Beware of Scam Involving USPS Money Orders

[Knotwild]

TGX EscrowHas anyone tried this service? Seems like a really good option if it's legit.

Gustab is listed on Gunbroker's site. There are others and their credentials can be checked out with the Better Business Bureau. The one I used was owned by an old man, but it's closed now. I have not used Guntab personally, but there are others such as PaySAFE, Guns America Escrow, and Gun Escrow. Most offer a 3 day inspection period too.

The peace of mind is well worth the 3 or 4%. If the carrier loses it its not your problem, if the item is not as described its not your problem. If you damage it during the inspection it  is your problem. Your money or gun is safe while the dispute is resolved.

 

[pdog06]

I mean I guess the email and phone number were correct for the scammer since you were communicating with them initially. Wondering if law enforcement could do anything with it? probably not since you were able to intervene and get the MO’s back. You got lucky there for sure.
So you never sent the photos of the MO’s to the scammer? Probably the only reason you made out in the end!

Thanks for sharing, and glad you were able to get it back!

 

[WSnyder]

Exactly my experience. They will never cash them. They know how much fraud there is with them and prefer to let the banks deal with it. I’ve stopped dealing with them. I don’t accept them and if what I’m buying the seller only takes them, I don’t need it.

Same here. I won’t take them anymore because my bank refuses them and I can’t get them cashed efficiently at the PO. My local office never has the money and they refer me to the main office which is out of the way. It still takes 2 or more trips to the main office in order to catch them with enough cash.

 

[DShortt]

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 sincerely hope you reported this parasite to Gunbroker. Likely a repeat offender.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

20 million let into the country last 3 3/4 years. Many sitting in taxpayer funded shelters, taxpayer phones waiting for their chance. That first chance often is criminal/fraudulent activities, including phone scams, identity theft.

 

[jnyfeler]

I recently had to cancel a Postal money order myself. After much frustration for the same reasons cited here, I got a tip that worked. If you take the original money order and write your name above the original "Pay to" name followed by the word "or", then you can deposit the money order in your account. I did exactly that. Deposited it electronically via my phone and the money was available immediately. Talk about a sigh of relief!

Jeff

 

[JRanum]

I sincerely hope you reported this parasite to Gunbroker. Likely a repeat offender.

I did not report it to Gunbroker. I had no name, no username, and three days after auction ended there was no proof anything had happened but my word.

 

[JRanum]

Thats a good trick to know Jeff, thank you.

 

[DShortt]

I did not report it to Gunbroker. I had no name, no username, and three days after auction ended there was no proof anything had happened but my word.

Huh. Well. I'm done with Gunbroker then. No excuse for things like that to be possible with present technology.

 

[JRanum]

Well I am not a computer person. And I believe Gunbroker was sold afterwards. And it was four years ago. In computer security thats a long time I understand. Maybe today the scam wouldnt work on their site. But my credit card has been hacked a couple times and I still use a credit card.

 

[Mark W]

I’m safe from postal money order scams these days, because I’ll pass up a good deal if a postal money order is the only payment option.

 

[tommeboy]

My PO will NEVER cash them, they just say they don't have the money on hand. Even a 20$ mo(and earlier in the day I had purchased a 55$ mo).

Buy a stamp and hand them the MO. They will get you the rest of the $. I have done this so many times it is not funny. And it always seems that this ONE lady never has enough $ in her drawer. She always finds it though.

 

[Krogen]

I avoid sending money orders for payments. It’s not that much different than putting cash in an envelope. Should the post office loose your letter, it‘s a PITA to get the money back from them. They lost your money order, they have your money. A bit of a problem there…. You can hope it never gets cashed and then go through the hassle of a refund. I’d rather send a personal check and let the seller wait for it to clear. At least your account isn’t drawn until cashed. If lost by the post office, then it probably won’t be cashed by some thief. The downside to sending a check is the seller has your ACH information. But supposedly you trust him to sell you something, so probably it’s little risk.