The Red Kitchen Aid

A few weeks ago, a friend of ours here in Montevideo sent us a link to a Facebook Marketplace listing. She noticed that a couple moving back to England were selling their possessions (been there). They had a KitchenAid mixer for sale. A red one. PERFECTO!

Mikey responded immediately that we wanted to buy it. The seller replied, "You are the first person to request the mixer, and it is yours." PERFECTO!

She asked how much he was willing to pay. He said the asking price. It is customary for people buying from Facebook Marketplace in Uruguay to pay the asking price. There is no bartering involved. If you want the item, you pay what is being asked. She then wanted to know when we could pick it up. This was on a Thursday around 16:00 hrs. Mikey said tomorrow. She asked if we could pick it up that evening after she got off work. Sure. Fine, we will pick it up that night. She gave Mikey the address.

She wanted him to send half of the purchase price via electronic payment. They settled on Zelle since Bank of America supports it. Mikey entered the information and initiated the transfer. BoA replied that, because the receiver had a new account, the transfer would be held for 24 hours. Odd, but no problem. Mikey let the woman know the situation. She said she needed to talk to her husband.

A short time later, she came back and asked if he could use PayPal instead. Okay. He entered the information and attempted the transfer. This time, he received a message stating that the recipient had been flagged and the transfer would not be allowed. Mikey informed her, and she told him he must not be doing it correctly. She obviously did not realize she was talking to an IT guru.

At this point, red flags started going up. We began to wonder if this was a scam. However, everything still seemed legit.

She asked if he still wanted the KitchenAid.

Side note: The only way to get a KitchenAid mixer in Uruguay is through importation. High taxes are applied to imported goods. So you pay for the mixer itself (and KitchenAids are not cheap to begin with), plus shipping costs, plus import taxes. It all adds up to one very expensive mixer. The price we were being offered for a secondhand mixer was a godsend.

She then told Mikey that another woman wanted to buy both the sofa and the mixer. He pushed back and reminded her that she had already agreed to sell it to him. She continued insisting that she needed half the money immediately. She was becoming increasingly pushy. She repeatedly said she needed to talk to her husband.

She then said she would be home around 17:30 hrs. and asked if we could come over at that time. No problem. Mikey asked for the apartment number. She told him 6B.

Mikey looked up the address on Google Maps. There was indeed an apartment building at that address. However, he noticed something odd. From the street view, you could clearly see that the building only had five stories. Like in many countries, the ground floor is considered the lobby level, with the first residential floor being one level up. Given that the building only had five stories, there was no way there could be an apartment 6B.

Given that math was one of my best subjects in school, I was able to make the deduction that there was no way this person lived in apartment 6B at that address.

SHE IS A LIAR.

Mikey made the same deduction.

He informed her that he knew it was a scam and that he would be reporting her. He also notified the LGBTQ Uruguay WhatsApp group that the listing was fraudulent. They had the post removed within minutes. He then called Bank of America, reported the scam, and stopped the payment.

In the end, the only thing we lost was a red KitchenAid mixer that never existed.

When we eventually replace the KitchenAid we had for more than 25 years, it will be purchased from a store.

Thank you for sticking with me.

As always, be kind to yourself and be kind to one another.