I thought I would lay out a scam that almost cost me $1700 a few years ago.
I would not believe it if it didnt happen to me. There is a lesson to learn in it.
I would appreciate this not turning into a Gunbroker bashing thread. I have purchased between 80-100 firearms off Gunbroker without issues…except this time.
Four years ago I was the winning bidder for a rifle auction on GunBroker. I called the seller afterwards but there was no answer. The seller emailed me soon after and we worked out details.
I paid with two USPS money orders, $1700 in total. In the initial email the seller asked me to send photos of the MOs so he could ‘get things going on his end’
The next day I a had forgotten was a holiday. I again emailed seller to let him know MOs wouldn’t go out until the day after. He responded, and again asked for photos of both MOs ‘to update his accounts’.
I got the MOs, sent them, and updated seller. At some point after mailing he again requested photos and I began to wonder. I started digging and at some point my gut feeling was confirmed when I found a discrepancy I had not recognized earlier.
Then I found a months old finished Gunbroker auction in their archives for the rifle I ‘purchased’…same description, same photos, identical.
I googled the address he had given me and it kept leading to a home in Chicago under an elderly womans name.
I again tried calling. No answer. Emailed seller trying to lure him out by telling him I had accidentally transposed numbers in address and to call me. Nothing.
Went to PO next morning to learn there is no ‘cancelling’ a MO, even for me as the buyer with the stubs. I remember the envelope had tracking so What they could do was flag it and the next time it was scanned at a facility, they pulled it and started it coming back to me.
So here is how it was possible…
Somehow the scammer was able to hack, revive, and restart an old auction. They were able to redirect the ‘ask seller a question’ to THEIR email bypassing the original sellers email. They emailed me IMMEDIATELY after ending of auction with their ‘address’ and the photo request, which kept me from investigating any other address sources through gunbroker.
The payoff had to come by way of once they had the viable serial numbers of the MOs I sent, they could forge and cash fake money orders with those numbers and have the money while the real ones are delivered to somebody, anybody, nobody…but by then they’ve been ‘cashed’ by the scammer and are worthless.
I never heard from the scammer again. I got the MOs back in the mail. Three days later the auction page was returned to ‘normal’ by which I mean the discrepancy I had noticed was changed and the ‘ask seller a question’ link now got me in touch with the original seller of the first, months old, auction that was used to scam me.
Lessons…
Don’t send money without a phone call(sound familiar?)
There’s no cancelling a USPS money order
Dont ask me how, but some scammers can modify Gunbroker auctions using old finished auctions
Don’t ask me how, but some scammers can counterfeit USPS money orders using real, unredeemed serial numbers, and pass the fakes to get the cash while the legitimate ones are floating through the mail.
I hope this helps someone else.
Damn that was alot of typing.
I would not believe it if it didnt happen to me. There is a lesson to learn in it.
I would appreciate this not turning into a Gunbroker bashing thread. I have purchased between 80-100 firearms off Gunbroker without issues…except this time.
Four years ago I was the winning bidder for a rifle auction on GunBroker. I called the seller afterwards but there was no answer. The seller emailed me soon after and we worked out details.
I paid with two USPS money orders, $1700 in total. In the initial email the seller asked me to send photos of the MOs so he could ‘get things going on his end’
The next day I a had forgotten was a holiday. I again emailed seller to let him know MOs wouldn’t go out until the day after. He responded, and again asked for photos of both MOs ‘to update his accounts’.
I got the MOs, sent them, and updated seller. At some point after mailing he again requested photos and I began to wonder. I started digging and at some point my gut feeling was confirmed when I found a discrepancy I had not recognized earlier.
Then I found a months old finished Gunbroker auction in their archives for the rifle I ‘purchased’…same description, same photos, identical.
I googled the address he had given me and it kept leading to a home in Chicago under an elderly womans name.
I again tried calling. No answer. Emailed seller trying to lure him out by telling him I had accidentally transposed numbers in address and to call me. Nothing.
Went to PO next morning to learn there is no ‘cancelling’ a MO, even for me as the buyer with the stubs. I remember the envelope had tracking so What they could do was flag it and the next time it was scanned at a facility, they pulled it and started it coming back to me.
So here is how it was possible…
Somehow the scammer was able to hack, revive, and restart an old auction. They were able to redirect the ‘ask seller a question’ to THEIR email bypassing the original sellers email. They emailed me IMMEDIATELY after ending of auction with their ‘address’ and the photo request, which kept me from investigating any other address sources through gunbroker.
The payoff had to come by way of once they had the viable serial numbers of the MOs I sent, they could forge and cash fake money orders with those numbers and have the money while the real ones are delivered to somebody, anybody, nobody…but by then they’ve been ‘cashed’ by the scammer and are worthless.
I never heard from the scammer again. I got the MOs back in the mail. Three days later the auction page was returned to ‘normal’ by which I mean the discrepancy I had noticed was changed and the ‘ask seller a question’ link now got me in touch with the original seller of the first, months old, auction that was used to scam me.
Lessons…
Don’t send money without a phone call(sound familiar?)
There’s no cancelling a USPS money order
Dont ask me how, but some scammers can modify Gunbroker auctions using old finished auctions
Don’t ask me how, but some scammers can counterfeit USPS money orders using real, unredeemed serial numbers, and pass the fakes to get the cash while the legitimate ones are floating through the mail.
I hope this helps someone else.
Damn that was alot of typing.
