Due Dilligence Beats Scope Scammer

[Brians356]

On another forum I recently contacted a seller for a NF shv scope. ...

Added 4-22-21. I forget to mention that this seller was from Nigeria.

May I ask: At what point in this process did you know he was in Nigeria?
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[Nature Boy]

You guys are too hard on this guy. He was selling a Nightfarce, not a Nightforce

 

[spitfire_er]

May I ask: At what point in this process did you know he was in Nigeria?
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After not hearing from him for a few days, the admin contacted me and gave me that information. Based on that information, a phone call most likely would have been the end of it.

 

[Matt452326]

On another forum I recently contacted a seller for a NF shv scope. I think this one runs around $11-1200. They were asking $900, which is a deal. Not exactly the scope I wanted so I went fishing for a better deal. Here's where I started wondering. The following is our conversation.

Me- "Willing to ship? Also, did you ever have it mounted on anything?"

Seller-"Hello, Yes i can have it shipped to your door. Zelle, CashApp, PayPal friends and family accepted for payment.
The package will be properly wrapped in a larger box with Styrofoam padding and shipped. Where are you located ?
God Bless."

S- "i bought the scope brand new with intention of hunting varmints and other small games but later had a shoulder injury that prevented from from using my hunting rifle and therefore the scope. I had it professionally mounted on Remington 700 Mountain Rifle in 270win using a Spuhr SP-3001 mount.
The scope has been sitting in the safe unused for a few year now so i decided to sell it. Do keep me posted Sir,
God Bless."

Same day a few hours later
S-" Did you get my previous messages."

Me- " Yes, thanks. I'm trying to decide if the weight of the scope will work with my lightweight build, I see they are 30 oz."

S-" The SHV are one of the lightest NF scope and long range scopes in the market. They are lighter than the Atacr series and the NXS. I had no issues carrying it. My brother only has one and its his go to hunting rifle and he sometimes use them for competition. This scope is well endowed with all features for best clarity and performance. It will surely compliment any lightweight rifle plus i have seen them a lot with AR's at the range."

S- "Okay, Shipping to MN will not be a problem. FedEx 2 days delivery with tracking information would do. The scope comes with all extras from factory.
I'll need your full mailing address to get it out and also let me know which payment options works best for you. Zelle, CashApp, PayPal friends and family accepted for payment.
God Bless."
Me- "Let me think a little longer. Ide buy it for a little less for sure, but I've been looking at leupold vx5hd's too."

S- "What the exact model of Leupold vx5hd's that you are looking at ?
And how much are you offering for the NF ?"

Like he might have one sitting around!
Granted ad said obo too! So....

Me- "$800 would have to be it for me. I understand if that won't work."

The next day....

S- "Okay, I think i can work with that."

Me- " ok"

S- "Let me know where you want it shipped to and also what payment option works for you.
CashApp, Zelle and PayPal F&F works for me."

This is where I want to try and mitigate any potential scams so I ask for a photo.

Me- "Could I get you to send me a photo of the scope with my name written on a piece of paper next to it? A little piece of mind. I can then send a descrete friend and family payment. Can email me or text me photos."

S- "Okay, I will try and take some pictures and text them to you then we will take it from there."

Me- "sounds good. thanks"

Person responds with this photo through the site.
View attachment 1250153
S- "Need your mailing address where you want the package shipped to and also let me know if i should provide my PayPal Email for payment."

Me- "Don't mean to be a hassle, but that photo looks weird. Do you have a zip tie you could loosely zip around the scope and take a photo of it with the box and the other stuff in the box?"

S- "mmhh"
S- "Okay, I'll get it and send to your Email. If you want anything else please say it now.
Maybe a piece of fruit next to the scope ?"

Kind of a snarky comment imo.

Me- "nope"

S- "ok will do"

Then radio silence.

After he agreed to the $800 my scam meter was rising. So I went into his profile I also checked his activity on this form. While there were several reply to op's threads, none started by him. His profile was created 2018. No posts until about a month ago. The responses were for the most part decent with replys that were fairly within the range of each topic, some with somewhat knowledgeable about guns in general, but no real specifics. Also some gun related comments in our pm's. A couple had conflicting info about being 64 years old in one post and having a 16 year old kid in another. NOT unheard of, but some posts sounded like a young dad with his kid out hunting and having a good time, then others talking about not hunting because of a bad shoulder and aging.

