REMEMBER TO WATCH FOR TEXT SCAMS

[GT Accuracy]

Got another TEXT scam via people stalking the forums. If you get a text referring to a purchase you're trying to make and it's unsolicited - DON'T GIVE THEM ANY INFORMATION.

They will often reference what you're trying to buy/sell and have a bit of correct info but it's fake. BE CAREFUL OUT THERE.

 

[Forum Boss]

Be aware that many people have posted their phone number or email address in older posts or public profiles. The bad guys can find this quickly with searches.

We emphatically emphasize that you should NEVER EVER do a deal without a VOICE phone call. Repeat, pick up the telephone and CALL the seller.

Also, we strongly recommend that you demand a couple custom photos with the object for sale in a different location with something (such as a bit of rope) touching it in multiple locations.

Scammers steal photos from the web and can also now use AI.

 

[alf]

And when you sell something delete your ad, & the ads & pics won't be out there forever to steal.

 

[Krogen]

And when you sell something delete your ad, & the ads & pics won't be out there forever to steal.

Not true! Once posted, it’s out there for eternity! Even deleted from this site, you’ll almost always find it archived on www.archive.org also known as “The Wayback Machine.” Personally, I think deleting sold posts is disservice to other members. Pictures and sales prices are a great value reference.

Forum Boss: Yes the Wayback Machine preserves many web pages. However, it does not recover ALL the millions of posts in this Forum.

The greatest risk comes just from someone simply doing a search on a Member's posts to find one with an email or phone number. That only takes a scammer a minute or two to rifle through years of posts to find a listed email or number. That is why you should go through your post history and delete those entries.

 

[WSnyder]

This is exactly any I keep after the people posting phone numbers and other personal info on profile posts instead of direct messages. Multiple times a week it seems someone is posting info on a profile post.

“FYI profile posts are public for all to see. You have publicly posted personal info (phone, address, email, etc…) for everyone to see including the scammers. You might consider using direct messages instead and deleting this profile post.”

Thread 'Profile Posts vs Direct Messages'

Sep 15, 2025

I have noticed that many users have been using profile posts to reply to someone their desire to purchase something along with posting mailing addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers. Profile posts are public for all to see and that means you just gave all of your info to the scammers. Please learn the difference between a profile post (public, open to be seen publicly) and a direct message (private, not publicly seen).

Profile Post = available to be seen by anyone

Direct Message = private communication been you and the person you wish to communicate with

• WSnyder

• 
• 

 

[Kracken McGraw]

Be careful of the “I’m not a robot” deal now too. The say scammers have figured out how to hack your phone through this program.

 

[3_Dimensional]

Yep, always a good idea to search for your phone number and see what comes up. Search for the number itself, as well as "(one2three) 45six-7eight90" sort of thing that people did years ago on Craigslist to keep their numbers from being crawled by robots. Same with email addresses--search for "me@gmail.com" as well as "me at gmail dot com" and similar variants. Human scammers from Nigeria and India can read all of that just fine! I've seen so many people on other forums complain about getting scammed, meanwhile I find their email address in 15 seconds. If I can do it, professional scamming entities can do it too, especially now that we have AI to sift through masses of data.

In addition, when I sell, I post this warning to help buyers avoid confusion:

Private message only! That's the only way I communicate. Click the white envelope button below my username to PM me. Scammers are great at digging up your contact info. If you reply here, and then you get a text, email, or other message outside RCG, it is 100% guaranteed to be a scammer, not me!

 

[3_Dimensional]

Forgot to add, if your username is your real name, it's often very, very easy for scammers to find your contact info and pretend to be the seller. Avoid putting your full name on a public forum at all costs. I was so leery of this I almost got banned from this forum for not giving my full name to the mods upon registration (I didn't realize they run it through a background check).

I am on another (not gun related) forum that has a section called Trader Talk. It's shocking to see all the posts from people who never read the site's warnings (similar to this one) and struggle to understand how their personal info can be used to scam them.

 

[M-61]

Forum Boss: Yes the Wayback Machine preserves many web pages. However, it does not recover ALL the millions of posts in this Forum.

So how would one know if a post was gone forever or not?

 

[Jdne5b]

This is exactly any I keep after the people posting phone numbers and other personal info on profile posts instead of direct messages. Multiple times a week it seems someone is posting info on a profile post.

“FYI profile posts are public for all to see. You have publicly posted personal info (phone, address, email, etc…) for everyone to see including the scammers. You might consider using direct messages instead and deleting this profile post.”

Thread 'Profile Posts vs Direct Messages'

Sep 15, 2025

I have noticed that many users have been using profile posts to reply to someone their desire to purchase something along with posting mailing addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers. Profile posts are public for all to see and that means you just gave all of your info to the scammers. Please learn the difference between a profile post (public, open to be seen publicly) and a direct message (private, not publicly seen).

Profile Post = available to be seen by anyone

Direct Message = private communication been you and the person you wish to communicate with

• WSnyder

• 
• 

Forum boss really should turn these off.