. Your

>peace of mind is a lot more important than this deal!!!

>

>If you decide not to go through with it there is no problem. I got

>quite a few offers left. Please get back to me and let me know what

>you decide.Thank you for your time and interest. Whatever you decide

>I wish you good luck.

>

>    Regards,

>Klaus

it is not a matter of trusting you as such, but more of the way the deal is presented. I would be much much much happier if i could pay through paypal!

also is it possible to have a photo taken with the box.. with you making a piece sign, so as to prove you have the laptop in possession..

i respect your honesty, but still need to cover my interests

thanks

Bronte

so either he is really dodgy and making this stuff up.. or a 50 yr old man who is rather strange

good call, i was mainly looking at only the first 2 paragraphs. And like i said, once u give up the MTCN number u might as well say bye bye to ur $ if it is a scam.

*edit

wow, this is looking more like the real thing. Clearly smooth english on this one. IMO, i would still NOT go through with this.

Hell, I am a 50yr old man and also have a family that is very successful. I have worked at my job for over 20 years and am also a dedicated christian. I have never screwed anyone over in my carreer and don't plan on it. Wait, did you really just believe that. I'm actually 21 and in college. Just to prove a point.

Edited by russ0943

technically, wouldn't you still be getting a deal if you flew over there and picked it up personally? i mean really.

eh, maybe. don't know how much that would really cost.

*edit

the picture thing would really help here.

offer to do it via an escrow service.