After he sent me the first photo, I really was thinking scam, and the image looked photoshopped to me. I asked for the second photo, a zip tie around the scope with the box and other items in there. I should have asked for the same background too but I figured this would be harder to photoshop. Must have done the trick. I guess it was too much work. Didn't hear anything for about 4-5 days so I wrote it off as a scam.

Got a message today from one of their site admins asking to not send money to this guy if I haven't yet. I informed them of everything above and unfortunately a couple other folks fell for the scam and got taken.

Posting this info hoping it will help others from getting taken. I was lucky, but a little patients, due dillagence, and research made me think twice about this and ultimately saved me from loosing $800. Anyone selling an expensive item should be more than willing to send specific photos. The more specific the better within reason. Check their history on a forum. I won't buy from people that have not been actively participating in a site for under a year without consistent or knowledgeable posts. All these things together are usually pretty good at weeding out scammers. Face to face when possibly helps too.

Added 4-22-21. I forget to mention that this seller was from Nigeria. Also I could not find any trader feedback on this person. I think that site has feedback, but I'm not on there enough to know without looking through a million profiles.

Alphex firearms webpage is a scam-- they claim to have every powder in stock with no limits. Also Indo optics out of Malaysia is offering a S&B PMII 5-45×56 F1 MTC-LT tremor3 for 4900. this is also a scam. Any site that asks payment to be Cashapp, Zelle, Paypal F&F are scammers. there's no way to get your cash back. If they only take Bitcoin, Zelle, Cashapp, ApplePay, GooglePay, Paypal ff then stay away.

 

[Bocephus]

The one statement about it being used as a varmint set up on a .270 was enough for me. LOL.

Well, maybe his last name was O’Connor...
Or he just got tired of missing widdle-bitty critters and decided to cut his losses. Or..times are tough in Nigeria with having to share the monkey pox and all...

 

[Bocephus]

The purpose of a live call is not to smoke out an American crook, primarily, but to filter out immediately the foreigners who speak English as a second language, if at all.

However, I'm confident I can smoke out on the telephone an American who purports to be a shooter / hunter (but in fact knows very little if anything) by asking a few casual questions about their gear and shooting experiences.

Who is impossible to smoke out is a real American shooter / hunter who is a crooked trader, i.e. an "insider" - one of us. Even asking for a tamper-proof set of photos is no guarantee, as he could have the actual scope but plan to keep your money and the scope, both!
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Yep. Not too long ago I failed to ask the right questions. Not a real soaking but a reminder that some of the “good ole boys”....ain’t!

 

[1bamashooter]

Oh my! I bought a 21st century lathe from a member and paid with cash app!! I can't believe it showed up yesterday!!

 

[JTEX]

This crap would seldom happen, if county and state attorneys in blue states would investigate and charge these criminals. And jail them.

Most crimes wouldn't occur if county and state attorneys and prosecutors did their jobs!

 

[Willie]

Strong Admin pushing constantly to keep members aware with common sense protection would help a lot to reduce scammers.


Oh, that's here

 

[CT10ring]

Glad you didn’t get burned and I’m glad you shared the experience. I buy most of my optics used, especially the high dollar stuff. I’ve never been burned, I’ve avoided a couple of questionable opportunities by asking a few questions if there is no feedback. Seems lately that fraud is on the rise and a certain few have figured out WTB ads are good targets. Classifieds in general for that matter. My defenses are up more and more. I still like buying used when I see a good deal, just gonna take it up a notch on the protect myself meter. The feedback feature is really comforting when your on a forum such as this. If the feedback is good and there’s multiple transactions my hackles go down and the green light comes on. If they are member that’s even better.

Ditto on buying used scopes on AS. I have bought many and ALL have been excellent transactions, and some reasonably good values too. Feedback feature is excellent, agreed. Great job by the members and the Forum Boss!!