Amazing Trend

[madmixerman]

There seems to be a trend developing on classifieds. As soon as someone posts WTB on classifieds,someone seems to show up having one for sale. The amazing part is they either joined today or yesterday with no name or location in profile.

 

[Nowhere Man]

Not good.

 

[Chief 101]

if the people with money burnin holes in pocketses pay attention these losers will soon go away...don't you think?

 

[Jay Christopherson]

There seems to be a trend developing on classifieds. As soon as someone posts WTB on classifieds,someone seems to show up having one for sale. The amazing part is they either joined today or yesterday with no name or location in profile.

So - this isn't really a very helpful post. Who is this mysterious "someone" that you've run in to? Is this first hand or are you passing along some second hand information? No need to post publicly if you are not sure.

I'm not trying to call you out, but these sorts of vague posts about "someone" abusing the classifieds gives us nothing to work with and do nothing to protect the general community. If you suspect something, send us a name so we can look into it.

 

[joshb]

I have a tendency to buy from forum members that have positive feedback and are site contributors. I tend to ignore ads from newbies unless the amount is small and I feel like gambling. A good record of feedback means a lot, even if it's only a few.

 

[JohnKielly]

Jay, there have been several recent posts specifically pointing out to this practice occurring & a response from the site Admin.

It's not a "someone" it's "several", all of whom were identified.

I suggest that you do a search & catch up on postings that you've seemed to have missed.

 

[Lapua40X]

That's the value of COD. I don"t need anything bad enough to fall for some guy"s holding something i"d like to buy for ransom.

 

[Jay Christopherson]

Jay, there have been several recent posts specifically pointing out to this practice occurring & a response from the site Admin.

It's not a "someone" it's "several", all of whom were identified.

I suggest that you do a search & catch up on postings that you've seemed to have missed.

Seriously?

What should I search for? What are the obvious signs of a scammer that I can review among the dozens or hundreds of daily user sign ups and hundreds to thousands of posts per day? Is every user that creates a user account (which we want) to ask about buying or selling an item in our free classifieds a potential scammer that should be vetted? Is there a specific search criteria that will point me at them without hundreds of false positives? I'm sorry that I haven't reviewed the days posts to the level you feel I should.

I get that madmixerman is trying to be helpful. I'm not trying to discourage that. snert recently did the same thing. The difference being, is that he provided me with specific information that I was able to investigate and take action on. In this case, there was none, though the OP was able to provide me that info in a PM (looks innocuous this time). But vaguely worded warnings don't help anyone.

 

[JohnKielly]

Jay, what the posts I referred to all have said is that a member, expressing interest in a particular firearm or whatever, has been approached with a PM in broken English from a new member with no history whatsoever claiming to have the device available for sale.

Seems pretty clear to me.

 

[dcali]

When you run a big site like this, there is a lot of crap to deal with and every bit of help, well, helps. Time is scarce. In other words, please provide links to the obvious scammers so that it's easy for the people in charge to correct the problem(s).

 

[JohnKielly]

For crying out loud, Admin has asked us to tell them of this type of scammer & he deletes them immediately they're reported.

The issue is not the name of the scammer, but that all of us need to be on the ball to let him know immediately we are approached by any new member sending us a private message about a gun or whatever that's obviously too good to be true. The second characteristic of this scam is that the message is sent in broken English.

The obvious point to those with two neurons to rub together is that if the Admin is immediately advised of any such approach, he will delete the poster's account so there is absolutely no use in you or I knowing about that historical circumstance. What we've been asked to do is:

• Be aware that a certain person or people are using the process of sending messages to people who have wanted to buy an item
• They will inevitably have a new registration and probably no postings
• Their message will likely be in stilted or ungrammatical language, as if English is not their native tongue
• They offer a product for sale at suspiciously below market price
• If they send a picture, it will likely be of the manufacturer's website or otherwise not seem to be the real deal
• Tell Admin immediately if you are approached.

 

[snert]

I might add that the characteristics of our recent "gunner888" and "Fight5" include:

Texting grammar...indicating he is too hurried while cutting and pasting (baiting and fishing) to speak with any nuance of accuracy speak
Asks you to contact him via email or text, not thru the site via PM....indicating that he is moving off site and never frequents this site except to search for WTB
Cannot offer real details...photos are late/never or stock and cannt speak the language of accuracy
No seller feedback...
Has exactly what you need!...but vague and generic with responses

These are all signs of a scammer. if you get a PM saying "I have this", vett it very carefully and inform the admin specifically with details of the thread/PM, contact info and your suspicions ...that way he can (and will) shut the guy down.

Snert

 

[snert]

I might add that this guy tried to sell me (miraculouesly had!) one of only 30 Superior Rifles ever made (in my hometown by a famed gunsmith I have researched for years) and I know where most of those rifles are, so we are talking about an obscure action and maybe 15 unlocated and low and behold HE has one! Ya, sure he does.

 

[Knotwild]

If the deal seems good enough that you have to take a risk, there is a way to eliminate risk, and I have successfully used it. There is at least one firm out there - Tradiator - who will take the money of the buyer and hold it until he receives whatever he bought. Once received and the purchaser notifies Tradiator that they are satisfied, then they send the funds to the seller. If you do not receive what you purchased, the money is not paid and is sent back to you. Or, if it is not as described, they hold the money until you return the item and the seller notifies them that he has the returned item in acceptable shape.

I have used it successfully to purchase off of forum and we were both very pleased. I believe that there are very high odds that a scammer won't play that game.