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That's when I started looking around the official TerraMaster forums, and I found a guide that helpfully explains that you won't get anywhere with OpenClaw unless you have a paid plan, which is disappointing because I imagined there would be an option to use a local LLM as I do in SubtitleEdit with Whisper-XXL. In addition, with the marketing imagery on the official site, it says that the OpenClaw feature is "all processed 100% locally for absolute privacy." which led me to believe that I could install a local LLM, not one that required paid tokens. In any case, TerraMaster does not provide guidance for this new feature, which was also a selling point of the F4-425 Pro! My contact also provided clarification about the above points I raised with TerraMaster Since it is not in the scope of the review to add paid services, I'll leave that to the people who are more qualified with OpenClaw. F4-425 Pro Surveillance App TOS also comes with a Surveillance app, which is not installed by default; it can be found in the App Market recommended section. In addition, after installing, it doesn't drop a shortcut on the Desktop or top taskbar, but you can "Send to Desktop" from the App Market listing for the app for a quick way to open it. Adding my Reolink POE doorbell camera was painless. TerraMaster doesn't appear to have a repository of preconfigured cameras; instead, the camera must be added using ONVIF or RTSP. No mobile Surveillance app TerraMaster still doesn't have a dedicated Surveillance app, although from searching online, Surveillance can be used and managed through the TNAS mobile app. I tried this with the updated TNAS mobile app beta in combination with TOS 7 and got a message that Surveillance was "Only accessible through web browser," so I reckon this must be limited to the stable versions of TOS 6 and the mobile app. More quirks In addition, whenever I minimized the Live View window in the browser Surveillance app, the feed appeared to switch to the Low-bandwidth stream, and there was no way to get the High-quality stream back. To get the High-quality stream back, I had to close Live View and then reopen it. Benchmarking A pretty cool feature of the TOS 7 is that it allows you to install directly to the NVMe M.2 SSD. In order to do that, you would have to leave out any HDDs during initialization, and even then, the system partitions are always written to two HDDs when they are eventually added. With three NVMe slots, this also gives an interesting scenario where you could build a TRAID storage Pool for installing all your apps and Docker on, and keep the third for SSD cache on the HDD pool. Limitless options! SATA PCIe 3.0 X1 A CrystalDiskMark test on a mapped network drive from within a Windows 11 25H2 PC (image above) connected over a 5 GbE hub was well within acceptable ranges. Although the read result on SATA was a little less than with the F4-425 Plus, for some reason, while writes were generally better. SATA PCIe 3.0 X1 I also ran the NAS Performance tester, which tests the link speed performance. As you can see, it pretty much maxes out the 5GbE connection. Of course, you can also opt to bond the two 5 GbE connections for a bit more umph, but I didn't do that. TOS 7, which, as of testing, is still in Beta, comes with an App Center that has a bunch of handy programs you can install right off the bat, such as Emby, Plex, Docker, as well as in-house Backup and Surveillance solutions. As you can imagine, any media streaming services you would want to host off the F4-425 Pro will work great, thanks to the Intel Core N350 CPU and its 16 GB of DDR5 memory. Accessing from mobile is only possible if Security Isolation Mode is disabled, which can put your NAS at risk from external sources, so there was no way to access it from the TNAS Mobile app. It's also quiet. I had this sat next to my computer on my work desk for the past week, and I did wonder if the noise I was accustomed to with NAS devices would annoy me, but all I could hear was a soft whirring of the rear fan (which was a little annoying) when the disks were not actively copying or reading data. Conclusion So what have I learned? Unfortunately, this release raises a few important questions and concerns that I feel haven't been adequately addressed. What I didn't like Our variant shipped with TOS 7 beta, and it's advised not to use it in a production environment. I feel that's a bit limiting on an $800 device. The mobile app is also still in beta and does not support some of the first-party apps, like Surveillance, and it still has quite a few bugs. I am a bit confused about the OpenClaw marketing along with the F4-425 Pro. I feel like that if it's going to be a main selling point, then offer official guidance on how to get started with it. TerraMaster recommends enabling SPC, but then markets the NAS for use with OpenClaw, which requires disabling SPC to be able to use it, opening up genuine security concerns for the NAS; and that's before you get into the security concerns of OpenClaw itself. Of course, the above issues won't be a problem if you decide to install something else on it, or even go back to the stable TOS 6. I wish TerraMaster had just given TOS 7 as opt-in rather than shipping with it. TOS 7 has been available as a preview since December 2025 (so well before my last TerraMaster review), and according to a thread on Reddit where a user shared a screenshot from the TerraMaster Facebook page, it is scheduled to launch today, June 23, but there's nothing about that in the TerraMaster news blog. My contact confirmed over email that TOS 7 exits beta today. The rubber feet also deserve a mention as they continue to be a problem, with them coming unstuck the moment you shift the F4-425 Pro anywhere on your desk. What I liked What it comes down to, though, aside from what I already mentioned, you are still getting a quality, affordable device here, so recommending it will depend on the individual's use case. If you're just looking for a relatively small NAS device to manage virtual machines on, backup your files, and take care of your home theater streaming, then it is a great device that will certainly futureproof you for some time. It provides good performance, takes up little space, and is, on the whole, very quiet. Four bays afford proper redundancy using TRAID or RAID 5, and you can even expand on storage capacity by adding the 2-bay D5, or 4-bay D8 Hybrid DAS over a USB 3.2 (10Gbps) link. Considering the 2024 releases were more about power, with the likes of an Intel Core i5-1235U high-end laptop CPU under the hood, I asked my contact last time if we could expect more of the same in higher-end models and was told: It makes a lot of sense to use Intel's N350 chip inside a NAS; it is more than capable of doing what the F4-425 Pro is intended for, media streaming and backup. The only downside is still the clear lack of community and even staff support on the official forums. In the past, I have had topics go unanswered for days, or there would be generic-type "we've noted this and passed it onto our developer team" type responses. Along with the other things I mentioned, it all ends up costing it a couple of points. If you are comfortable with the command line, Docker, and setting up TrueNAS or Unraid, you'll be fine. You can do great things with this hardware. In TOS, the apps are a bit lacking, and things don't always work as expected.\ AI NAS?! What has become clear to me this year is that we are going to start seeing all kinds of "AI NAS" come to market, and while that might be good for us consumers, be diligent and research these claims. Although the F4-425 Pro technically comes with AI, it is really using a cloud service that is externally sourced off-device through the third party OpenClaw app. My colleague did review a newcomer to the NAS space earlier this year, and it includes a local AI assistant inside the Zettlab D4 NAS, and they do not even use AI in the product name, check out Chris' review here. Where to buy and a discount coupon However, it does not change the fact that this is truly a great entry-level home media-class NAS that you can buy right now. TerraMaster is having a 20% off launch discount, plus you can also still apply our unique 10% off coupon on checkout, which only works on the official website. So here is a breakdown of the pricing that is only valid on the official TerraMaster website. TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = $575.99 TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = $503.99 TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = £525.59 TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = £460.79 Use NEOWIN coupon code during checkout for 10% discount Over on Amazon US and UK, the F4-425 Pro also gets a 20% launch discount, but here, the above 10% coupon cannot be applied. TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) for $639.99 at Amazon US (was $799.99) TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) for $559.99 at Amazon US (was $699.99) TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) for £583.99 at Amazon UK (was £729.99) TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) for £511.99 at Amazon UK (was £639.99) As an Amazon Associate, when you purchase through links on our site, we earn from qualifying purchases.
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