I recently got swindled out of $250

I have a core belief that the vast majority of people are honest and decent.

I believe that despite the fact that someone online recently bilked me out of $250.

(NOTE: Synonyms for "bilked" that I like include bamboozled, flimflammed, diddled, and gulled.)

Here's what happened:

I'm in the market for an alto saxophone. Like, a really good alto saxophone. One I can keep and play for the rest of my life. One that mostly plays in tune (a lot of that rests on me as the player, I admit). Basically a nicer horn than I've ever had before.

I came across a Facebook Marketplace listing for an Yamaha YAS-62 alto purported to belong to someone in Rochester, New York. The price was $1,000, which is good for a YAS-62 (they usually go for $1,500+).

This perhaps should have been a clue that something was up. You know, the whole thing about situations that are too good to be true.

I got in contact with the seller, who told me he had another buyer lined up but would get back to me if the deal fell through. And he did in fact get back to me the very next day saying the sax was available if I was interested.

He told me he was offering a 7-day trial period for anyone not local to Rochester. He told me a lot of things, actually, about how he works to keep his deals on the up and up. He only wanted a 25% deposit and he would send me the sax to try out.

Sounded good to me (mistake). I sent him the money through PayPal (big mistake).

When he saw my shipping address, he told me it would actually be cheaper for him to deliver the sax to me than to send it via UPS. I told him that was fine if he was willing to make the drive (I know, I know...)

He even gave me a cell phone number and we texted back and forth. He texted me the day he was scheduled to deliver the sax, saying he planned to leave home around 9am and should get to my place around 1pm. I told him that sounded good.

1 o'clock came.

2 o'clock came.

At 2:30 I texted him asking how it was going and when he thought he might arrive. No reply.

By 4 o'clock, my suspicion that I had been rooked (another good one) had been confirmed. No answer at the cell number, which judging by the generic voice mail message was likely a burner. The Facebook profile he had used in our Marketplace conversations was gone.

I tried to work with PayPal to get my money back, but I was denied. It had something to do with how I had originally categorized the transaction. Whatever the right way to do it was, I had selected the wrong way.

You don't have to tell me how stupid I was. It was like the time I picked up Maurice, gave him $80, and bought him chicken (that really happened...click on the link for the gory details). I'm aware that I'm too trusting. And I hold no ill will toward the person who suckered me. That doesn't solve much of anything.

I'll be more careful in the future, but in case you happen to be as gullible as me, I thought you might appreciate this cautionary tale.

I still think most people are well-intentioned, though. I'll always believe that.