posting of serial numbers

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why do people on the net never post their full serial numbers, but only with ***? tax evasion? security? anonymity?

-- stefan randlkofer (geesbert@yahoo.com), January 19, 2002

Answers

If you mean camera serial nrs. it's because there have been several scams where people claim that the camera in question was stolen from them and attempt to "get it back". Hence, people are rather shy about publishing their serial numbers on the net. You'll see it all the time at ebay...

-Duncan

-- Duncan (airborn@euromail.se), January 19, 2002.


I don't particularly care about the serial numbers of my own camera and lens, other than to have them written down in a safe place in case of loss. Why would anyone else legitimately care about the full serial number of someone else's camera equipment listed on the web? Serial numbers can be used to identify or date a particular Leica camera or lens, but do the last three or four digits make much difference for that?

-- Tod Hart (tghart@altavista.com), January 19, 2002.

The last numbers *can* be significant if they are near the end of a production series.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), January 19, 2002.

It is safe (no less so than using your real name) to post full serial numbers on the internet if the equipment was purchased from a dealer where there is typically adequate documentation of the sale and serial number. Although it's a stretch, when you've purchased second-hand, not from a dealer, or through other third-hand parties where there is little or no documentation, there is a slightly increased potential of falling victim to a scam. I've never heard of anyone ever losing their camera or lens to such scams, though. It seems that the value of the item would have to be a lot higher than any typical "Leica item" in order for the scam to be worth the time, effort, and money it would take for the scammer to successfully take legal possession of your item. I believe the practice of using "XXXX" in place of the last few digits of the s/n started with magazine adds many years ago, so this is a "pre-web" thing.

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@mail.com), January 20, 2002.

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